End Game Read online

nothing: at least for a while. No one will make a decision without approval from a higher authority.”

  “Then announce that we are the vanguard of the Earths rebellion, and that this is an internal Earth dispute and no business of the…”

  “The U.N.C.”

  “ …Of the UNC.” That should put their bureaucracy into paralysis for a long time.”

  “Done. They have interrogated the Drakken, and it too has replied.”

  “What did they say?”

  “That I am stolen; and that you are a malcontent saboteur, on a mission to assassinate the Marshall.”

  “I guess that none of that is really too far from the truth.”

  “The station has demanded that the Drakken leave the atmosphere. They in turn have claimed hot pursuit has brought them to the planet. There will already be meetings being organized between Solar Council members. There can be no certainty what they will believe.”

  The city was now far behind, and the blue waters of the Ocean slid under them in a blur. It seemed so peaceful until Basilisk shook violently. “Nicholas we are vulnerable over open space; we should seek some cover.”

  “Then go back to the Blood Mountains.”

  The calls from the station had become nonstop: at first asking, then pleading, and now demanding that both craft cease hostilities’, but both ignored it.

  It was still some minutes before the thin line of land emerged on the horizon, and during that time those on the Drakken also realized they would lose the advantage over land. As the faint white of the breakers crashing onto the shore became discernible, the attack became constant.

  Nicholas wracked his brain trying to find a way to break the impasse. Hit and run was still the only way he could win, but how could he surprise them when they were already aware? The coast passed under them in a flash. “Take us back to the rebel base,” he said.

  He had no idea where they were, and it was a shock when Basilisk spoke barely moments later. “We will be there in thirty seconds.” He would have preferred more time but the decision was already made. “Go straight into the tunnel; as fast as you can.”

  Unseen behind him: as Basilisk brushed over the forest, trees bent, and their canopies shed leaves in the thousands. Nicholas knew that up ahead was the tunnel, but all he could see was solid rock, and they were hurtling towards it at a suicidal speed.

  The Drakken had seen their plan, and ignoring the elusive tiny target, it began to fire towards the cliff face. Obviously they too knew where the entrance was, and within seconds tons of rock was cascading down the cliff in front of them.

  “Nicholas I can withstand impact by the smaller chunks, but if I crash head on into one of the larger segments, the impact will likely be terminal.”

  Nicholas braced himself as through the trees, and directly below the avalanche he saw a tiny opening.

  It was growing in size but nowhere near as fast as the mountain was falling in front of them. He wanted to swallow; but his is throat was dry and constricted; he couldn’t speak. The feeling of imminent impact was so intense that he was certain his heart stopped beating for longer than was naturally possible. Then everything went black, for an instant he was frozen in panic, until he realized he was still alive. Before him the comparatively dim lights stretched away in two unbroken lines. He had half expected Basilisk to slow or stop, but there was no hesitation; they screamed along the tunnel at a blinding speed. “We will be at the other end very soon,” Isla said the words calmly, but their effect on Nicholas was the reverse.

  “The other end?”

  “It is your intention to exit at the lower end?”

  He didn’t really have a plan, past escaping the Drakken, but he was almost sure they already knew where they would emerge. “They will be waiting won’t they?”

  “Quite likely.”

  “Then stop.” The blur of lights slowed, and came to a halt.

  “We’re a rat in a trap, what we need is an entrance they won’t be waiting outside of. If the one entrance is sealed, we have to assume they will be waiting outside the other main entrance. Are there other ways in or out?”

  “Numerous ones, but all too small even for me,”

  “Not a one?” Nicholas felt his heart sink.

  “No.”

  “Then we no choice but to get out before they destroy the other entrance?”

  “I doubt they will seal both. If they do they could not observe our destruction. That would leave doubt to if they had achieved their purpose. It’s likely they will wait a short while for an escape attempt. If that doesn’t eventuate they will send missiles into the tunnel to find and destroy us.”

  “We don’t want either of those do we?”

  “It would not be recommended, and may not be necessary. The tunnel has two main entrances, and a number of secondary ones; too small to be of any use for us. Aboard the Drakken they will know this, but we do have an advantage; schematics of the entire system were placed in my data banks. I cannot be sure but there may be tunnels that they do not know about.”

  “The ventilation shafts?” Nicholas remembered. Maybe he wasn’t going to be trapped, but as soon as his fear ebbed, it came back again. “They are too narrow aren’t they?”

  “The ventilation shafts bar my passage, but it will be possible for you to make your way out. Though a scenario of you escaping on foot into the forest will have been considered, and the Drakken could have placed soldiers to wait. Of course that’s assuming they don’t seal all but a single one ventilation shaft, and then it could be a very long time for you locate the open one; long enough for them to send soldiers inside to find you.”

  Nicholas was silent for a few moments as he slumped back in the command chair. “Do you think we did any good?”

  “That is difficult to compute. That such a small spacecraft can at least take on the Drakken will have damaged the Marshal’s credibility as being unassailable, and in the confusion your friends may have escaped?”

  “Then maybe, just maybe there is a chance. I shall assume that when they come for me.”

  “You are going to stay here?”

  “As you say escape is impossible, so I will wait and make the soldiers pay a high price for my life.”

  “It is problematic but escape is not impossible.”

  “But you just said the entrances were covered?”

  “I have said was what I assume will be the thinking on board the Drakken. But the Drakken is an off world spacecraft and if it has, it has been uploaded with data that may not show everything. I don’t question the accuracy of their data but only its fullness. Whereas this is the place where I was created. This if you like is my home, and as one knows their own home I believe I know it better than them.”

  Nicholas’s hope rose. “Your saying there are other tunnels?”

  “I have plans from the very beginning of construction, that show emergency access tunnels that were not part of the finished construction.”

  Nicholas felt relief. “And you know where they are?”

  “I have detailed schematics of the entire system, but there is a problem. The emergency entrances are part of the overall ventilation system. Air drawn from the system will be at a slightly different temperature to that outside. If they don’t know about them, a scan of the heat and movement patterns over the mountain will likely direct the Drakken to those entrances. It will not be too difficult to pinpoint them once they know the general location. As I said before they will probably seal everything and bury us.”

  “Could we shoot out at speed?”

  “In a confined place like this I would create a shock wave before us. It would signal and allow them to detect our approach so that they can trap us in a barrage.”

  Again Nicholas’s hopes fell.

  “But there are the construction tunnels?”

  “And they are different in what way?”

  “Tunnels like this are not constructed by digging a hole and keeping digging until the end is reached.
They are dug from both ends to meet in the middle. Sometimes: as was done in this system they are also dug from locations along the tunnel back both ways.”

  Against his will his hopes began to rise. “And these are not part of the ventilation system?”

  “There is one specific tunnel that was dug during the dam construction. The intention was to use the excavated rock from the central section of the tunnel, in the dam wall. Obviously at that time there was no lake. As the wall construction proceeded; and the lake level rose and the tunnel was sealed, and forgotten.”

  Though Isla didn’t seem to see it Nicholas could see a big problem. “It’s below the lake level?”

  “Yes.”

  “And sealed?”

  “And before you ask it hasn’t been used since the earliest days of construction.”

  “Then…”

  “On the schematic plans there is an annotation referring to this tunnel. It states that it would be used for a proposed future turbine. Design in the project allowed for extra electrical generating capacity, when the time came; of course the time never did.”

  Nicholas wasn’t sure why, but an image of the water wheel at Jonathon’s mill came to his mind. “So it was only partially sealed?”

  “There was no determination on the need for extra capacity, so the planners temporarily sealed the tunnel for future consideration.”

  “But if it’s sealed?”

  “Not by a rock fall. To allow for future construction, there is a system of watertight doors that would have been reopened when the tunnel work had been completed.”

  “Then I’m glad that the ancients had such