Transmate World: Chapter 27, Episode 1
Top of the Forward Cylinder, 6:52 P.M., Tuesday, December 7, 2145 A.D.
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Wundee parked the squadron of stasis cruisers near the upper edge of the Forward Cylinder. He assembleed the crew he wantsed— some of the 3rd Light Mounted and several squadron crewmembers, seven in all. He put Circuit Breaker second in command should anything happen to him. The ships’ armories disgorged platforms with a spectrum of firepower and 3D holographic recorder/projectors. Favorite Egg went over each projector getting camouflage settings right to make them all but invisible on their trek across the top of the cylinder. They rose above the edge of the cylinder on disk-shaped weapons platforms and moved across the vast, mirrored plane that was the top of the Forward Cylinder.
Although the exact location of the Prime Mechanical’s lair was unknown, Wundee speculated it was near the center of the cylinder, the areas blanked out on the map files sent by Newlux. Besides, the only access tube large enough to handle stasis mines opened on the bottom center of the cylinder and ended somewhere in the middle. Even though the graphic wasn’t available, notes described the tube ending in a spherical cavity. Maxlux would be nearby to examine the contents of his snares.
There were six tubes closest to the center of the cylinder. In the 3D files they went straight to the area of no data, out the other side, and continued to the bottom. Wundee would use these tubes to infiltrate the Supreme Arbiter’s quarters and keep See Lurchin’ out of the evil mechanism’s grasp.
They had eleven centoks to get to the central tubes and down to the center of the cylinder before the stasis field mines reached that central cavity.
“We will have to accelerate and decelerate at eight Rim gravities, crossing half the cylinder,” said Wundee. “This place reminds me of a joke I heard on Earth. A man claimed to live in a place so flat he could watch his dog run away for three days … ick ick ick.”
The entire crew stared at Wundee.
“What is a day?” asked Favorite Egg.
“What is a man?” asked Lieutenant Circuit Breaker.
“What is a dog?” asked Chrome Dome.
“What is a joke?” asked Tourmaline.
“I will explain on the way,” said Wundee, disappointed they could not appreciate such a fine joke, and they begin their journey.
Before long they were traveling thousands of miles per hour yards from the stasis surface of the Forward Cylinder. It reflected the black of space littered with stars so they seemed to blast off into a perfectly bisected, symmetrical cosmos.
They were still shedding speed near the central tubes when Wundee issued commands, and they spread out, some slowing and others speeding up. They were coming from six different directions as they approached the holes. Wundee soared high above the openings to get the best view for issuing the attack command at just the right instant.
Two strikemechs guarded each hole. Wundee zoomed in on a machine and noticed a tether on the robot’s leg disappearing into the tube. He flew over the tube and saw the tether attached to an object hanging in the tube.
“Use stunners on my word and let nothing drop into those holes,” said Wundee.
From his elevated position, he could see they were in range.
“Fire!”
The flurry of beanbag objects arrived at the same time as the projected camouflage so the strikemechs never knew what hit them. Two fell in and were intercepted by freemechs diving down the tubes and retrieving their incapacitated forms.
“What is this attached to their legs?” asked Chrome Dome.
“I have a radiation source; we can scan its internals,” said Favorite Egg, digging into a cavity on his torso for a little lead box.
The cylinders were eight inches in diameter and two feet long attached to each strikemech’s leg by a ten-foot tether. Passing the open lead box behind the cylinder and tuning their vision ports to x-rays revealed a gravity generator and battery.
“Judging power to weight ratio, this thing can do about forty Rim gravities even with a leg attached,” said Lieutenant Breaker.
“A primitive but effective trip wire alarm system,” said Wundee. “He was counting on somebody coming in blasting without noticing the tethers. The missile would take just two centoks to get to the Prime Mechanical’s central quarters, but would hit another trip much sooner than that. That would send an alarm by electronic relay to Maxlux.”
“It is well we caught them by surprise, rendering them unconscious. I would wager they are instructed to activate the missiles upon alarm,” said Chrome Dome.
“We will go at a slower velocity allowing us to stop without overunning the range of our radar. We do not want to trip this mechanism ourselves,” said Wundee. “Once past it, we will accelerate at our maximum rate of 25 Rim gravities to midpoint and slow from there at the same rate.”
“How will we know what is midpoint?” asked Favorite Egg.
“We will take a laser measurement of the diameter of the tube and tell by its apparent size how far we have gone,” said Wundee.
“That will become a Mundeen-awful small hole,” said Favorite Egg.
“It will work. As a backup, Chrome Dome will count levels. Take the measurement and take these strikemech’s CPU, memory circuits and batteries. We will de-protocol them later and give them another body. We will use their batteries, saving our spares for later. Get the portable armament from your weapons platform and meet me at that hole over there.”
After performing these chores they stood equally spaced around a tube and jumped in one at a time at two centik intervals. They all moved to the center of the tube and formed gravity bonds so they could stop without slamming into each other. Lieutenant Circuit Breaker led the way, looking down. Favorite Egg was last, looking up. It was his job to keep an eye on the apparent size of the hole. Openings flashed by at each level, one at the top of each level and one at the bottom. Which one you used depended on which way you turned on the gravity for that level. They were all empty, dark, and uninviting.
They fell only a few centuks before Breaker’s radar picked something up. They slowed to a halt before an enduraplast grid. Its mesh was small enough the alarm missile cannot miss smashing it apart. Chrome Dome had experience with alarms and possessed a set of mini-manipulators that reminded Wundee of Yootoo’s feathery little limbs so ineffective in a fight back on Earth. They were much more effective at turning off alarms. The freemech disconnected it in short order. They continued their journey, leaving the mesh hanging to one side of the transport cylinder.
Circuit Breaker maxed out his telescopic vision as their velocity exceeded 200 miles per second. A piece of a strikemech floating in the tube would destroy them all at this velocity.
“Within eight centuks of midpoint,” announced Favorite Egg.
“Let us reverse on three,” said Wundee. “One … two … three.”
They decelerated for another two centoks and approached the central level of the Forward Cylinder. As they approached the 25 millionth level, they noticed artificial gravity turned on at some Rim levels and slowed down to investigate. As soon as they hit the 100th level of the Prime Mechanical’s residence, the difference was evident. Openings flashing by were peep shows of eerie light and disturbing forms — also uninviting. They were still decelerating when they passed the Prime’s level one. The openings became empty again. They stopped and came back.
“The next level should be the first floor of the spherical cavity. We will start there,” said Wundee.
Peeking around the edge of an entranceway after cycling through the airlock into a foyer, they saw dim light striking the floor of the stasis mine reception cavity and defining the circular opening of the second level. Control panels skulked in the curving shadow on the first level.
