suited.
Ryte asked, “Fifty minutes?”
Numos said, “Forty-six minutes now, and this whole area will be a smoking pit, deeper and more useless than the missile crater. Anyone left behind, wounded or just trapped will be with whatever gods will have them.”
Stone felt useless. Orders were flying around him, but he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to appear useless, he was supposed to be in command, yet Numos had everyone jumping. Allie looked at him, concern evident even with only one good eye. Finally, she grabbed a can of liquid bandage and a can of coagulant and began poking and prodding him. Without so much as a by-your-leave-sir, she stripped him to the waist and began spraying various parts of his body he hadn’t known were leaking until she bandaged them.
Allie said, “We need to get a doctor to check on Governor Stone as soon as we can, Major. He has been bleeding from both ears and may have suffered a serious concussion or head injury.” She emphasized the title “governor”.
Stone pointed back across the compound to the smoking remains of the conference room. “Doc Menendez is in there with Master Chief Thomas giving aid to Lieutenant Commander Butcher. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but it must be something his navy nanites can’t fix.”
Stone saw two marines in combat suits wildly digging into a jumbled pile of rubble on what had been the second story across the compound. With a flurry of flying metal and a fury of frantic urgency, they dragged a civilian from the pile. One marine grabbed the scientist, jumped to the ground, dropped her to her feet, and jumped back to begin digging deeper.
THIRTEEN
Stone said, “We need to get the civilians moving south right now. Some of these wounded will take time to move even a short distance.”
Tuttle and another marine bounced up to the small knot of people. Their enhanced combat suits allowed them to jump across the distance in a single bound. The size of their suits dwarfed everyone except Jay and Peebee. The two marines shimmered and disappeared as their suits shut down all external trace. Their faces appeared to hover in the air as their faceplates popped open.
Stone said, “I need to get my suit, but—” He realized it would be a miracle if his suit survived. It was in a charging rack in Alpha Platoon’s suit storage bay, a part of the compound relatively flat, as it had been right on the edge of the missile crater.
He’d survived in the wilds of Allie’s World once only because he had a working shuttle to hide in at night. Going outside anywhere was bad enough to give him the shivers and make him nauseous. Walking around on this untamed world was suicide. He wanted to have some protection, even if all he had was an ill-fitting navy combat suit.
Allie hooked a thumb in the direction of where Baker Platoon’s shuttle bay had been. The building ended in a flattened pile of rubble. The missile had vaporized half of the shuttle bay and the blast force crushed the other half. “My suit is gone. Yours is too.” She grabbed his communication unit, as she slid his uniform top back up, covering his torso again. She tapped a short command and it beeped twice, flashing red once. “See? Your comms say your suit is non-responsive and non-functioning.”
Stone couldn’t control the look of surprise on his face. He hadn’t known he could check on his suit without actually going to look at it. He wondered if he’d slept through the class at the academy or if no one had mentioned it to him before. “Well, if we can locate a suit that is, um—unattached, I want it. I mean, I don’t want to take someone’s suit away.”
Numos shook his head. “Most navy suits were in Alpha and Baker’s hangars. My command review status spreadsheet shows we won’t pull any functional suits out of those hangars. Medical command had their suits in Delta’s hangar, so they are completely gone. The civilians claimed they hadn’t needed to
Ryte asked, “Fifty minutes?”
Numos said, “Forty-six minutes now, and this whole area will be a smoking pit, deeper and more useless than the missile crater. Anyone left behind, wounded or just trapped will be with whatever gods will have them.”
Stone felt useless. Orders were flying around him, but he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to appear useless, he was supposed to be in command, yet Numos had everyone jumping. Allie looked at him, concern evident even with only one good eye. Finally, she grabbed a can of liquid bandage and a can of coagulant and began poking and prodding him. Without so much as a by-your-leave-sir, she stripped him to the waist and began spraying various parts of his body he hadn’t known were leaking until she bandaged them.
Allie said, “We need to get a doctor to check on Governor Stone as soon as we can, Major. He has been bleeding from both ears and may have suffered a serious concussion or head injury.” She emphasized the title “governor”.
Stone pointed back across the compound to the smoking remains of the conference room. “Doc Menendez is in there with Master Chief Thomas giving aid to Lieutenant Commander Butcher. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but it must be something his navy nanites can’t fix.”
Stone saw two marines in combat suits wildly digging into a jumbled pile of rubble on what had been the second story across the compound. With a flurry of flying metal and a fury of frantic urgency, they dragged a civilian from the pile. One marine grabbed the scientist, jumped to the ground, dropped her to her feet, and jumped back to begin digging deeper.
THIRTEEN
Stone said, “We need to get the civilians moving south right now. Some of these wounded will take time to move even a short distance.”
Tuttle and another marine bounced up to the small knot of people. Their enhanced combat suits allowed them to jump across the distance in a single bound. The size of their suits dwarfed everyone except Jay and Peebee. The two marines shimmered and disappeared as their suits shut down all external trace. Their faces appeared to hover in the air as their faceplates popped open.
Stone said, “I need to get my suit, but—” He realized it would be a miracle if his suit survived. It was in a charging rack in Alpha Platoon’s suit storage bay, a part of the compound relatively flat, as it had been right on the edge of the missile crater.
He’d survived in the wilds of Allie’s World once only because he had a working shuttle to hide in at night. Going outside anywhere was bad enough to give him the shivers and make him nauseous. Walking around on this untamed world was suicide. He wanted to have some protection, even if all he had was an ill-fitting navy combat suit.
Allie hooked a thumb in the direction of where Baker Platoon’s shuttle bay had been. The building ended in a flattened pile of rubble. The missile had vaporized half of the shuttle bay and the blast force crushed the other half. “My suit is gone. Yours is too.” She grabbed his communication unit, as she slid his uniform top back up, covering his torso again. She tapped a short command and it beeped twice, flashing red once. “See? Your comms say your suit is non-responsive and non-functioning.”
Stone couldn’t control the look of surprise on his face. He hadn’t known he could check on his suit without actually going to look at it. He wondered if he’d slept through the class at the academy or if no one had mentioned it to him before. “Well, if we can locate a suit that is, um—unattached, I want it. I mean, I don’t want to take someone’s suit away.”
Numos shook his head. “Most navy suits were in Alpha and Baker’s hangars. My command review status spreadsheet shows we won’t pull any functional suits out of those hangars. Medical command had their suits in Delta’s hangar, so they are completely gone. The civilians claimed they hadn’t needed to
Similar Books
