Dominant Species by Michael E. Marks Read Free Book Online Page B

the makeshift wall, defining the forward edge of the courtyard.
    The southern edge backed directly into the base of the mountain. Tons of stone had been cut away to create a sheer wall that rose nearly thirty meters. Centered in that flat expanse of granite, a lone window gazed down upon the courtyard. The wide elevator door centered directly below the window.
    Orange-vested figures emerged from the mammoth elevator, followed by two small yellow tractors that bristled with antannae. The vehicles moved to either side of the truck while technicians scurried about hauling power lines and air hoses.
    Jenner tossed a weary nod, "What's the deal?"
    "Security runs a scan of the tank," Briggs replied. "Gotta make sure we didn't pick up anything like a tracking device or a bomb."
    "Aside from the one we packed ourselves?"
    Briggs gave two rapid strokes on the fetid cigar but otherwise ignored the comment. "That scanner can look clean through the truck, it'll even spot cracks in the tank wall. Better to know out here before we haul this thing into the shaft. Last time we had a leak was when some idiot opened the pressure valve on the input line without checking to see that the backflush had been set." Briggs paused, watching Jenner process the information. "You wouldn't happen to know what happened next, wouldja?"
    "No backflush," Jenner chewed his lip and squinted. "Well, the Hex would have run through the lines under pressure, but instead of flowing into the tank it would have bounced at the backflush valves and routed into the overflow tank."
    "Yeah..." Briggs coaxed.
    "At normal line pressure the overflow tank would have maxed out pretty quick. The extra would have nowhere to go but out, and end up as spillage." The private looked up to see Briggs staring blankly. Jenner grimaced, wondering which part of the process he had botched.
    Before Jenner could utter a retraction, the grey stubble on Briggs' craggy jaw parted. Slowly, unbelievably, a grin crawled across the sergeant's face. "Well I'll be damned son, you go off and read a book or something when I wasn't looking?"
    Jenner exhaled fully and smiled in return. "Nah," he replied off-handedly, "I've got a hardass boss who beats this crap into my head."
    "Wha-- Oh, hardass is it?" Briggs snorted in mock anger as he snatched the cap from his head and swatted Jenner's chest with a lazy backhand smack. "Well it damn sure would take a hardass to pound some sense into that thick skull of yours!"
    The rough camaraderie came as close to a genuine moment of friendship as Jenner could recall, and he liked the feeling.
    Brilliant light flared at the truck's two forward corners, drawing closer as the scanner units crawled down the length of the truck in tandem. As the glow intensified, Jenner noted a foreign sound over the gusting wind, a whistle that grew deeper and louder.
    Briggs snapped around, his eyes flared wide. "INCOMING!"
    The whistle stopped abruptly as the base of the western guard tower exploded. Huge chunks of shattered concrete skipped across the tarmac as another descending whine cut through the thunder.
    "Punch it!" Briggs screamed, stabbing a finger at the elevator.
    As a second explosion thundered somewhere astern, Jenner shoved the truck's throttle into overdrive. The invisible gravitic cushion swelled abruptly, rolling over one of the scanners and stamping it flat into the tarmac. Technicians scattered as the truck lurched forward.
    A third round slammed high on the stone wall, blasting rock from the face of the mountain. Granite hail rained from clouds of smoke.
    Briggs jerked around in his seat, eyes fixed on the wounded guard tower. With a groan, the structure leaned unsteadily. Briggs' fist beat madly on the dash as he shouted, "Go, go, go!"
    Darkness swallowed the truck as it lunged into the elevator. Jenner was thrown forward as the nose slammed into the far wall, but his eyes remained glued to the rear-view screen. The ponderous doors closed all-too-slowly.
    Another