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"Okay, can do. I got one question: does that fucker," he flipped a laser designator at the lieutenant, "have any idea what the hell to do, or are we go
O'Neal had stopped flicking his fingers and now stood like a gray statue. The light seemed be drunk by the camouflage skin of his suit. He suddenly shimmered out of sight then shimmered back in. The officer's suit was apparently performing diagnostics. Green turned his body toward Wiznowski and apparently carried on a side conversation for a moment. After a moment The Wizard raised his hands palms up, as if in resignation.
"Duncan," said Wiznowski in an unusually cold voice, "if you give that dwarf bastard the slightest problem he will frag you so fast it will flat amaze you. Briefly. Where the hell do you think I got my amazing level of training about everything in the world to do with suits?" The other NCO's snort carried clearly over the circuit.
"Oh," said Duncan. That amazing repertoire had been the subject of several discussions. It was assumed that he just had a better rapprochement with his AID. In every case of a question raised during the training it turned out that the AIDs had the information all the time. "How the hell did . . . ?" he trailed off.
"Whenever we were training, O'Neal would sit in his cabin controlling the whole thing like a puppetmaster. Hell, half the time when `Wiznowski' would answer the question it was O'Neal or his AID." The smile in Wiznowski's voice was evident. "He was even present plenty of times. All he had to do was tell your AIDs to not `see' him."
"Damn."
"So," answered Sergeant Green, "yeah, the LT has his shit together. Now, why don't you pay attention to your fuckin' job instead of his, squad leader?" The NCO could be ascerbic when he wanted to be.
"Okay, just one more thing."
"What?" asked Sergeant Green.
"I figured out a way to get out of here, if the LT asks."
"Okay, I'll pass that on. Just out of curiosity, what is it?"
"Well, we could set up our personal protection fields behind us and pop that plug," he said gesturing at the pile of rubble blocking the tube. "That would flood this area like an air lock."
"Okay," said Sergeant Green with another look at the pile. "I'll pass that on. Now get your squad together."
"Roger, dodger," said Duncan, pushing himself off the wall. "I just hope the lieutenant knows what to do after that," he ended.
* * *
Sergeant Green walked to where Lieutenant O'Neal was standing. The featureless command suit shifted slightly, indicating that the lieutenant had noticed him coming.
"Sir," he said on a discreet cha
"Sure, Sergeant. I guess I oughta call you Top. But somehow I don't feel like the Old Man." The voice was precise with an enforced note of humor, but there was fatigue whispering in the background.
"I think we're both out of our depth, Lieutenant," said the NCO.
"Yeah, but we gotta keep treading water, Sergeant. That's why we get paid the big bucks," the officer said in an encouraging tone. Green was something of an enigma to O'Neal. He was not one of the NCOs involved in Wiznowski's training program so Mike had not been able to closely study his methods. He seemed, however, to be a very sturdy and capable NCO. He had better be.
"Confirm, sir. Okay, that's the trouble. The men know we're in deep shit, sir and I don't know a way out. There has been one suggestion but I think it is frankly flaky." Green told him Duncan's suggestion.
Mike nodded his head and briefly communed with his AID. "Yeah," he said, "I think that will work. Tell Duncan thanks, that's two I owe him.
"Get with him and have him experiment with it. We need to be sure before we put all our eggs in that basket. If it is go
"Can you reach higher through all this rock, Lieutenant?" Green was happy to have the lieutenant in charge. He apparently not only knew his stuff, but was willing to use good suggestions. He had started talking to Wiznowski in the first place because Wiz was the official battalion expert. When Wiz told him where the expertise came from the lieutenant had gone up several notches in the NCO's eyes. He wondered how many of the company commanders had been in on the deception?
"Sure," said Mike easily, "these communicators aren't affected by line of sight. They're just stepping on the frequency."
"Yes, sir." The instant answer was another encouraging sign of the officer's expertise. "Okay, how soon on the mechanics, sir?"
"Soon. Do you think it would be better to move out, or to rest up then move?" Mike flashed the schematic of the proposed route up so that they could both view it.
"Is there anywhere down the line we could stop, sir?" asked the platoon sergeant, trying to decipher the three-dimensional representation. He should have been much more familiar with the symbology, but the lack of training with the systems was hampering him still.
"Probably." Mike flashed several possible stopping places.
"Then I'd suggest moving out as soon as possible, sir. The troops are on the ragged edge in here; if we don't get them somewhere more open they'll start to crack. And then there's the other problem."
"Roger that, Sar'nt, the weapons and energy." Three hundred miles, hah! Seventy-two hours, hah! I told them to use antimatter!
"Yes, sir, or the lack of weapons. Most of us don't even have a pistol."
"Well, right now we don't need them and later on we'll find some, don't you worry. What about the other group? Where are they?"
"Sergeant Brecker has eighteen men with him, sir, including two of the engineers. They were about two hundred yards away in another tu
"When they get here we'll start work on the next phase. I need those engineers, but everybody will help."
"Lieutenant O'Neal?" his AID broke in.
"Yes?"
"Major Pauley is about to be available."
"Right, co
"Yes, sir." The relief in the sergeant's voice was evident. He got started on cross mining to the other group, comfortable now that there was a clear mission.
* * *
The chirp of co
"O'Neal? What the hell do you want?"
"Sir, I am currently in command of the survivors gathered under Qualtren. I was looking for orders, sir." Mike watched the NCO leading a group across the scattered rubble. The first suit to reach the far side grabbed a piece of rubble and pulled it out. There was a prompt slide into its place and a section of ceiling fell out, momentarily trapping one of the other troops. With some hand motions and swearing on a side cha
"Who the hell put you in command?" demanded the distant officer.
"Captain Wright, sir," answered O'Neal. He was expecting some resistance but the harshness of Pauley's voice made him instantly wary.
"And where the hell is Wright?"
"Can I deliver my report, sir?"
"No, dangit, I don't want your dang report. I asked you where Captain Wright was." The panting of the officer over the circuit was eerie, like an obscene phone call.
"Captain Wright is irretrievable with what we have available, Major. He put me in command of the mobile survivors and put himself into hibernation."