Chapter 10
THE MIRACLE
Morning watch changed to Brightness watch and still no word arrived from either monastery team, although Atalanta's Intelligence Unit was in almost constant contact with Defiant's COMM room. Brim had long since turned the controls over to Aram and was relaxing at his console leading every message that came through. During that time, the savage battle for Haelic continued apace-and from eyewitness reports, it was now quite doubtful that the Imperials could hold out until Onrad arrived. Much of Atalanta city was already in flames and the Fleet Base was under almost constant attack. Anti-space batteries ringing the area were making Anak's task as difficult as possible, but inexorably these fortified emplacements were being demolished one by one. When the Evening watch began and still neither team had been heard from, Collingswood appeared on the bridge. Brim watched her slump dejectedly into her console.
"Things look bad for the monastery teams," she said after a few moments. "Neither has called Joel for three metacycles now, and from the reports, I gather that many of the city streets are little more than long ravines of fire-although the Leaguers at least seem to be ignoring the monastery. Atalanta's latest bulletin describes the air as so full of smoke and dust that visibility is no more than a quarter of a c'lenyt." She shook her head. "The Center is sending two more teams out into that inferno, and I am of a mind to stop them. I realize that the issue is of historic importance, but risk is one thing-predestined suicide is quite another."
Brim nodded as he scanned the starscape for the ten millionth time that watch, then checked his proximity indicators. All clear. He was listening for Collingswood's decision when his COMM console suddenly came alive with KA'PPA text: TEAM B REPORTING
FROM MAIN ENTRANCE G-N MONASTERY. NO ONE IN SIGHT. CAMPUS
ABANDONED. REQUEST INSTRUCTIONS TO COMPLETE MISSION. REGRET DELAY.
NECESSARY TO PROCEED ON FOOT-ALL APPROACH BRIDGES/ROADS
DESTROYED. MANY OF TEAM B WOUNDED. TEAM A APPARENTLY WIPED OUT IN
BOMBARDMENT LAST METACYCLE. MONASTERY ONLY SLIGHTLY DAMAGED. MEL
SENDS.
"One of the teams got through," Collingswood uttered excitedly. "Nik, it's your show now."
Ursis dictated a string of instructions that described and located the, gold cone, then recommended its removal by destruction of its base-in spite of the room's spectacular beauty. Incidental damage was of little consequence. He ended with a warning: "At all times," he admonished, "avoid personal contact with the high-energy beam from the ceiling.
Also, the cone should be removed by remote control if possible. Consequences of these actions are unpredictable, but suggest you find solid cover at considerable distance from the main campus before accomplishing actual removal operations. May the Lady Fate look after you and your party, Mel. Ursis sends."
Within cycles, the team began a monologue of its progress: CONE LOCATED. USING
M-87 BLAST PIKE WTTH REMOTE TRIGGER FOR REMOVAL. LADY FATE NOWHERE
ABOUT-TOO DANGEROUS DURING RAID. THANKS ANYWAY.... MEL.
"Yea gods," Wellington quipped nervously. "No wonder it took them so long to get there on foot; M-87s are big-and heavy."
"They did go prepared, though," Collingswood said in an awe-filled voice. She shook her head. "It must have been like walking through one long, continuous explosion."
M-87 IN PLACE WITH REMOTE FIRING UNIT. LEAVING NOW TO TAKE COVER. ANY
FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS? MEL.
"No farther instructions-from Ursis," the Bear dictated quietly.
The Defiants waited in silence for nearly three quarters of a metacycle before the next message arrived. From his brief experience during the bender raid-and the Carescrian attacks early in the war in which he'd lost his entire family-Brim could easily conjure the sort of vicious inferno Mel and his team had to endure: searing flame, radiation, and absolutely hellish concussion. He shook his head slowly in admiration. If he presumed they were merely office workers instead of trained soldiers, that somehow doubled-tripled-the heroic nature of their mission.
At last, a series of KA'PPA characters began to flow across his screen. TEAM B
REPORTING FROM SHELTERED LOCATION APPROXIMATELY 1.5 C'LENYTS FROM
MONASTERY. M-87 ACTIVATED APPROX. 4 CYCLES AGO-CONE REMOVAL
DEFINITE. ENERGY BEAM APPEARS TO BE MELTING LARGE HOLE THROUGH
CENTER OF FLOOR. NO VISIBLE RESULTS OUTSIDE YET. HAVE WE NEGLECTED
SOMETHING? PLEASE ADVISE, MEL SENDS.
Brim froze. Had Ursis and Wellington guessed incorrectly?
"What's wrong?" Collingswood asked in a tense voice.
Ursis hesitated a moment, his head bent in thought. "Nothing-I suspect-has gone wrong, Captain," he said presently. "The monastery is a massive structure that will provide extraordinary inertia to overcome before it finally moves." He glanced at his message display. "We should see a different sort of message in a few... Aha!"
Brim glanced into his own display just as a new KA'PPA message flashed into being.
DISREGARD LAST MESSAGE CONCERNING G-N MONASTERY. NEW
CIRCUMSTANCES APPLY: VAST CLOUDS Of SMOKE AND DEBRIS NOW RISING
AROUND BASE.
"It begins," Ursis growled. "COMM room, please dictate, to Mel; 'Request narration as long as possible-Ursis sends."
"Aye, Lieutenant," the COMM room answered. Moments later, the COMM panel began to display: RING OF FLAME ERUPTS AROUND BASE OF MONASTERY. DEEP ROLLING
THUNDER IN AIR-CAN FEEL MORE THAN HEAR. WOW! MEL SENDS.
Ursis nodded. "That," he said, "is a predictable beginning. We should receive a wealth of information soon-if our friend Mel can send rapidly enough to describe it all."
Brim watched the monitor closely. As Ursis predicted, the next message came on the very heels of the first.
ENTIRE TOP OF MONASTERY CRAG GLOWS ROD HOT LIKE CRUSTING LAVA.
CAMPUS BURNS EVERYWHERE. TOWERING SMOKE AND FLAMES COVER MAIN
BUILDING COMPLETELY. NOISE INCREDIBLE! SKY FILLED WITH CRAZED BIRDS, BLOWING LEAVES, AND DUST. OAK TREES SHAKE LIKE WILLOWS-MEL.
By now, everyone on the bridge had clearly tuned into the message socket, for the voice circuits quickly picked up with a murmur of voices and whispered exclamations.
"Lord-can you imagine that?"
"The size of that thing. Is it blowing up?"
"More like 'lifting off,' I think."
"Great Farkel's eyelash-who'd ever think the Gradygroats could..."
" Silence!" Collingswood rebuked, "all of you. This is a ship of war, not a theater."
"Aye, Captain."
"Aye, sorry."
The messages from Mel continued to arrive at short intervals: MAJOR EARTHQUAKE
BEGINS. CANNOT STAND UPRIGHT. BUILDINGS COLLAPSE WHILE LAVA FLOWS
FROM HILLTOP CRAG LIKE CANDLE WAX. COLUMN OF SMOKE AND DEBRIS TOPS
10 THOUSAND IRALS. LEAGUER SHIPS INVESTIGATE, BUT KEEP PRUDENT
DISTANCE. NOISE UNBEARABLE-MEL.
TOP OF CRAG JUST DETONATED. TREMENDOUS CONCUSSION. SUDDEN WAVE
OF HEAT HITS WITH PHYSICAL FORCE. EARTHQUAKE AND INCREDIBLE NOISE
CONTINUE. CONDITION OF MONASTERY UNKNOWN: MUST ASSUME TOTAL
DESTRUCTION-MEL.
BELAY LAST MESSAGE E@NTIRE MONASTERY RISING VERTICALLY
THROUGH(&(&^ SMOKE LIKE OLDD CHEMICAL ROCKET. LOW-FRBQ. VIBRATION
FROM EARTHQUAKE ^^%PREVENTS CONCE?NTRATION..NOISE TERRRRIBL.
+++SHELTER CAVED IN-GONE. BATTLE SUIT MEEEELTING. HEAT IS...
"COMM Room," Collingswood complained tensely, "the last message was garbled-and we didn't get all of it."
"The last message was received in a garbled condition," COMM replied, "and the last characters received were: 'Heat is." I'm afraid that's all there is."
"I see," Collingswood said over the now-quiet voice circuits. "Thank you, COMM. I was afraid of that."
Brim knew in his heart that it was the last communication from Mel. He checked his instruments idly, Aram continued at the helm. What next? Even while the KA'PPA dialogue had taken place, messages about Haelic's worsening situation continued to pour across another portion of his COMM display. He shook his head and brooded about Claudia in the middle of the perfect hell that Atalanta base must have become. If she were even alive still.