Cinnamon Candi pushed the three sliding levers on the center console of
her Golden Supreme rocketship to full power, then picked up the microphone to the HF radio.
“Cinnamon Candi to all monster hunters, emergency One One One Six,
location, Copernicus cavern sixteen, map entry marker forty-five, twelve point five, condition, urgent.”
The HF radio whined and crackled, then spoke in response.
“Cinnamon, nice to hear your voice, Rick Frederick here, responding,
seventeen, ETA thirteen, no make that twelve. Are you leading?”
Cinnamon paused long enough for another voice to respond.
“Bill Baxter here, ETA oh six, I'm in a better position, and I know
Jack. I'm assuming leader role alpha gamma and we will use scenario number seven-two, which I think is best, um, from what
I can see, his X11 ship is intact and the chute at marker forty-five, twelve point five is condition golden.”
The HF radio crackled again.
“Hi there, Martin Even here, too far out, sorry, good luck to you
and lay down some fire for me.”
“Cinnamon Candi, I'm ETA eight and I see Bill's XJ56 approaching the
marker. We could use one more, and I think Jack would appreciate anyone with time and training for a quick-entry rescue.”
The HF radio again crackled to life.
“William Deke, ETA twenty, I'll hit the ground running, are we going
in armed?”
“Baxter here, we are using scenario seven-two, look that up in your
book. I have an extra blast-o-matic if anyone doesn't have theirs. Speed is of the essence. The tracks are still fresh and
it looks like they are still dragging him toward our intercept point, the trace marks indicate he is alive and resisting.
I am ejecting now, Godspeed.”
Cinnamon Candi shut off the HF radio. She had opened it once and peeked
inside. There were many tiny components, somehow attached to a central fiberglass board. In school they had said these were
cap-sisters, in-ducts, and things that would resist. There were also things that could choke you, or stick pins or chips of
some kind in you. Certain components could transform themselves into other things. There was even a bus, that could disappear
without a trace. Somewhere, there were pots, cans, mixers and even an oven. There was even a rumor that there were crystals,
and that some of the parts were covered in gold. There was a thing sometimes called V-C-C, and it was trying to get to the
ground, and somehow this made everything go. It was all very confusing. She was glad that it was not her job to understand
those sorts of things. You could go nuts rather quickly, if you were not careful. She felt kind of sorry for the people whose
job it was to understand it.
Cinnamon Candi checked the charge of her blast-o-matic, flipped on the safety
and leaned back in the ejection chair. A precious minute elapsed, with the presence only of annoyed indicators on the Golden
Supreme dashboard. The whine of machinery reached an impossibly high level, followed by a vibration, a flash, and space and
time shifted. The ejection capsule retrorockets fired, then fired again, and the chute was in sight.
Down into the darkness. Scenario seven-two was an emergency, last chance
rescue attempt, involved catching the team of monsters off-guard, and relied on speed, firepower and surprise to be effective.
William Deke opened his ejection capsule, the last of the monster hunters
to arrive.
“Safety on for the blast-o-matic. Check your charge. Gloves on, they
tend to heat up when they are discharging. This way,” called Baxter, “hurry.”
Deke checked his blast-o-matic. Fully charged. Without looking back, he
sprinted into the entrance, gloving both hands, and the cave entrance receding behind like a thing fleeing, each losing the
other.
The walls to the cave were narrow and unforgiving, covered in slime in parts
that had something to do with monsters marking their territory. The floor was ash, hardened by heat to a firm footing, occasionally
giving way when stressed to the consistency of dirt.
Heavy breathing filled the audio channel of the mini HF radio embedded in
the helmet.
“Rick, Bill behind you. We are going to the right here, this straightaway
is long but the most direct route. If we keep up this pace we will be on them in 5 minutes. We will be approaching from behind,
I think surprise is on our side.”
A deep rumbling shook the rescue party for several seconds.
“Cinnamon, great, just what we need, looks like another eruption.
These caves are likely to be filled with hot lava any moment now.”
“Bill here, too late to turn back. We need to pick up the pace now
to a light run-jog. Looks like we are all in good condition for this. Rick, we need to stick together here.”
The ground shook again, with the fury of an unappeased deity.
The cavern began to narrow, so that the rescue team members began to occasionally
scrape against the wall.
“Deke speaking, the slime is thicker here, we are nearing a herd or
a herd center of some kind.”
“2 minutes, we need to run now, this is it, sight your aim before
you fire, we don't want to hit Jack. Who has the medical kit? He might need medical attention.”
“Cinnamon here, I have one. I think Deke has one too.”
“Rick here, the slime now on the ground, it only stays this way before
it evaporates, the tracks are very fresh.”
Monsters make only one other sound other than snickering, and it is when
they are surprised. The squealing of surprised monsters filled the air.
“Baxter here, looks like we have a herd center, ummm... there!, 2
o'clock, the sack they are dragging, that must be Jack. Cover me, I'm going in. First shot is for Jack.”
A loud roar sounding like the engine of a rocket ship and the static of
the HF radio filled the air. There was a smell of ozone and a bright flash of light as the blast-o-matic found its target.
“Cinnamon here, nice shot Bill, aim for the small group – we
need to make them drop the sack.”
The sounds of squealing monsters, blast-o-matics, the grumblings of the
volcano, and various words of direction and observation filled the air in an indescribable chaos of light, sound, smell and
action.
The monsters retreated, leaving a sack behind.
Bill was now on the sack, pulling a knife from its sheath on his hip, he
ripped open the top.
“Jack!” screamed Cinnamon, who promptly gave him a kiss on his
leather helmet. “Are you okay?”
“My ankle. I can't walk. And volcano A-34 is going to blow any minute
now. I have been listening to it rumble. Oh and thanks for the rescue – I owe you one.”
“Rick here, the monsters are circling now, they are blocking our escape
route, and it is now a full herd center.”
“I can stand but I can't walk. Were are your ships?”
“The chute at marker forty-five, twelve point five.”
Jack shook his head. “Bad, bad placement.”
A loud rushing sound now filled the air, with more monster squealing.
“The sound you hear is lava starting to fill the caverns, whatever
air is inside is being forced out as the tubes fill.”
Rick was consulting a set of maps. “There is another option. The access
stairway for the failed mining expedition number twelve is directly above us and leads up.”
“But up to where,” said Bill.
A glow from a side chamber turned to bright light as the lava emerged into
the center of the room with the fury of a storm-enhanced river, with squealing monsters heading straight for them and the
center access to the mining stairway.
Cinnamon hiked herself up to the center panel, removed it as the monsters
and humans filled the access tube in a mad escape rush.
“Jack give me your hand,” called Cinnamon.
Deke was taping up Jack's ankle, after withdrawing the needle from a steroid
injection.
“That's what it needed, I can move now, it appears to not be broken.”
The hissing, bubbling lava now filled the lower chamber and resembled an
orange ocean, angry at having been denied it's prize, it strained yet harder and moved upwards, demanding a human sacrifice,
a lifeless thing filled with life, seeking to claim the lives of others.
“We need to get higher,” called Bill, “up the stairway.”
“Any other route?” called Deke.
Rick shook his head. “The stairway is vertical. Standard vacuum chamber
port at the top, hasn't been used in 20 years.”
Monsters, humans, and other creatures Jack had never seen mingled in a rush
of instinct and adrenaline up the narrow spiral stairwell, with fast-rising lava lapping their heels, occasionally the slower
creatures disappearing into the orange, screaming out yet again the sound first heard at their births, and containing the
passion of life, but now last, finally, the sound of life escaping to death.
The herd of monsters and creatures assembled at the top, and most were squealing.
Bill examined the controls to the vacuum port at the top of the stairs.
“Say, there is a ship docked here.”
“Bill Baxter, calling ship docked at mining expedition twelve vacuum
port,”
There was no response.
The lava edged higher.
“There is a side chamber here,” called Rick.
Rick grabbed his blast-o-matic and disappeared.
The humans and creatures pressed tightly together at the very top of the
stairwell. Cinnamon and Jack sat together, while Bill and Deke furiously attempted to open the vacuum port to gain entry
to the docked ship.
Jack took Cinnamon's hand and held it gingerly.
“Rick here, you guys are not going to believe this.”
TO BE CONTINUED
