“Why not just put the gas in the airlock and close the hangar door?” Patterson asked. “Then, when the cargo bay door opens, the gas will flood the room and kill them.”
The Lieutenant looked at Patterson. “Am I to understand that you, Patterson, have just volunteered to wear a gas mask, enter the airlock, open the far door, set off the gas and hope it kills the insects before they reach you?”
“Well, no, Lieutenant. That’s definitely not something I’m volunteering for.”
“That’s why I’ve chosen this route. The scientists reported the Space Rats were in the same room as the insects, so logically, that opening should lead to that area. The gas should dispose of both species at the same time, leaving the way clear to salvage everything in the cargo bay. However, I can’t do it alone. I will need two volunteers. I’ll take point, but I need one of you to haul the stuff, another to watch our backs and both to keep guard while I set off the gas.”
“Sounds like it might be fun,” said Sawyer, with a grin. “Count me in.”
Fitch stared at the man. “That confirms my suspicions, Sawyer. You are crazy.”
Sawyer shrugged, still grinning. “No one lives forever.”
Miller’s gaze swept across the remaining men. “I’d rather someone volunteered, but I will choose one of you if no one comes forward.”
Fitch sighed. “I’ll do it.”
Miller looked at the man with surprise. “No, Fitch, we need you to operate the drone when this task is done. Patterson, you’re volunteering.”
Patterson groaned and nodded.
Miller picked up the rucksack containing the gas and other items they would need, and handed it to Patterson. “Follow me in. Sawyer, you’re at the rear.”
“Okay, Sarge.” Sawyer slapped Patterson playfully on the back. “Don’t look so glum. I’ll make sure nothing eats you.”
Patterson forced a smile. “It’s not that I’m worried about so much as crawling through that tight passage with my well-formed arse shoved enticingly in your face.”
Sawyer laughed. “I promise to be gentle as it’s your first time.”
The remaining team members watched the three men enter the rathole. None envied them their task. As soon as Sawyer entered, Cobb climbed the ladder and placed a folded lump of yellow plastic in the opening. A tube fixed to it led to a pressurized air canister on the floor. Cobb nodded to Selby who waited with his hand on the airflow lever and air hissed along the tube. The tough inflatable air bag expanded to fill the contours of the hole. When Cobb was satisfied the hole was sealed and no backwash of gas could escape, the air was turned off.
“Bravo Team leader to Control, we are in the rathole,” reported Miller. “The opening led to some kind of access duct.”
Admiral Thomson gazed at the image on the monitor lit by Miller’s headlamp. The long hexagon passage that stretched into the distance looked spooky as hell, especially knowing the Space Rats or insects might be in there waiting for them. “Take it easy, Lieutenant. I’m counting on you to complete your mission.”
Miller fished earplugs from his pocket and inserted them.
Sawyer and Patterson did likewise. If they had to use their weapons in such a confined space the sound would deafen them. Forced into a crouched position by the duct’s confines, the Lieutenant led them forward.
A few minutes later Miller brought the small team to a halt. He pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at the intersection ahead before slowly moving forward. When he cautiously glanced down the left-hand turning, a Space Rat surged from the darkness and leaped at him. A spray of bullets dropped it to the ground. Movement to his right alerted Miller to a new attack. Rats with bared teeth spread wide to bite, rushed him from the other direction. Gunfire and squeals of pain echoed through the duct until all fell silent again. The almost empty magazine clattered to the floor when Miller exchanged it for a fresh one.
They moved past the bloody rat corpses and continued along the duct until Miller halted the men again. When Sawyer peered past the lieutenant and glimpsed the end of the passage, he turned, crouched and aimed his weapon and light back along the duct.
After Miller had signaled for the two men to wait, he cautiously approached the opening and poked his head out. What seemed like hundreds of Space Rats stared up at the opening from the room below. He signaled for the others to join him and removed his earplugs. He waited for the two men to remove theirs before speaking softly, “The rats are waiting below. Pass me a canister and put your masks on.”
Patterson dished out the masks and handed Miller a gas canister. “How long will it take for the gas to work?”
“I asked the specialists the very same question,” Miller replied in a low voice. “I was told with normal subjects in a confined environment, about ten to twenty seconds, but as we are dealing with alien physiology in a large area, they couldn’t give me an answer.”
Patterson frowned. “So it might not work?”
Miller shrugged. “They breathe oxygen just like us, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t.”
After they had slipped on gasmasks, Miller twisted the knob hard on top of the canister to activate the ten-second delay. An impatient rat poked its head into the opening. A single shot from Sawyer’s gun sent it flying back into the room. The men, temporarily deafened by the noise, didn’t hear the shrieks that erupted when the corpse fell into the mass of teeth and claws below and was quickly devoured by the lucky few. Miller, his ears still ringing, threw the canister into the vermin throng. A stream of gas fog leaked out when it struck the floor.
Believing food was in the offing, the nearest rats pounced on the can but discarded it when their teeth scraped on its hard, inedible surface. The canister was jostled around the room as it was continually fought over. Fog spewed out and began filling the room. It wasn’t long before the gas started taking effect and rats collapsed to the floor never to rise again.
Miller glanced at his watch and then at Patterson. “Forty seconds,” his voice muffled and distorted by the mask.
When all movement in the room had ceased, Miller dropped into the gas-shrouded room and Sawyer and Patterson followed him down. There were so many rat corpses it was impossible to avoid treading on them. It was like walking on macabre carpet woven from dead rats. The men stumbled and slid off the bodies more than once as they moved for the exit. Their lights were of little use in the deadly haze that swirled around them; it was like driving through thick fog with lights on full beam. It was instinct that led Miller across to the far side and up the ramp that led to an opening. Though less dense at the top, the deadly gas fog seeped through the doorway and into nearby rooms as it sought out more victims to infect with its lethal breath. The corridor led left to a closed door and right to another opening. Miller led the men to the right, in the direction of the cargo bay.
Wispy trails of gas disturbed by their passing crept ahead of them until it finally dissipated when they reached a high balcony. The three men gazed down at the room below where four bridges led off from a central platform. The turquoise glow emitted by the large liquid-filled tubes revealed the two tall aliens suspended inside and glass shards littering the floor where one of the containers had been smashed. Below the platform and bridges, a ground-hugging mist swirled spookily around the lower level. The three men directed their lights around the lower room but saw no insects or anything else on the prowl.
Lieutenant Miller pointed at the lower, mist-covered level. “That’s where the insects live and the door that leads to the cargo bay. I’ll toss two canisters down to ensure all are killed in the immediate area before we climb down and head for the cargo bay.”