The Stainless Steel Rat eBook Collection (115 page)

It was all rather depressing, particularly since I was sloshing the stuff down my throat as fast as I could drink it and buying rounds for the others and not feeling it at all. As the afternoon went on and thirsts increased other officers appeared in the club
and there were soon a dozen other pilots crowded around our free-spending table. All drinking well and saying little of any interest.

‘Drink, drink,’ I insisted. ‘Won it gambling. Don’t need it where we’re going,’ and bought another round.

There was a great deal said, as one might well imagine, about the flying characteristics of various ships and I filed all the relevant details. And much mumbling
over old campaigns, I dived from 50,000, planted the bombs, pulled up and that sort of thing. The only thing remarkable about all this was the unsullied record of victories. I knew the Cliaand armed forces were good, but looking at this collection of drunks almost made it impossible to believe they could be
that
good. But apparently they were. There were endless boasting tales of victory after
victory and nothing else, and after a period I too came to believe. These boys were good
and the Space Armada of Cliaand a winner. It was all too depressing. By evening there was a literal falling away of the original drinkers, though their places at the table were filled quickly enough. When one of them slid to the floor the servants would gently carry him off. I realized that I was the last
of the originals so no one would notice if I also made an exit in this apparently traditional manner. Letting my eyes close I sank deep into my chair, hoping this would do since I did not relish a trip to the debris littered floor. It took them some minutes to notice I was no longer functioning, but eventually they did. Hard hands caught at my knees and armpits and I was hauled off.

When the
footsteps had rattled away I opened my eyes to a sort of dim chamber whose walls were lined with bunks. Nearby me was the gaping
O
of Ostrov’s mouth, snoring away in his cups. As were the others. No one noticed when I pulled on my gloves and went to the door that opened into the company street and let myself out. It was almost dark and I had to leave the camp and I had not the slightest idea of
how I could do it.

The gates were impossible. I strolled along the wall to the first one. Sealed and bolted shut, solid steel, with a brace of guards to see that the locks weren’t tampered with. I walked on. There were guards every hundred paces or so along the wall and I assumed that there were an equal or greater number of electronic safeguards as well. As evening approached searchlights were
turned on that illuminated the outside of the walls and glinted from the barbed wire that topped it. Admittedly all this was to keep anyone from getting in – but it worked equally well in the opposite direction. I walked on, trying to fight off the black depression that still threatened to overwhelm me. I passed through a medium sized atmosphere craft area, two runways and some hangars, with a
collection of lumbering jet transports standing
about. For a moment I considered stealing one of these – but where would I land without being captured? I had to be in this city tonight, not zipping off to parts unknown.

Beyond the aircraft was a high chain metal fence that cut off the spaceship area. Getting in there would be easy enough – but what would it accomplish? I could see the same high
outer wall stretching off into the distance. There was a rumble in the sky and bright lights lanced down. I turned around and watched, sunk in gloom, as a delta wing fighter settled in heavily for a landing. It looked like one of the same type that had strafed me at Pot rock. The tires squealed when it was hit and the jets roared with reverse thrust – and I was running forward even while the idea
was half-formed in my mind.

Madness? Perhaps. But in my line of business, crookery, you learn to rely on hunches and trained reflexes. And while I ran the parts all fell into place and I saw that this was It. Sweet, fast, clean and dangerous. The way I liked things. I took a false moustache out of my pocket and fixed it on my lip as I ran.

The jet turned and taxied off to a hardstand and I trotted
after it. A car came out to meet it and a crew of mechanics began to service the jet. One of them unloaded a ladder and placed it next to the cockpit as the top of the canopy opened like an alligator’s mouth. I ran a little faster as the pilot climbed down and made for the car. He was just climbing in when I came stumbling up and he returned my salute. A burly individual in heavy flying gear,
the golden crescent of a major on his collar.

‘Excuse me, sir,’ I gasped, ‘but the commandant asked me to make sure you had your papers.’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ he grumbled, sliding into his seat. He sounded tired. I climbed into the back.

‘Then you
don’t
know. Oh, God! Driver – get going as fast as possible.’

The driver did, since that
was his job, and I slipped the tube out
of the holder in my hip pocket. When we were out of sight of the jet I raised it to my lips.

‘Major …’ I said, and he turned his head and grunted. I puffed.

He grunted again and raised his hand towards the little dart stuck in his cheek – then slumped forward. I caught him before he fell.

‘Driver – stop! Something has happened to the major.’

The driver, obviously not a man of much imagination,
took a quick look at the slumped figure and hit the brake. As soon as we skidded to a stop, I let him have a second narco-dart and he went off to join the major in dreamland. I laid them both on the ground and stripped off the officer’s flying suit and helmet. With a little bit of struggling I managed to pull the things over my own uniform, then strapped on the helmet and pulled the tinted goggles
down over my eyes. All of this took less than a minute. I left the dozing pair in each other’s arms and headed the car back to the plane. So far so good. But this had been the easiest part. I stood on the brakes and skidded to a stop on the hardstand.

‘Emergency!’ I shouted, leaping from the car and running to the ladder. ‘Unhook this thing so I can take off.’

The mechanics merely gaped at me,
making no move towards the umbilical wires and hoses that connected the plane to the servicing pit. I wheeled the nearest one about and used the toe of my boot to move him in the right direction. He got the message clearly and the others now understood as well. They went to work. All except a grizzled noncom with a sleeve covered with hash marks and stripes and a face covered with suspicion. He
rolled over and looked me up and down.

‘This is Major Lopta’s personal plane,
sir. Haven’t you made a mistake?’

‘Not as big a mistake as you are making interfering with me. How long has it been since you were a private?’

He looked at me in thought for a moment, then turned away without another word. I headed for the plane. As I climbed the ladder I saw that the noncom was busy at the radio
in the car. This was a mistake on my part; I should have done something about that radio. As I was getting into the cockpit he dropped the radio and bellowed.

‘Stop that man! He has no orders for this flight.’

The man steadying the ladder reached for my leg and I put my foot on his chest and pushed. I sent the ladder after him and dropped into the seat.

This situation had rapidly developed
in a direction that was not to my liking. I had planned on having enough time to familiarize myself with the controls before I fired up the engines; although I had plenty of jet hours I had never been in a Cliaandian one before. Not only didn’t I know where the starter was but I did some pretty desperate fumbling before I even found the switch for the instrument lights. As I flicked it on the ladder
smacked back against the side of the plane. I hated old efficient noncoms, the backbone of the military. Now I had to take out time to open the flying suit and grope inside it for my pockets.

A few happy-gas and sleep grenades cleared away the mechanics for the moment. Some lay cheerfully unconscious while the others laughed themselves sick. The noncom had cowardly stayed out of range and was
back on the radio again. I studied the instruments. There! The little black knob with
PALJENJE
on it. When I slapped it the jets whined and rumbled to life. A rocket slug crashed through the open canopy above my head and I ducked, cursing. As I kicked in the throttle I saw the noncom kneeling to take careful aim. The plane began to move – slowly.

His gun flared again
and I felt the vibration
as the slug buried itself in the seat. Which was probably armored. My first bit of luck. I flipped the tail so it pointed at the gunman, which put the armor between me and him and gave him a good blast of jet exhaust in the face. The plane bucked and shuddered and moved forward again – and I saw the torn fuel hose flapping in the wind stream and pumping out its vital juices. Those idiots hadn’t disconnected
it! I didn’t know where the fuel gauge was on the cluttered instrument board, nor did I want to look at it. Logic told me that gravity would bleed the fuel out a lot slower than the pumps had forced it into the tanks – but logic had nothing to do with this. I had a vision of the jets dying out here in the middle of the field while the forces of the enemy closed in around me. I could feel
my blood pressure going up like an express elevator.

My busy little noncom friend was obviously still working on the radio, because when I turned onto the runway I saw that some trucks were moving into position to block it and something that looked suspiciously like an armored car was roaring up in the background. I cut the throttle back almost all the way and ducked my head down to read the
instrument panel again.

What I was looking for wasn’t there! Then I noticed another bank of switches on one side and painfully spelled out their messages in the bad light.
ISBACIVANJE
. There it was!

I looked up and saw that I was about to crash into the first truck. Men were baling out and running in all directions. My feet paddled about as I groped for the wheel brakes and I threw the rudder
hard over. I finally found the brakes, stood on the right one and did a shuddering turn. About a half meter of wing tip tore off on the front of the truck. There was the orange blast of a gun as someone fired at me, but I have no idea where the slug went. Then the
jet was around and I was belting back in the opposite direction. This time at full throttle.

The runway lights were streaming by,
faster and faster, and I had to keep one hand on the wheel while I groped for the belts and harnesses with the other. One of the buckles was missing and the end of the runway was coming up before I found out that I was sitting on it. I clicked it into place and grabbed the wheel with both hands as I ran out of runway.

The jet did not have flying speed. The nose was mushy and would not lift when
I pulled back on it.

Then I was bumping across the graded dirt heading straight for that stone wall I had been looking at all evening.

Faster and faster to a certain collision.

T
HE TIMING
had to
be just right. Too early or too late would be just as disastrous. When the walls loomed up above the jet and I could see the joints between the blocks I figured it was about right and I hit the eject button.

Bam! The sequence was almost too fast to follow – but it worked. A transparent shutter snapped down over my face, the still tilted up canopy blew away with
a crack of explosives, and the seat slammed up so hard against me that it felt like my spine had shortened to half its length. Almost in slow motion I sailed up and out of the jet and, for a hideously long second, saw the raw stone of the wall directly in front of me. Then I was over with only the dark sky ahead.

At the highest point in my arc there was another sharp crack at my back and I looked
up to see the white column of the parachute swirling up above me. I was falling and the roofs of some buildings looked very close below.

The chute opened with a rustling snap, the seat pushed up against me and, a moment after this jarring deceleration, the wall of a building was rushing past and the seat hit the ground and rolled over. The chute settled slowly down and draped me in its enveloping
folds.

I am chagrined to report that I did nothing at all at that moment. Events had moved even faster than I had planned and this final bit had been simply stunning. I gaped and gasped and shook my head and finally had enough sense to bang the quick release and throw off the harness straps. After that I kept my head
down and crawled and finally got out from under the chute.

A man and a woman
had stopped on the opposite side of the street and were goggling in my direction. No one else was in sight. The only sign of activity seemed to be coming from the other side of the great black wall that loomed behind me. Flames lit the sky and smoke roiled and I could hear the loud popping of burning ammunition. Lovely.

‘Testing new equipment,’ I called out to the spectators and turned and trotted
out of sight around the corner. In a dark doorway I stripped off the flying suit and dropped the helmet on top of it. Unidentified and free I strolled away towards the Robotnik.
Brilliantly conceived, Jim,
I told myself and gave myself a little pat on the shoulder.

At the same moment I realized that now that I was out of the base I would have to find a way to get back in before dawn, but I pushed
this depressing revelation out of sight. First things first. I had to dispose of the real Vaska Hulja in order to take over his identity.

He was stirring when I came in, thrashing about in the bed and rocking his head back and forth. The hypnotic trance was wearing thin and he was fighting against it. Not that the robot cleaner was helping. It had dusted and cleaned the room and was now trying
to make the bed with Vaska in it. I booted the thing in its
COME BACK LATER
button and ordered dinner for two. To take Vaska’s subconscious mind off his troubles I gave him the strong suggestion that he had gone two days without eating and that this was the best meal he had ever had in his lifetime. He smacked and chortled and gurgled with delight while he ate; I just picked at my food. In the
end I pushed it away and ordered Strong Drink in the hopes that the alcohol would stimulate or depress my thoughts into some coherent plan.