"Yeah, chief, don't get nervous."
"Leapfrog," I said. "Move on."
He slowed and looked around but couldn't see where I was.
"Go." I ordered.
He ran past, and I waited. My eyes were getting accustomed to starlight, and Deimos, the outer moon, was up. Deimos doesn't give much light; it's not even a disk, just a very bright star, but it was something. I thought I saw movement in front of me and fired a burst.
More orange flowers answered me. At least a dozen. I tried to remember where they'd been, and fired at a couple I was sure of. More answering fire from out there.
I didn't think I'd hit anybody. We stayed that way, trading silent shots for several minutes, and then I decided it was time to get the hell out of there. I crawled into a deep shadow and began to move toward the drill site.
Something bumped against me. I grabbed it, and we rolled over in the dark, tearing at each other. My weapon was tugged out of my hands. I reached back onto my belt and got my knife and thrust it, then again. Again. I felt him go limp, and hoped I hadn't run into one of my friends. Then I felt around for my submachine gun and crawled farther into the shadow. Finally I got up and ran.
"Garrett!" It was Erica's voice. I wished for air, so I could tell where she was.
"Coming!" I called.
"Hurry. We've got a tractor-"
"They're listening," I reminded her.
"I know that. Hurry."
"Sure. Count off!"
"Plemmons."
"Barston."
So Doug and Don had both made it. And Erica. I was breathing hard as I got to the well site. There wasn't anyone around that I could see.
"To your left," Erica's voice said.
I ran off into the darkness and almost fell over them. There were four drillers as well. "This way," a voice said. One of the drillers moved off, and we Wowed. He went around a boulder the size of a palace, and there was a tractor behind it.
"Get on," the driller said. We climbed on top of it, and it began moving off, upward, up the side of the volcano. It made sense; the cops were down below, and we couldn't go that way, but I didn't much like the idea of climbing that hill. Suppose we were still there when it was time to set off the bomb?
I moved toward Erica. There was something bothering me. It had for a couple of days, but I hadn't needed to know before. Now I did. I took her shoulder and moved my helmet next to hers. "Radio off," I said.
"Off. What do you think you're doing? Let me go."
"Damn it, save being mad for later-"
"I will. Believe me."
"I believe you. I have to know something. That bomb's a couple of kilometers underground. There's no radio signal can go through that kind of rock.
There must be a wire connection, something like that."
"Something like that," she said.
"What? Can they get at it and disable it?"
"It's a transponder. A receiver picks up the detonator signal and sends a sonic pulse through the ground," Erica said. "It's well hidden."
"Does Drury know about this?" I asked.
"Did you? He's a scientist, so he knows there has to be one - but he has no more idea where than you do."
"All right. But you had to have help. Who does know?"
"Tex. The Skipper said we could trust him. And he's driving the tractor."
"Okay." Now I had time to pay attention to what was happening to us. We were driving, without lights, at maybe twenty kilometers an hour, which doesn't sound very fast until you think about it. The road was narrow and getting narrower, and we were headed up the side of the mountain. I didn't think we were likely to be coming back down.
I pulled Erica closer to me. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry-"
"I don't want to talk about it."
" A l l right."
"You damned fool."
She did want to talk about it. She had a lot to say while we went up that mountain, up a goddamn mountain that we were going to turn into a volcano in about twenty-four hours.
Boy did she want to talk about it.
EIGHTEEN
We stopped about two kilometers from the drill site. When dawn came we'd dug in. Nobody had bothered us. There wasn't but one way up, and we had that covered, with the tractor's lights shining down on the road below.
"We in range for your gadget?" I asked Erica.
'Yes."
"Then there's nothing for it but to wait," I said. "Doug, have you got anything we can raise the Skipper with?"
"No. Not with us."
"That worries me," I said. "They'll try to bet to him and tell him it's all off. Or something-"
"Won't matter a lot," Plemmons said. "Plan's movin' now. Agents have gone up front. Skipper won't call it off, too much at stake now. Not unless you tell him yourself."
"Maybe. I'd sure like to get through to him," I said.
I looked around at my tiny command. Tex and Cal and two other drillers. Don and Doug. And Erica. Eight of us. I wondered how many Feddies were down below.
"I'll have a go," Doug said.
"No," I told him.
"My job, Garrett. I'm communications. And you're needed up here-"
"I'm not needed at all."
"You got a job to do," Doug said. "It won't end when that bomb goes unless-" he turned toward Erica. "Anyway, it's your job, not mine. Mine's communications, and I know where the sets are. Maybe I can sneak through. These aren't Marsmen, you know. University cops. Townmen. No good out in the open. I'll be safer than you are."
"All right," I said. "How will you go?"
"Around west and down the draw. Cross the road when I think I can. Hell, it's a piece of cake." Doug waved and was gone.
We waited. Nothing happened. The sun got higher.
"Did Eileen know when H-hour was?" Erica asked.
"Not from me. Did Drury?"
"Of course. But I don't think he would tell them-"
"He will if they ask right. The way you asked Eileen what she'd done to me. Did you mean any of that?"
"I don't have to say."
"I believed you," I said.
"I wish they'd do something," Erica said.
"Maybe they think they can wait us out. Have you heard any chatter on the radios?" She had been tuning back and forth across the different bands.
"No. But they could be using very low power."
"Probably are." ,.We waited some more. The sun got higher, and it warmed up a bit. It was going to be damned cold out there for the night, with only the tractor as a place to warm up.
"I'm getting hungry," I said. "I could-"
"Hush. Listen." She showed me the frequency. I tuned to it.
"Pittson? Can you hear us?"
I thought about whether we should answer. Why not? "Yeah, I hear you. Who is that?"
"Captain Moncrief, Federation police. Your rebellion has been called off, Pittson. Your Commander Farr has been broadcasting that the big push is not on after all. You may as well give up."
"Bullshit."
"It's true."
"I don't care if it is. I've got my orders."
"What do you think is going to happen to you when you detonate that weapon?" Moncrief asked.
"I try not to think about it. But I'm gonna do it. Guess when?"
"I know when."
"Good for you."
"Pittson, give us the detonator and we'll send you home. Back to Hellas. You and all your people. We don't want you. But what you're doing is insane."
Trouble was, he was probably right.
"I'm getting something else," Erica said. "Here."
I changed bands. There was nothing but static, then: "Blowhole, this is Highguard. We know your status. Your orders are unchanged. Garrett, if you're listening, we have the message. Hope you can hear this." The message repeated several times.