Free Swallow the Sky: A Space Opera by Chris Mead Page A

invisible”
he added pulling up his hood, and then remembering something yanking it down
again.
    “Hey valet”
    “Yes Carson” the calm
voice replied.
    “I hereby terminate your
services and authorize payment.”
    “Thank you, goodbye.”
    “Oh, hold on!”
    “Yes?”
    “Zerstoren!”
    The valet fell silent. He
raised the hood again and reaching to the crown of his head drew down a flap
that covered his face, rendering him completely enveloped in black material. Aiyana
followed his example. The covering was porous and they could continue to see
and breathe reasonably well.
    A walkway was attached to
one side of the tunnel and they made swift progress guided by the dim lights
embedded in the ceiling.
    “No-one ever comes this
way except for routine inspections” he said, shouting into Aiyana’s ear above
the roar of the water.
    They tramped on for
several kilometers until they came to a mesh grid spanning the entire tunnel. The
barrier had small locked door to give access to maintenance workers. Carson
fished into his shoulder bag and brought out Tabarak’s red disk which he
attached to the lock. He gestured to Aiyana to retreat and moments later there
was a minor explosion. The door swung open.
    Four hundred meters
further on the tunnel ended at a curtain of water. They stepped out into the
endless downpour. In front of them rainwater swirled into the tunnel from a huge
catch basin carved into the surface of Kaimana’s outer slope. The walkway
continued upwards to their right, terminating at the slick rock bordering the
rim of the basin.
    They switched to night
vision as they clambered up the last few steps. Finally they stood on the
volcano’s outer slopes. All they could see through the deluge was a nightmarish
jumble of larval blocks scattered over the rising wall of the mountain.
    In a couple of million
years all this will be eroded away Carson thought. But even now, fifty
kilometers to the east, a new volcanic island was growing beneath the waves as
the tectonic plate continued its stately journey over the hotspot in the
planet’s crust.
    They wandered among the giant
boulders until they encountered a clear area about twenty meters across.
    “Time to leave” he
announced pulling a small communications pad from his bag.
    “I’m sending a nanosecond
encoded burst – just pray Security doesn’t detect it.”
    “Now what?”
    “We wait”
    But they did not have to
wait for long. A few minutes later a silent shape descended out of the rain; it
was Carson’s buggy. He slapped his hand on the hatch as the small craft settled
into the black soil.
    “Who are you?” said the
buggy.
    Carson pulled up his face
mask.
    “It’s me you idiot
machine” he hissed.
    “Oh, sorry Carson, I was getting no reading from you at all.”
    Before he could reply
Asima’s amplified voice boomed out the sky.
    “CARSON, AIYANA. GIVE
YOURSELVES UP IMMEDIATELY!”
    They stared at each
other.
    “They’re bluffing” Aiyana
finally said. “If they knew our location they’d already be here.”
    “Agreed”
    The hatch swung open and
they scrambled in.
    “This is Aiyana” he told
the buggy as the door swung shut. “She’ll be traveling with us.”
    “There are six Mitan
Security vehicles in our vicinity” the little craft said.
    “Are they coming our
way?”
    “No, they appear to be
executing a random search pattern.”
    “Do you think they
spotted you on the way down?”
    “Possibly – I’m cloaked
of course, but Security will have anti-stealth capabilities.”
    Aiyana shivered. “Can we
turn up the heat in here?”
    “Yes – sorry. Buggy,
match your atmospherics to the outside environment.”
    Warmth filled the little
cabin.
    “The buggy is cloaking
us, right?” said Aiyana.
    Taking his nod as assent
she stripped off her dripping stealth suit.
    We’ll have to her cure
of that before we hit New Earth mused Carson.
    Still, she was right –
the suit was intensely uncomfortable and he followed her