Sunlord (45 page)

But Ashian's attention was far removed from the
Admiral. A wild beating filling his ears, the tattoo of his heart
pumping adrenalin into his veins. He fumbled with the keycard, and
it almost slipped from his hands twice, before he managed to fit it
between the narrow slit on the wall.

Capac leapt backwards in surprise as the door hissed
closed, sliding firmly into position in less than a millisecond,
sealing them in complete darkness. He ran a rough hand over the
cool metallic surface, grinning in relief. In those moments before
the door had snapped shut he had caught a glimpse of movement down
the corridor, knowing immediately that it could have only been
guards rushing towards them.

"Not bad, city man."

The air cracked suddenly, a booming voice flooding
their ears. Both fell back in shock, heart leaping into their
throats. Even though Ashian felt exhausted he could feel the rush
of adrenalin in his veins as Avatar spoke in the natives'
language.

"You are clever, for primitives."

Capac backed against the wall, pressed tight against
it, palms sweaty and eyes darting futilely in the darkness. The
light show had disappeared, as had all other lights. The darkness
was so utter it seemed as if they were in deep subterranean tomb.
And that voice - it seemed to come from all directions at once.

"Many would have found themselves enraptured," came
the voice again, its tone smooth, almost genteel. "I must remark on
your strength of mind."

Ashian's groping hand found Capac's shoulder in the
darkness and pulled him close. "Don't listen to it," he muttered.
"It is smart, and will try and talk you around."

Even though his voice was the barest whisper Avatar
picked it up.

"That's no way to talk," it interceded. "I'm sure we
can come to some kind of agreement..."

Ashian gritted his teeth, ignoring the powerfully
loud voice, instead raising the infra-red telescope to his eye. He
prodded Capac in the ribs, motioning towards the nearest rocklike
projection.

"Help me with your knife, Capac. We'll start here -
just pull as many wires out as you can."

Avatar's voice commanded their attention, making the
natives pause midstride.

"Stop! You cannot hope to go further. If you do, I
shall open that door and let in the guards...and I don't have to
tell you what an unpleasant experience that would be."

Capac held his breath, his heart pounding in his
ears. "He's right, Ashian-"

"Now, if you'll just lay down your weapons, I'm sure
we ca-"

"No," shouted Ashian. "Don't you see, Capac? If this
great maggot could open the door it already would have."

"Then why-?"

Ashian's eyes hardened as realisation dawned. "The
Sunlord was high ranking."

"What?"

"You noticed the Sunlord you killed was dressed
differently to the others?" Seeing Capac's shadowy head move in a
nod, he continued. "It could only have been their king...and his
card is unquestionable, and not even the computer can override it.
When I sealed that door it was by their king's authority."

Blinding white light suddenly smote the air before
their eyes. It was almost silent but for a soft whosh like an flash
on an old fashioned camera. Ashian could not react in time - his
gemlike eyes felt as if they were assaulted by a thousand hammers,
driving his brain down into his feet with sensory overload.
Avatar's voice was magnified a thousandfold, deep bass tones
shaking the ground.

"You are fools!" Ashian may have been mistaken, but
he thought he detected an element of anger in the voice. His
comment had obviously struck home - the computer could not override
the Admiral's authority. Despite the numbing pain in his eyes he
felt the elation of victory in his heart and he managed a weak
smile.

Capac lay huddled on the floor, hands over his eyes.
Darkness had settled in once more, leaving dancing bright spots
before his eyes. "Uh, Ashian, I think you've got it pissed
off."

Angry flares still traced across Ashian's eyes,
making he stop and gasp for breath. He stood shakily, finding his
dazzled eyes were absolutely useless in the dim light - even
Capac's silhouette was lost on the inky backdrop.

"Capac," he questioned, mind moving into gear. "Do
you still have that Sunlord weapon?"

The forester fumbled for a moment at his side in
search of the pistol he had taken from the Admiral. His hands met
with the warm plastisteel surface of the barrel and he pulled it
free. By this time his eyes had recovered a little, bringing a
vague outline of Ashian into view.

Ashian felt the unmarred smooth surface of the
blaster being pressed into his hand and his fingers closed about
it, momentarily surprised at its weight. After a few attempts he
managed to wrestle the magazine free of its housing.

Capac backed up against the wall, the blade of his
knife like a long flashing tooth in his hand.

"What have you got planned?"

"Just rip open something." Ashian's voice rang with
urgency, so much so that Capac immediately set about with probing
fingers, tracing the floor in search of a narrow crack that would
give away a hatchway.

"If my guess is right..." Ashian paused and
immediately heavy silence set in, only that it wasn't totally
devoid of noise. There was still that monotonic, low pitched
humming emanating from the floor that ran up the fibre of his leg
bones like a physical presence. "Avatar is powered by a source
under here."

"Found something!" barked Capac suddenly, his fingers
running along the cool floor. His knife blade was immediately under
the lip of the hatch, levering and prising at each corner.

Strange yellow light filtered into the darkened room,
a square outline of light appearing as if from thin air as Capac
pulled the hatch from the floor. Ashian stepped forwards, peering
into the half-metre square opening with cautiousness. He heard a
dull clatter as Capac threw the cover aside, at the same time
cursing as he found a wedge of his knife had sheared off, rendering
the weapon useless.

They had forgotten Avatar. It had been strangely
silent for the past few minutes, but when it spoke again it was
with increased volume.

"You cannot hope to escape me," Avatar thundered from
all directions. "You cannot even begin to harm me - I am an
integral part of this ship."

"Ignore it," growled Ashian to Capac as he lowered
himself gingerly down through the trapdoor.

"What are you doing?" Capac's voice rang with
firmness. He was once more the stalking hunter, in control. All of
a sudden his mind focused with ferocious intensity on the task of
disabling the entity that had come close to taking his life may
times - Avatar.

Hot pipes brushed against Ashian's pants as he
squeezed himself through two large bulks of machinery. His eyes had
grown used to the yellowish light and he looked down between his
dangling feet, seeing a narrow platform just below. He dropped the
short distance, narrowly missing smashing his head against a
projecting cast of machinery as he fell. Satisfied the magazine
cartridge had remained in his belt he looked up, moving his head
with difficultly in the confined space.

He saw only Capac's head and shoulders as a
silhouette outlined against the trapdoor above. "This is what
drives the fire out of the Sunlord's guns," he explained. "Shaun
told me about it, so if I can put it in the right place maybe we
can upset Avatar."

Capac nodded quickly and braced his hands against the
lip of the trapdoor. "I shall help."

"No," said Ashian. "It's too tight in here as it is
it. Just hang on until I get this thing planted..." He pulled the
blaster from his belt and placed it at his feet. He could do
without its bulk - it seemed he would all the agility he could
muster if he was going to get through some of those gaps.

Capac watched uneasily as the lithe figure of Ashian
slipped from view as if he had burrowed into a tunnel. He shouted a
caution, but feared his words were lost on empty air. He had to
admit, the little fellow had guts.

Ashian grunted as he pulled himself deeper into the
web of machinery. He moved his hips, managing to just squeeze
between two horizontal bars. His right leg suddenly smashed
upwards, the fabric of his clothing tearing with a loud rippp.
Ashian gasped and struggled free, thrashing wildly and screaming
his fright. With a savage jolt his leg was free, bruised but
unbroken. Sweat running down the length of his face, Ashian saw the
two bars he had clambered through now spun like driveshafts, shreds
of his clothing twisted about the bars blurred in motion and making
a flickering noise. Ashian passed a shaking hand over his brow,
uttering a silent oath. It seemed Avatar was out to get him and had
activated the machine in the hope of tearing off a limb or two. He
reflected how lucky he had been; if the driveshaft had started a
second earlier he would now be a thick paste over the
machinery.

Undaunted, Ashian pushed onwards, on his belly now
and moving through tighter and tighter spaces. His ears rang with
pain as the deep vibrational humming built in intensity. It seemed
he was getting closer to Avatar's beating heart with every further
inch he crawled. The throbbing, pulsating noise was unbearable now.
It wrenched at his teeth and nerves, its pitch becoming lower to
become more of a vibration than sound.

With a agonising jolt felt something deep in his ears
crunch, a bolt of pain running the length of his head. Gritting his
teeth, Ashian wiped away a stream of blood that trickled from his
ears. The noise dulled immediately, as did everything else. It was
as if two thick pillows had been stuffed over his ears, somehow
cutting him away from reality.

"This is far enough," he muttered to himself,
wriggling a hand around to withdraw the magazine from his belt. He
tore at the covering with his teeth, spitting away the plastic
disdainfully, his jaw aching. The twenty cylindrical stubby bullets
fell into his palm, rounded dull metal heads clanking dully against
one another. His nimble hand closed about them, reaching forward as
far as he could, jamming the Hartrias cartridges hard between
plates of machinery. In a few minutes he had all but one
distributed in a broad circle before him in what he hoped would be
the most effective positions. He kept the last cartridge, replacing
it back in the magazine before tucking both into the small of his
back.

He had to crawl out backwards, his clothing catching
on every projection. The metal plating he slithered along had also
grown hot against his cheek, and he feared it wouldn't be long
before Avatar had a real heat built up. Progress was awkward and
slow, but he moved step at a time, his mind set firmly, refusing to
give in to exhaustion. He reached the pair of spinning driveshafts
that had almost torn his leg off before and moved past them with a
little difficultly, managing to fit himself through an opening a
little to the side. Minutes which seemed like hours later Ashian
was back where he had started, looking along the length he had
come. If he moved his head and peered between the chaos of pipes,
feeders, shafts and machinery he could make out the black spots
that were the cartridges. They were about five metres away, jammed
under the lip of a solid wall that had blocked his path.

Ashian picked the blaster up from where he had left
it. With a solid crunch he rammed the magazine back into its
recessed mounting along the top of the barrel. He paused for a
moment, the metal of the gun heavy and slippery in his hand.

He extended his arms, sighting along the tip of the
bulky weapon, his hands shaking. He drew in a breath and held it,
and for that moment the world seemed to have stopped. Sounds were
non-existent through his stunned eardrums. He was in a world of his
own, a world that swam with colours and light, his forearms
quivering with the weight of the outstretched blaster. His finger
found the trigger and he pulled at it, feeling machinery inside
clicking into position.

With a blast that threw his frail form back against a
wall of machinery the blast of fire skimmed through the tunnel and
smashed into the energy cartridges at the far end. Sparks flew as
the explosive tip of the projectile erupted into flame, an instant
later a ferocious clap of air echoing through the confined space.
Nineteen other cartridges exploded into life as a chain reaction
sent fragments of shrapnel whizzing through the air and ramming
into machinery.

"Ashian!" bawled Capac in surprise as the machinery
below lit with instant flame. He was on his feet in an instant,
moving down the trapdoor, his hand extended, ignoring the scorching
blast of heat against his knuckles. His hand found Ashian's.
Muscles bunched as Capac tightened his grip, hauling with all the
might he could muster. With a primeval growl of effort he pulled
the Currach from the trapdoor with a single arm.

Ashian gasped, coughing and retching, as his hips
smacked against the lip of the opening. He managed to pull himself
weakly free, his eyes still dazed. As he rolled back a hungry flair
of fire licked up, further, deeper explosions rumbling through the
superstructure.

"What the hell have you done?" said Capac in awe.

Ashian smiled weakly at the sight of Capac's
incredulous expression. He could hear no words, but could guess his
friend's meaning. He managed to get to his feet, staggering
awkwardly like a drunken man.

"We must get away." Ashian was surprised at how
difficult talking seemed now that he could no longer hear himself.
It was as if he was shouting into a vacuum.

The natives lost their footing as the floor lurched
like a ship at sea. The explosions were growing louder with each
passing second as fuel lines burst into flame, pieces of shrapnel
smashing into pistons, wrenching them apart and twisting and
gnashing into surrounding equipment. Then, all of a sudden, the
twenty centimetre thick wall that surrounded the fission power
plant ruptured. The resulting explosion happened in an instant, the
plant's formerly controlled reaction spilling into chaos. It was as
if a giant had been trapped in a cocoon and had awoken, thrashing
and twisting in an effort to free itself. The heat of a thousand
torches ran along ducts like flooding water as the fission plant
exploded like a popping bubble.