There were three types of taps. The simplest and most numerous were the platform taps, that were situated at the centre of big bowl-shaped platforms. Then there were well taps and - rarest of all - dome taps, of which there were no more than six in the whole of Eden.
The taps themselves were energy spigots - small, studded posts onto which one might clip one’s weapon, or, in the case of insects, one might squat and “feed”. Normally Aidan would have ignored this particular tap and pressed on, recharging further in, but the sheer intensity of the attack at the Gate had left several of the boys’ weapons on low charge. They had to take this tap. But it would not be easy. Well-taps were never easy.
As Slaven ran towards the well, Daniel saw what looked like a billow of dark smoke lift from the well’s mouth. But it wasn’t smoke. Smoke didn’t make that whining, drone-like noise. He saw Slaven hesitate, then open up with his automatic. At the same time, Daniel went down onto one knee and, flicking his visor to longsight, opened up with his laser, firing past Slaven’s shoulder, squeezing short bursts that seemed to cut tiny holes in the drifting swarm. The tiny insectile machines popped and cracked and, splintering, fell from the air like shattered crystal, but there were hundreds of them. Thousands. Both Ju Dun and Aidan were firing now - Aidan lobbing mortars into the air from his big gun, the circular shells fragmenting in the midst of that chittering, droning cloud of metallic bugs - yet more and more seemed to come up out of the well to replace those which had been destroyed.
Slaven was slowly moving to his right now, drawing the swarm with him. That was his job. Leon, meanwhile, had come out on the far side of the well and was stealthily approaching it At the same time, Johann and Christian were moving into the gap Slaven had created. If all went well, the three boys - and Benoit, who was hurrying to move into position - would get to the lip of the well at roughly the same time.
The swarm was almost on Slaven now. You could barely see him. At any moment they would cease holding back and fall on him as one. A muscle in Daniel’s cheek twitched. Timing was everything.
“Okay, Slaven, seal!”
Yet even as Aidan gave that crucial order, Daniel saw one of the bugs - a tiger-wasp, its bright orange and black markings distinctive - fall directly towards Slaven’s back. He twitched his gun upward to fire, but the back of Slaven’s helmet was directly in his line of fire. Seal damn you!
The material of Slaven’s uniform shimmered and changed colour, becoming a simple metallic black. At the same time it changed shape, hardening into a kind of chrysalis. The tiger-wasp shattered against it Instinctively, Daniel turned his head away. Even so, the flash left him half-blind, while the concussion rattled his teeth and set up a ringing in his ears.
When he looked again the sky around Slaven was clear. At the well, Leon and Johann were climbing in, harnessed to their partners, their guns picking off anything that came up out of the darkness at them. Not that there was much left down there.
Daniel looked back at Slavea The black pupa-like shell of Slaven’s uniform lay at the centre of a small depression in the earth. All about it, forming a perfect circle roughly fifteen metres in diameter, the earth was charred black Faint wisps of steam rose up out of that blackness, drifting to the north. The wind had changed.
Daniel turned, looking about him. Ju Dun was up, and Aidan. There was a shout from the well. The tap was secured.
He allowed himself a smile. They’d done it, and without a single man lost.
Hurrying across, he knelt beside Slaven. A moment later Ju Dun was at his side. Without needing to be told, the young boy put his hands beneath the shell and, with Daniel’s help, turned it over.
Daniel studied the suit a moment. Good. There were no cracks. The seal had held. Looking to Ju Dun, he nodded.Lifting the suit between them, they carried it across and laid it beside the curved wall of the well, Aidan covering them all the while Slaven would be out of it for some while, but he was fine. The worst he’d have was a blinding headache.
But it had been close.
Johann and Christian were busy lowering weapons down the well to Leon at the tap. At once Ju Dun and Daniel joined Benoit and Aidan, taking their positions about the well, picking off anything that came in sight, whether it was a threat or not Some teams, he knew, did little else. They took a tap then held it, knowing that at the very least they had a constant energy supply. But it was a no-win situation. You couldn’t live on energy alone. There was water in the suits - enough for two days - but you had to get across and out before you could eat again. Yes, and at some point you also had to sleep. And that’s when they got you.
Inside the hardened shell of his uniform, Slaven groaned. “Go help him, Daniel,” Aidan said quietly, using a discreet channel to speak to Daniel alone. “I may be wrong, but I think he sealed late.” Daniel shivered. He’d not wanted to admit it before that moment, but he knew Aidan was right The groan deepened to a low moan of pain.
Even as he knelt over it, the shell shimmered again and, softening, changed colour once again. As the helmet visor cleared, Slaven’s face was revealed, his eyes screwed tight in pain.
“What is it, Slaven?”
There was a sharp intake of breath, then, “My back.”
Daniel stepped over him, and, gently easing Slaven up, looked. The suif s sealing had concealed it, but there, just below the protective shielding of the neck-plates, there was a tiny rip in the softer back-plate Protruding from it - broken off, no doubt, in the instant the suit had sealed - was the needle-fine sting of a tiger-wasp.
“Oh, shit...”
Slaven stiffened, hearing the words. “What is it?” Daniel took a breath, knowing Aidan was listening. “A sting,” he said. “We’ll take it out and drug you up. I’ll carry you.”
He looked up as he said this last and met Aidan’s eyes. Both boys knew what this meant. You couldn’t carry passengers in Eden, not without paying the price But there was the morale of the team to consider. To abandon Slaven at this early stage would destroy team morale It wasn’t that the others didn’t know how ruthless things were in here - they knew - it was just that to see one of their own simply left for the mechanoids to pick over would be too much, especially this early.
Aidan came over and, crouching, smiled at Slaven. “You’ll be okay,” he said, speaking on the open channel. “We’ll get you through.” But when his eyes met Daniel’s they conveyed a different message entirely. We have to deal with this, Aidan’s eyes said, as clearly as if he had spoken the words. And sooner rather than later, right?
Right, Daniel answered silently. He undipped the medic’s kit at his side and snapped it open.
“Okay,” he said, speaking to Slaven once more “Let s give you something to numb that pain.”
CHAPTER-2
crossing the river
It was not immediately discernible, but Eden was a place of subtle currents and pressures. Some paths were easy to follow, others fraught with difficulty and if one persevered, that difficulty tended to intensify so that it felt almost as if the air itself were thickening with danger. Most teams tended to gravitate towards the easier paths; to circumvent those places where the danger was most intense and look for trails where progress could be made quickly and at little cost So it was that they found themselves, at midday of the first day, crouched by the river bank on the outskirts of an ancient town, a long way further south than they’d intended.
While Leon, Christian and Ju Dun formed a perimeter guard, Aidan and Daniel took a moment to discuss tactics.