He kept telling himself that, but wasn’t sure he believed it.
The hangar room glowed as golden yellow, and as warm, as any midday summer sun, and the saucer hummed and vibrated, as if excited at their approach. One thing changed as soon as they entered the hangar — the chanting stopped again, and all compulsion left Banks.
We’re where it wants us to be. Again.
Banks pulled out his earplugs, and the squad followed suit when they saw.
“Cally,” Banks said. “Can we cut the power?”
“Cut it? I don’t even know where it’s coming from — or going to,” the corporal said.
Banks nodded toward the saucer.
“We can assume it’s coming from there,” he said, then walked over to the tall metal containers banked beside the gauges and meters, “and it’s going here, then out to the rest of the base.”
“I get that much,” McCally said, “but what’s powering yon fucker?”
Banks looked back at the saucer.
“I think we are. I think we have been since we got here.”
“So what’s the plan, Cap?” Hynd asked.
“There’s two bits of it,” Banks said. “The first is easy — we cool things down around here; cut off the power leaving the saucer, stop it heating this room and the rest of the base. Let’s see if we can stir things up, take the initiative.”
McCally looked at the tall metal containers again.
“Breaking stuff and blowing shit up? Aye, I can do that.”
He took Parker and Wiggins with him and went over to the tall metal containers. It took all three of them, but once they put their combined weight into it, they got the racks of containers on the move. One last effort, a heave from all of them, and the whole row toppled forward and crashed to the floor with an impact that shook the whole hangar and made the saucer wobble where it hovered.
Another effect was also immediate. The lights went out in the corridor beyond the double doorway, and a cold breeze blew up from the rest of the base. The yellow glow from the circles on the floor faded to their previous gold, the radiated heat from them no longer so oppressive as before.
“Still too warm by half,” Banks said. He caught sight of shadows moving across the floor and looked up. Snow swirled in spiraling vortices outside the glass of the dome, and now that the chanting had stopped, and his plugs were out, he heard the whistle and roar of the wind.
“There’s a storm out there, lads,” he said. “Let’s get some of it in here.”
He raised his weapon, pointing at the dome. As the rest of the squad followed his lead, they heard another sound, not from outside, but from back down in the base itself, a loud metallic clanging.
“We’re about to have company again, lads,” Banks said. “Let’s give them a welcome.”
He aimed upward at the glass between the iron supports of the dome and sent three quick shots into it. The rest of the squad fired only a second behind him. The glass shattered immediately, shards falling around them like icicles.
The storm took full advantage, roaring into the hangar like a caged beast, suddenly freed.
- 15 -
The glow from the circles diminished still further, and the saucer sank slowly downward, still hovering, but now merely inches off the ground again.
“It’s working, Cap,” Parker shouted.
“Aye, maybe. But is it working enough?”
They had to zip up their jackets and pull their hoods over their heads — the wind bit hard, with snow flurries spattering in their faces, rasping at their skin like sandpaper.
“Hynd, you take Cally and Parker and watch that doorway. If those fucking popsicles show up, keep them out in the corridor as long as you can. Only fall back inside the circles as a last resort. Clear?”
“Aye, aye, cap,” Hynd replied, and gave a mock salute.
“What about me, Cap?” Wiggins said.
“You’re with me, lad.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“You might say that, aye,” Banks replied. “Let’s see if your flying is any better than your driving.”
“What the fuck, Cap?”
Banks smiled.
“That’s the second part of the plan. We call its bluff. We’re going in. It wants us to fly the fucker, let’s fly the fucker.”
He didn’t wait to see if Wiggins would follow him. If the private showed hesitation, it might have weakened Banks’ own resolve, and it was weak enough already. He stepped over toward the outer of the golden circles. The chanting came again, the monks shouting in the wind. This time, he did not put in the earplugs, but welcomed the song into him.
As he stepped into the circles, he heard Hynd call out from behind him.
“We’ve got incoming.”
Wiggins stepped up beside him. The door in the saucer cracked, creaked, and fell open to their touch.
They stepped up into the saucer at almost the same moment as the squad opened fire in the doorway.
- 16 -
Banks didn’t hesitate. He went straight to the pentacles on the floor near the long window and stepped into the right hand one. Wiggins followed him and took the left pentacle.
The chanting rose in volume. Dark shadows swirled around the two men, thick as velvet drapes, dampening, almost drowning, the sound of shooting from out in the hangar.
“You weren’t serious about flying this fucker, were you, Cap?” Wiggins asked. He sounded far away, almost as distant as the chanting that continued to grow louder, more insistent.
“Not if we can shut it off first,” Banks said.
“How does this fucker work? There’s nae fucking controls, Cap.”
“We think hard at it — at least that’s the general idea. I ken that’s not your strong point, lad, but help me out here.”
“Just tell me what to think,” Wiggins said, and Banks laughed.
“Lad, you’ve been in service for too long. But that’s the easy bit. We want this fucker quiet; dead and still on the floor like when we got here. So, sleepy thoughts, keep it quiet, and let’s get this thing shut off.”
Banks tried to concentrate on the same thing he’d told Wiggins, but quiet was a long way away. Despite the dampening effect inside the saucer, the sound of gunfire was still clear, and Banks could not erase the worry he felt for the three men he’d left outside.
It appeared Wiggins felt the same for, unbidden, the saucer moved. It did not descend to the floor, but swung around, so that they looked out of the window at the scene in the doorway.
“Did you do that, Cap?” Wiggins said.
“I thought you did.”
Then both fell quiet. The tall German officer stood in the doorway, and the three dead squad members stood at his shoulder. Hynd, Parker, and McCally backtracked, firing round after round into the iced dead but doing no sign of any damage. The oberst looked up at the saucer, straight at the window, directly at Banks. His eyes were no longer milky, but flaring fiery red, and his skin, once blue, had taken on a hint of burnt ochre. Dark shadows swirled behind him, almost obscuring the dead squad members, shadows that furled and unfurled, like great wings ready to take flight.
“What the fuck, Cap?” Wiggins muttered.
“Steady, lad. We’re seeing what it expects us to see, that’s all. We didn’t start thinking about red-eyed demons until I read about it in that fucking journal. This fucker is in my head. I hope it likes the mess I’ve made in there over the years.”
The squad continued to backtrack, still shooting while the iced dead came through the doorway, matching their pace to the retreating men. The tall oberst never took his gaze from the window, as if it knew Banks was watching. Banks had another epiphany.