The Machinery Of Light Part 7

"What's up?" asks Linehan.

What's up is that the s.p.a.ceCom flags.h.i.+p just blew to kingdom f.u.c.k. A series of microtacticals, rigged at judicious intervals: a gaping hole's opened at the very center of the L2 fleet. Lynx can see the way the charges have been rigged to minimize the debris-can see the firing patterns of the fleet adjust automatically to take into account the fact that one of their capitol s.h.i.+ps is no longer available. But all of that's secondary to the more immediate problem. The two corvettes have now traversed more than half the distance to the s.h.i.+p they're making for. Only they're not going to get there- "I just thought of something else," says Linehan.

"Shut up," says Lynx.

"Even if you defuse the charges, surely the rest of the fleet can just-"

"I said shut up up," snarls Lynx.

The other corvette detonates.

The noise is overwhelming. The floor beneath them's shoving upward. The G-forces are going to town. The s.h.i.+p's rising out of the root of the mountain while door after door opens above it. Kilometers of rock are surging past.

"Looking good," says Sarmax.

Spencer's barely listening. He's just probing on the zone, pressing in at the entryways to the s.h.i.+p's c.o.c.kpit, calibrating the communications going on all around. He's gaining more room to maneuver as the weaponry systems come online-all too many bomb-racks, far too many guns. But the real weapon is the s.h.i.+p itself, the name of which rises into view on its own zone like something glimmering within oceanic depths ...

"Hammer of the Skies," says Spencer. says Spencer.

"Catchy," says Sarmax.

The last door swings open above them.

They rise through a series of ventilation shafts, coming out into one of the auxiliary hangars. It's just been overrun by American forces. But Carson and Haskell are no longer trying to talk to them. They're hacking them instead, splicing additional orders into the ones that the soldiers have just received, establis.h.i.+ng the two of them as high-value a.s.sets that need to be removed from the premises immediately. The hangar doors open as an unmanned s.p.a.ceCom drop-pod descends into the chamber. Hatches on the pod slide back. The Operative shoves Haskell in, following right behind her. Engines roar as the hangar drops away, followed by all of Tsiolkovskiy base. Haskell gets a glimpse of American a.s.sault troops and s.h.i.+ps pressing in upon it from every side. She feels the drop-pod accelerate. Moon streaks by below.

But she's detecting something else above.

"The hinge of fate," says Carson softly.

"Is that all?" she replies.

Snipping off the loose ends. It's what Jharek Szilard is good at. It's why he's now second-in-command to the president herself. And why a lot of people aboard the surviving corvette are suddenly realizing they've just become something they never planned on being.

Expendable.

Lynx is doing all he can to salvage the situation. He knows the whole thing was a longshot to begin with. He knew all along that should the charges aboard the corvettes not go off, Szilard would have backup guns ready to take out those s.h.i.+ps, along with announcements to the rest of the fleet about how the corvettes contained the Eurasian saboteurs who just blew the Montana Montana. Lynx has managed to hack the wireless conduits on the hi-ex, not to mention f.u.c.king with the guns that the nearby dreadnaughts have trained on them. He thought he'd done it in such a way that everyone would think the orders were to let the corvettes land-that he could run interference on Szilard's personal supervision. But now more guns are swinging onto the corvette. He's giving contrary instructions; his mind races out into the L2 fleet-out in too many directions. He's getting overextended. He can't keep up. He knows he's dead. The screens around him start to flare.

Pressurized armor offers only so much protection. Spencer's getting knocked black and blue. Yet even with all the specs in his head, he's having difficulty processing what he's seeing on the screens. Hammer of the Skies Hammer of the Skies is more than two klicks high, more than half a klick wide. It s.h.i.+ts out one nuclear bomb every second, channeling that detonation against the ma.s.sive pusher plate layered up against its foundation as the s.h.i.+p climbs a column of atomic fire out of the Himalayas. Nuclear contamination rains down beneath it. But when you're fighting the war to end all wars the last thing you're worried about is environmental impact statements. is more than two klicks high, more than half a klick wide. It s.h.i.+ts out one nuclear bomb every second, channeling that detonation against the ma.s.sive pusher plate layered up against its foundation as the s.h.i.+p climbs a column of atomic fire out of the Himalayas. Nuclear contamination rains down beneath it. But when you're fighting the war to end all wars the last thing you're worried about is environmental impact statements.

"Holy s.h.i.+t," s.h.i.+t," says Spencer. says Spencer.

"For sure," says Sarmax.

The screens show it plainly-that the thing they're in is merely the pride of the ma.s.sive fleet it's leading. The Eurasian Coalition has committed its main reserves from bases hidden deep beneath the Earth. The scale of the force now entering the fray beggars description. The sky above western China is turning black with s.h.i.+ps and flame. And now those s.h.i.+ps open fire on everything above them.

It's unmistakable. A new factor's entered the equation. Something's bringing long-range fire to bear upon the L2 fleet above them. And from the look of the emissions now lacerating the vacuum, those shots are coming all the way from- "Earth," says Haskell.

The s.h.i.+t going on overhead is invisible to the naked eye. But no one uses those anymore anyway-it's all enhanced vision and extended wavelengths now. The sky is almost caked with fire. Shots slam against L2's dreadnaughts even as they return the favor.

"The East is bouncing DE off our nearside mirrors," says Haskell.

"Of course," says Carson. She's propped up next to him in the c.o.c.kpit. He's injected her with something that makes it tough to feel her flesh. Everything's gone all fuzzy. But her mind's working on overdrive all the same.

"We need to talk," she says.

Lynx isn't one to miss an opportunity-his mind shoulders the pilots aside, seizes key software nodes in the c.o.c.kpit, and sets the controls to send the corvette skimming past the nearest dreadnaught and straight at the converted colony s.h.i.+p that's just beyond it. Both those s.h.i.+ps have other s.h.i.+t to worry about right now-like the fact that they're being sh.e.l.led from the other side of the Earth-Moon system. Disorder hits the L2 fleet as it struggles to react to the new threat. The corvette plunges in toward the colony s.h.i.+p, which fills the screens as the pilots struggle desperately to regain control. Lynx hasn't the slightest intention of letting them do so.

Clearing ten thousand meters," says Spencer.

"Roger that," says Sarmax.

The coast of Asia is pa.s.sing beneath them. The vid-feeds show the chaos that's gripped the Chinese cities across the last hour. The American attack has punctured the Eastern def-grids in multiple places and left the population centers helpless.

"They're still intact," breathes Spencer.

"Exactly," says Sarmax.

The logic's plain enough. Why wipe out cities when you can tip them into anarchy instead? The electric grids are gone. The zone's f.u.c.ked. Spencer and Sarmax gaze on pure pandemonium in the streets of New Shanghai and all its brethren. The occasional DE blast from the American satellites overhead has only added to the madness.

"Not gonna distract the East that much," says Spencer.

"But every little bit helps."

Meaning that every military resource the Coalition had in its megacities has been totally preoccupied. Meaning there's been that much more that the East's command structure has had to worry about. But now the tide is turning. The fleet that's just over a minute into its ascent is spreading out around all sides of the Hammer Hammer, all s.h.i.+ps careful not to stray within the fiery clouds of the behemoth's exhaust. Yet Spencer can see that he hasn't been thinking big enough all the same ...

"f.u.c.k," he says.

"h.e.l.lo," says Sarmax.

Off to the north: Hammer of the Skies Hammer of the Skies has a twin. With its own fleet spread out around it. Combined, the carpet of Eurasian s.h.i.+ps extends for several hundred klicks in all directions. An armada the likes of which the world has never seen-and Spencer can only imagine what it must look like from the American positions in low-orbit. has a twin. With its own fleet spread out around it. Combined, the carpet of Eurasian s.h.i.+ps extends for several hundred klicks in all directions. An armada the likes of which the world has never seen-and Spencer can only imagine what it must look like from the American positions in low-orbit.

Blotting out the f.u.c.king planet," she mutters.

"I see it," he says.

The camera-feeds they're hacking into go out. Haskell can't tell whether they got destroyed or whether she's just lost zone-contact with what's going on closer to the Earth. There's enough s.h.i.+t going down that the answer could be both. Though the lunar portion of it still seems to be holding up. Congreve sprawls on the horizon, drifting ever closer. It looks almost serene from up here.

Haskell's mind is anything but. She turns toward Carson-is surprised to find she can move her neck far enough to do so. He glances at her while he works the craft's controls.

"Don't say it," he says.

"How do you know what I'm about to say?"

"Because you never could fool me."

"You're saying you can read minds too?"

"I'm saying we have a connection."

She almost smiles at that, shakes her head.

"Why did you join with Sinclair?"

"You asked me that already."

"He's going to eat you alive."

"He'll choke if he tries that."

The corvette veers and yaws, partially the result of the struggle for control within its systems, but also a function of the evasive maneuvers that Lynx is putting it through. But the colony s.h.i.+p is almost on them; Lynx reaches out, commandeering that s.h.i.+p's emergency docking procedures. Hangar doors open on the colony s.h.i.+p as the corvette streaks into the outer hangars-plowing through into the inner hangars- They're way out over ocean now, gaining height on a trajectory that will cross the coast of North America within the minute. Spencer feels himself shaken ever harder as the Hammer Hammer accelerates, spitting out incrementally larger bombs that send it streaking over the eastern Pacific. Directed energy is striking the hull from every direction, though it doesn't stand much chance of getting through several layers of tungsten hull. accelerates, spitting out incrementally larger bombs that send it streaking over the eastern Pacific. Directed energy is striking the hull from every direction, though it doesn't stand much chance of getting through several layers of tungsten hull.

"They can't touch this," says Sarmax.

Not by a long shot. Spencer can see that the Hammer Hammer's twin is keeping pace, a hundred klicks north and slightly higher. He zeroes in on it while Sarmax watches over his virtual shoulder.

"We got a name on that thing?"

"Righteous Fire-Dragon," says Spencer. says Spencer.

"What kind of a name is that?" that?"

"I'm guessing it sounds better in Chinese."

"Wonder if it's exclusively theirs."

"Probably divvied up the same as this one."

"Doesn't matter as long as they get to beat up on the Yanks."

"Speaking of-"

Sarmax nods. The coast of California sweeps toward them.

Two people in a room that comprises their whole s.h.i.+p. There's so much history between them it threatens to swamp the here and now. But that just seems to amuse Carson. Which p.i.s.ses off Haskell even more. Especially when they're talking about the one man who no one's seen for far too long.

"Sinclair had me train you for a reason," says Carson.

"Did he arrange for you to f.u.c.k me too?"

"Who's to say I can't have ideas of my own?"

"Don't start that again," she snaps. "I was in love love with Jason." with Jason."

"Only because you could no longer have me."

Haskell turns to look back out the window. Congreve's filling most of it now. Most of the dome's dark. But lights blink throughout the s.p.a.ceport that sits atop it. She turns back toward Carson.

"If I wanted you, it was only because I was rigged that way."

"But what about now?"

"Why does it matter?"

"For me, it was the only thing that did."

"You are such such a f.u.c.king liar." a f.u.c.king liar."

He looks at her for a moment like she's never seen him look. "That'd make all this a lot easier."

"You're even more cold-blooded than Sinclair."

"Not so cold as to not see that we're two of a kind."

"You and Sinclair?"

"You and me."

"Give me a break." break."

"Already did."

"What?"

"I trained you for ten years. Watched you grow up. C'mon, Claire. How could I not not have fallen for you just a little along the way?" have fallen for you just a little along the way?"

"This is bulls.h.i.+t."

"Fine. It's bulls.h.i.+t."

"You murdered Andrew Harrison."

"I've murdered a lot of people."

She raises an eyebrow. He laughs, but it's not really laughter. "And I had to make it look like I was being played by Montrose. Had to say what she needed to hear."

"You were about to deliver me into her hands."

"I was going to break you out later."

"That is so so much s.h.i.+t." much s.h.i.+t."

"Is it? How can I afford to let anyone else possess-"

"Exactly. That word."

"I didn't mean it."

"You've f.u.c.king injected me with a paralyzing-"