"Move the goddamn men up. Those guys in there are going to get creamed." Elmo shook his head. His voice was flat. "Nobody's moving anywhere. We're outnumbered. The only thing we can do is pull back."
"Dyrkin, Renchett, and Helot are in there. Kemlo's been killed already."
"They're expendable."
"You bastard."
Elmo tapped his weapon. "So are you, for that matter."
Hark slowly raised his MEW until it was pointed straight at the overman. "I'm not leaving my friends to die."
"So what are you going to do? Kill me?"
"If I have to. I want you to send in the rest of the twenty and then get on the command channel and call up reinforcements."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I'm going to spread your guts all over this tunnel."
"You're not going to do anything to me, boy." There was a flurry of weapon fire from back in the cavern. Hark knew that time was running out. "Just do what I say."
"I'll tell you why you won't do anything to me. It's called imprinting. Apart from Rance, I was the first thing you saw after you came out of the datashot. I'm like your mother, boy. You can't do anything to me."
"I'm going to count to three." Hark took a deep breath. "One…"
He was very aware that everyone was watching. It was possible that Elmo was right. Maybe he couldn't kill a noncom. Maybe his programming wouldn't let him, or maybe he didn't have it in him.
"Two."
Elmo slowly turned away. He faced the others.
"I've heard enough of this crap. Start moving back down the tunnel."
Hark didn't bother to count three. He touched the firing stud and blasted Elmo. As the MEW bucked in his hands, there was a sense of complete unreality. The overman staggered forward and fell. His body was all but cut in half. The others were staring at him openmouthed. Hark rounded on them with a snarl.
"Get into that cavern and help the others. Dacker, you're in charge."
"Me?"
Hark knew that he was near the end of his rope. "Just do what I say, damn it!"
Dacker recognized the desperation in his tone. "Okay, okay." He waved the troopers ahead. "Let's get in there and see what we can do."
Hark waited until the others had moved up the tunnel, then he knelt down beside Elmo's body. He took off his helmet, placed it on the ground, and reached out for Elmo's, the noncom model with the command-channel link. He stopped; he didn't want to touch the dead man's helmet. He closed his eyes, fumbled for the facemask, and ripped it loose. He opened his eyes again and took a firm grip on the helmet. At first it resisted. He tugged harder and twisted. It slid off the head. There was blood coming from Elmo's mouth. The dead face looked tired and old. The spell was broken. Whatever hold Elmo might have had on him was gone. The overman was just another body. Hark placed the helmet on his own head, checked the twenty's position on the projected schematic, and opened the command channel.
"Twenty at coordinates 435-623-678, we have run into a large force of chibas around a main energy interface. We need reinforcements urgently."
"Relaying."
The brain voice was replaced in the helmet by that of Rance. "Elmo, what's going on?" "This isn't Elmo, this is Hark." "Where's Elmo?" "He's dead." "How bad is it?"
"It's bad. Half the squad is pinned down in the cavern that houses this big plasma unit, and the other half is trying to get them out. If we don't get help, we're going to be overrun."
"How did this situation come about?"
"Dyrkin went in ahead, and then the chibas hit. Elmo wanted to pull back. The twenty was split in two."
"And now Elmo's dead?"
"Right."
Hark was certain that Rance had guessed what had happened. The question was, What was he going to do? What happened to a trooper who killed a noncom? Rance gave no clue. The topman was all business.
"Try and hold on. Help's coming."
Hark ran back to the cavern entrance. There were chibas everywhere. The troopers had formed into two defensive positions which they were managing to hold despite the overwhelming odds. Dyrkin was no longer out on his own. Renchett was beside him. Between them, they were laying down a withering fire. Some-* where along the line, Renchett had lost his MEW, but he was doing just as well with a chiba handweapon.
"Rance is bringing reinforcements."
"About time."
At that moment, Tabor tried a shot at an advancing chiba, but he stuck his head out too far. Instantly, his helmet exploded and he died without a sound..
They had to hold for another seven minutes before Rance turned up with a reserve twenty. Three more men were killed in those final minutes. Then the fresh troops poured into the cabin, and the tables were turned. The chibas fell back under concerted fire. The survivors fought a brief rearguard action and then fled into the tunnels. The fresh twenty seemed inclined to go after the chibas, but Rance restrained them.
"The other groups will catch up with them."
The remnants of Elmo's twenty climbed out of their makeshift cover. They seemed dazed and uncertain, as if they could hardly believe that it was over. There were just six of them left. Dyrkin and Renchett, Hark, Helot and Kov, and a recruit called Tain. The men gathered around the base of the power stack.
"What do we do about this thing?"
"Are we supposed to blow it?"
Rance shook his head. "Not a chance. If we messed with this baby, it'd vaporize half the valley. We'll get sappers in here to shut it down slow and easy."
Hie looked around the group of survivors, spotted Hark, and beckoned to him. "I want to talk to you."
Hark walked over to where the topman was standing. He was too tired to be afraid. Whatever was going to happen would happen.
Rance pointed to his helmet. "Is that Elmo's?"
Hark nodded. "I didn't take it off after I used the command channel."
"Troopers aren't supposed to use command channels except in the most dire emergency."
Hark looked him straight in the face. "It seemed pretty dire at the time. We were losing the whole twenty."
"So Where's Elmo?"
"He's back down the tunnel."
"Let's go take a look."
Rance turned on his redscope and started down the tunnel. Hark followed. Without a word, Dyrkin and Renchett fell into step behind them. Rance glanced back,
"So the whole gang's coming, too?"
"Just want to see what happened to Elmo," Dyrkin said.
The overman was sprawled facedown where Hark had left him. Rance took his time inspecting the body. "Shot in the back."
Dyrkin shrugged. "It happens." His voice was studiedly neutral.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say that those burns came from an MEW set on blast."
Renchett hefted his chiba weapon. "It's hard to tell for sure."
Rance glanced at Hark. "You have anything to add?" "Nothing. I found Elmo dead and used his helmet."
^ 44 And what were you doing back here if all the fighting was in the cavern?"
^ 44 I was looking for Elmo."
Dyrkin stepped in. ^ 44 I sent him back. To look for Elmo. We needed to get word through."
^ 44 So what was Elmo doing back here?"
"Who knows with Elmo? He'd gotten pretty strange."
Rance walked slowly around the body as if a different angle would give him some new insight.
"A rerun of the helmet conversations during the engagement might give us a clearer understanding of what went on."
Hark knew that he was dead. Even if the conversation between him and Elmo hadn't already been noted by the command brain, it would certainly come out on any rerun. He wondered if he simply ought to confess.
"It's a pity that we can't do that."
What was Rance talking about?
"The conversation couldn't be datastored. There was too much static from the interface."