"Awugll." I was surprised that I could say anything at all.
"Maybe he'll make it," Doug said. "Erica, if she don't know, she don't know. You can stop shaking her. "
"Yes." She came back over to me and knelt beside me. "Please be all right, Garrett. Please."
"Urk." Something was happening. I tried to help the breathing process. After about three tries I was able to inhale. Then exhale.
"What the hell do we do now?" Plemmons said.
"Watch that damn box," Doug said. "Stay close to it and trigger the bomb if it looks like we've had it. But wait as long as we can."
"Maybe we ought to set it off now," Don Plemmons said.
"Think we should wait," Doug said. "Erica? It's your baby."
"We wait. How is he?"
"Tryin' to breathe," Doug said. "I think he isgoing to make it. Maybe we ought to shoot that bitch now and get it over with?"
"No," I managed to say.
"So you can talk," Erica said.
I got in a deep breath. "Need to find out why," I said. "How many in on this."
"Good thinking," Plemmons said. "Lady, unless you like breathin' Mars air without a helmet, you better tell us what this is all about."
Eileen was crying.
"I can't believe Dr. Drury knew," Erica said. "He's all for the Project."
"No Marsman," Plemmons said. "He don't give shit about Free Mars."
"No, but he is for the Project," Erica insisted.
"Drillers," I managed to say. "Drillers are patriots. Get help."
"He's right," Plemmons said.
"Sure, and how many of this chick's friends are out there waitin' for her to get through killin' us all in our beds?" Doug asked. "Go out that air-lock, and maybe you face a couple dozen Feddie cops."
"We've got to do something," Erica said.
"First thing is we beat shit out of that chick," Plemmons said. "She'll talk.
"No," I said. "We don't work that way." I took a deep breath. Then another. I flexed my fingers and legs and they responded. One side of my face seemed paralyzed, and it took a conscious effort to breathe, but I could see and hear clearly, and nothing seemed wrong with my mind - nothing that wasn't wrong to begin with. I tried to sit up.
"Easy," Doug said.
"What's it about, Eileen?" I asked. "Why did you sell us out to the Feddies? You did, didn't you?"
She was still crying. "Because you'll ruin everything," she said. "Your horrible Project. We're learning what causes ice ages on Earth, we're learning what makes planets, and you'll ruin all that! You can't, you just can't do it."
"Are there Feddie cops outside?" I asked.
"Yes. University police. My father sent them."
"And Dr. Weinbaum? Did you betray him, too?"
"I don't know-"
"You know Kehiayan's orders," Doug said. "They didn't get the Doc alive…"
"Worry about us. We've got to stay alive a little over twenty-five hours and blow that thing off," Plemmons said. "Got any suggestions, Lieutenant? I guess you're in charge again." His voice was heavy with sarcasm. I had that coming.
"I think I can get up," I said, and did it. "Okay. We've got to get help. The only help I know of is the drillers. If they haven't been arrested. And the only way we can find that out is to get out of here. How many air bottles have we got?"
"Enough."
"Get packs together and f i l l the water tanks in the suits. We need twenty-five hours worth of air and water. We'll skip food. Then we've got to figure a way out of here."
"I got a way," Plemmons said. "Blow out a wall with shaped charges. Stands to reason they're watchin' the air-lock, not the back of the blockhouse. Blow it and run like hell."
"Will a blowout hurt the detonator?" I asked Erica.
"No. Are you really all right?"
"I'm going to live. I-"
"We'll talk about it later," she said.
"Yeah. Just what happened? How did you - I mean, why didn't she get the rest of you, too?"
Erica's eyes narrowed. "Because Don told me you'd been seeing her," she said. "And I heard her voice out here, and I watched her. And don't say I was spying on you, because I've got a right to know what my fiance is doing! I'm not giving you up to some school-educated snob! So when she sprayed you with that stuff and closed up her faceplate, I came up behind her and knocked the can out of her hand and batted her head against the wall."
"I'm amazed you didn't kill her," I said. I said it to myself, but I must have been talking louder than I thought.
"I would have, but I thought we ought to find out what she'd done to you."
Lord save us, I thought. "Don, set the charges in the back wall of your room."
Plemmons nodded and went back into the blockhouse. "What do we do with the bitch?" Doug asked.
"Put her helmet on her, tie her up, and leave her," I said.
"Maybe I should spray inside the helmet with some of that gunk," Doug said. "Erica?"
Eileen's face went white. "You can't! You aren't you can't?"
"No," Erica said. "But I'd like to. Wait a minute. What did you put in Garrett's coffee?"
Eileen didn't answer.
"Would it have killed him?" Erica demanded.
"No! It's just a knockout drop-"
"Drink it," Erica said. She brought the cup over. "Now, and every drop, or I swear I will use that spray can on you."
"But - "
Erica got the spray can.
"All right!" Eileen drank the coffee. They put her helmet on her and closed the faceplate. She sat still for a minute, then her head slowly nodded over.
"She could be faking," Erica said. "Tie her up, Doug." “Right."
I got up and moved gingerly around the room. I could walk all right. My face still felt funny, the way it does after a jawful of novocaine, but otherwise I seemed okay. A little light-headed, maybe, but that could have been from the shots as much as anything. “I'll function," I said. "Okay, let's get ready."
We got our packs and weapons. Erica carried her detonator. "All set?" Plemmons asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Let her fly."
We heard the explosions, then whistling air, and then silence. Half the wall was blown out. We leaped through, and Doug and Erica ran off toward the derrick. Plemmons and I ran to either side and wheeled around.
Someone fired at us from the dark. There were the silent orange flowers I remembered from the Deucalion battle. A figure moved toward me, and I swung the submachine gun like a hose, cutting him down. I fired another burst, then ran off after Erica.
Plemmons dropped down behind some rocks. "Move, chief," he said. His voice was loud in my headset.
"No heroes," I ordered. "Need all of us-"
"Be along in a minute." He fired a burst with his automatic rifle, and I ran on, wondering if I'd ever see h i m again.
We'd let the drillers guard the wellhead because, short of drilling out the hole again, there was no way the bomb could be disturbed. They'd been taking the rig apart and stowing it for travel, so we weren't too worried that anybody would drill for the bomb.
It was a kilometer to the well site. About halfway I felt woozy. This looked like as good a place to make a stand as any. I found a boulder and got behind it.
A figure came running toward me out of the dark. I sighted on it. "Don?" I called into the mike.