Koban: The Mark of Koban by Stephen W Bennett Read Free Book Online Page B

spoke in response to a comment
by Brad that at first light they could barricade the entrance to the mine.
    “Sir, it’s dark out here, we can’t see outside of the glow
of vehicle lights. We parked the trucks and cars like you said, to illuminate
the roadway into the mine, and parking some on the ramp gave us light there.
Only I don’t think we can bring up the heavy equipment tonight, not with people
trying to walk all the way to the bottom. After what they saw behind them, I
can’t blame them.”
    This mine had never operated at night, and the lighting in
the depths did not help up here at the mouth. Nook had no moon, leaving nights
with only starlight for human vision. There was no telling how well these
aliens could see in the dark. Even after they destroyed the power distribution
grid, the killing and screams went on without respite.
    “What I mean Brad, is that we can’t stand around and wait
for them to come out here to find our people. At least fifteen or twenty
thousand of our friends and neighbors never made it out of town. We can’t count
on mercy from these monsters, so we need to get the creatures moving in another
direction, or make them pull back.”
    “We don’t have weapons Sir and I watched how fast they moved
when they focused on cutting off the escape columns out of town. We can’t match
them physically, not even close, and all I can find are clubs and a dozen
drilling lasers.”
    “Brad, the drilling lasers are good, but they are not our
best weapons. What do we usually do with them?” he had an idea, not a
great one, but the only one that came to mind.
    “I’m no miner Sir, I guess for drilling, obviously.”
    “Saul, will you tell Brad what we do with those small bore
holes the lasers burn for us?” He turned to one of his engineers that had
sought him out in the dark and confusion.
    “Fill ‘em with explosives and blow off a rock face, or
crumble a flat area, like for the big bucket excavators when they drag the
rocks to conveyors and pile them up for hauling and processing. Anything like
that would slow or stop them.” He responded.
    “Explosives are weapons turned to peaceful uses Brad. We
have some here, and I think Saul can round up some crews to drill into the face
of the cliffs leading back here, and do that tonight, as soon as possible. The
explosives shack is safely clear of the mine, but we must have some stored
there. Right?” He looked at Saul.
    “Yes Sir, but not a lot. This old volcanic lava tube is
almost played out, so we weren’t doing much blasting.” Saul pointed that out to
his boss, seeing a glimmer of what he had in mind.
    “But do you think you have enough that you could bring those
cliffs down along the road when needed, on top of those murderous pricks when
they come for us out here?”
    “Absolutely, Sir. If we have enough time to drill and ram
the explosives and rig them in the dark.”
    “Saul, I think it’s safe to say that speed is needed more
than safety, so can you have someone rig and string the charges in the road
while others drill? Do just enough to pull the sides down and bury some of the
bastards, and delay the others. The AI estimated there were just over five
hundred of them. We may hurt them enough to make them pull back.”
    “They can get around the blockage Sir, if determined. We
can’t cover every route here.” Brad noted.
    “Thus the second part of the plan to divert them away.” The
shrewd CEO informed him.
    “As everyone that lives in Gem Town knows, the main
explosive storage dump is all the way on the other side of the spacepad, closer
to where that ship landed tonight. I need to get there, along with a small crew
that can rig explosives, run the big front loaders, and operate two or three of
our largest dumpers.” The latter were the forty-foot long, twenty feet high
dump trucks that hauled overburden and kimberlite deposits around.
    “Sir, what will you do with the Big Dumps?” Saul asked, using
the slang reference