there.”
“If we take our skateboards all the way down,” Lieutenant Marquis said, “we might not be able to get out of here later.”
I shrugged. “That’s why I wanted the tubes,” I said. “But the enemy has forced my hand.”
I could tell by the look on her face, which was visible through her faceplate, she didn’t like this answer. She didn’t want to be left with no retreat. I didn’t have time to argue about it. These Centaurs had to have an army of some kind, and they were probably organizing below. I’d already given them too much time to get their act together.
We didn’t find any ladders. How were Centaurs supposed to use ladders? What we did find was not encouraging. There was as thin spiraling ledge in the tube along the walls. It was less than a foot wide. I thought about these hoofed, sure-footed people. They were goat-like, and weren’t mountain goats famous for running along impossible trails?
We set off, following the thin ledge downward. There was a thousand foot drop down into the tube, but with low gravity and our magnetic boots, I figured we could do it. We made it most of the way too, before the first laser shot came beaming up out of the darkness below us and burned the legs off my lead man. Screaming, he fell into the pit, bouncing and caroming off the walls.
My men crouched and readied their projectors. We still were equipped with the lighter beam units we’d had on Helios to operate in high gravity. This was a low-gravity fight, but I was glad for the lighter equipment. More bulk would have lost me more men in this situation.
“Careful when you return fire!” I shouted. “We don’t want any blue-on-blue! Only the lowest ten fire.”
They didn’t need any more encouragement. Lasers flashed and our visors darkened to save our eyes. Spots of heat and vapor exploded below us. I wasn’t sure if we’d gotten the sniper or not.
Another shot came up at us, and nailed the marine behind me. It came up and burned right through his suit, and right through his left hip joint. He didn’t have one of the battle suits. Most of my men didn’t. Lit on fire by the strike, he began to fall. I grabbed him, as did the next marine in line.
“Kwon!” I shouted, “assessment?”
“We’re pinned sir, and have no cover. We need to get out of this position.”
“Options?” I demanded. Both sides were firing now. I thought we’d gotten a few of them, but more shots kept coming up, and we were firing blind down the long, dark tube.
“We can shoot it out,” Kwon said, “Or retreat back up to the elevator cab.”
I didn’t like his options. “How far are we from the bottom?”
“A few hundred yards.”
“Let’s run down the walls, using our magnetic boots. Only those in battle suits should try it. Our boots won’t hold all the way down, when we lose our grip, we jump.”
“It’s too far down, sir.”
“This gravity isn’t Earth-normal—and neither are we. The jump is survivable.”
“You first,” Kwon said.
I chuckled. “All right,” I said. I stood up, cranked my magnetic boots to full, and took my first step down into the tube, firing as I went. “Don’t shoot me in the ass, men. Let’s go!”
Kwon shouted orders. My marines held their fire.
Charging down a vertical surface turned out to be a hard thing to do. I soon found it just didn’t work. My magnetics weren’t strong enough to hold me onto the side of the tube. Even running down was pretty impossible. Being conditioned by nanites, we were all much stronger than normal men, and the gravity was much lighter, but my weight was out of place. With the heavy pack on my back, I was top-heavy, and the top of me was too far from my boots. I was levered forward, breaking the magnetic hold and found myself falling face-first into enemy fire.
This wasn’t my best plan , I thought as I went down, still firing into the darkness ahead.
-12-
I was saved by an elbow in the tube. We hadn’t been able to see it
“If we take our skateboards all the way down,” Lieutenant Marquis said, “we might not be able to get out of here later.”
I shrugged. “That’s why I wanted the tubes,” I said. “But the enemy has forced my hand.”
I could tell by the look on her face, which was visible through her faceplate, she didn’t like this answer. She didn’t want to be left with no retreat. I didn’t have time to argue about it. These Centaurs had to have an army of some kind, and they were probably organizing below. I’d already given them too much time to get their act together.
We didn’t find any ladders. How were Centaurs supposed to use ladders? What we did find was not encouraging. There was as thin spiraling ledge in the tube along the walls. It was less than a foot wide. I thought about these hoofed, sure-footed people. They were goat-like, and weren’t mountain goats famous for running along impossible trails?
We set off, following the thin ledge downward. There was a thousand foot drop down into the tube, but with low gravity and our magnetic boots, I figured we could do it. We made it most of the way too, before the first laser shot came beaming up out of the darkness below us and burned the legs off my lead man. Screaming, he fell into the pit, bouncing and caroming off the walls.
My men crouched and readied their projectors. We still were equipped with the lighter beam units we’d had on Helios to operate in high gravity. This was a low-gravity fight, but I was glad for the lighter equipment. More bulk would have lost me more men in this situation.
“Careful when you return fire!” I shouted. “We don’t want any blue-on-blue! Only the lowest ten fire.”
They didn’t need any more encouragement. Lasers flashed and our visors darkened to save our eyes. Spots of heat and vapor exploded below us. I wasn’t sure if we’d gotten the sniper or not.
Another shot came up at us, and nailed the marine behind me. It came up and burned right through his suit, and right through his left hip joint. He didn’t have one of the battle suits. Most of my men didn’t. Lit on fire by the strike, he began to fall. I grabbed him, as did the next marine in line.
“Kwon!” I shouted, “assessment?”
“We’re pinned sir, and have no cover. We need to get out of this position.”
“Options?” I demanded. Both sides were firing now. I thought we’d gotten a few of them, but more shots kept coming up, and we were firing blind down the long, dark tube.
“We can shoot it out,” Kwon said, “Or retreat back up to the elevator cab.”
I didn’t like his options. “How far are we from the bottom?”
“A few hundred yards.”
“Let’s run down the walls, using our magnetic boots. Only those in battle suits should try it. Our boots won’t hold all the way down, when we lose our grip, we jump.”
“It’s too far down, sir.”
“This gravity isn’t Earth-normal—and neither are we. The jump is survivable.”
“You first,” Kwon said.
I chuckled. “All right,” I said. I stood up, cranked my magnetic boots to full, and took my first step down into the tube, firing as I went. “Don’t shoot me in the ass, men. Let’s go!”
Kwon shouted orders. My marines held their fire.
Charging down a vertical surface turned out to be a hard thing to do. I soon found it just didn’t work. My magnetics weren’t strong enough to hold me onto the side of the tube. Even running down was pretty impossible. Being conditioned by nanites, we were all much stronger than normal men, and the gravity was much lighter, but my weight was out of place. With the heavy pack on my back, I was top-heavy, and the top of me was too far from my boots. I was levered forward, breaking the magnetic hold and found myself falling face-first into enemy fire.
This wasn’t my best plan , I thought as I went down, still firing into the darkness ahead.
-12-
I was saved by an elbow in the tube. We hadn’t been able to see it
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