Broken angels by Richard Morgan

Author:Richard Morgan [Richard Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SF
ISBN: 9780575081253
Published: 2008-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Ameli Vongsavath put us five kilometres up, flew about for a while and then kicked on the holding auto. The three of us crowded the cockpit and crouched around the flight display holo like hunter gatherers around a fire, waiting. When none of the Nagini’s systems had catastrophically failed three minutes later, Vongsavath pushed out a breath she seemed to have been holding since we stationed.

“Probably never was anything to worry about,” she said without much conviction. “Whoever’s been playing around in here isn’t likely to want to die with the rest of us, whatever else they might want to achieve.”

“That,” I said gloomily, “All depends on the level of your commitment.”

“You’re thinking Ji—”

I put a finger to my lips. “No names. Not yet. Don’t shape your thoughts ahead of time. And besides, you might want to consider that all our saboteur would really need is a little faith in their recovery team. We’d all still be stack-intact if this thing fell out of the sky, wouldn’t we.”

“Unless the fuel cells were mined, yes.”

“There you are, then.” I turned to Hand. “Shall we?”

It didn’t take long to find the damage. When Hand cracked the seal on the first high-impact shielded canister in the hold, the fumes that boiled out were enough to drive us both back up the hatch onto the crew deck. I slapped the emergency isolate panel and the hatch dropped and locked with a solid thump. I rolled onto my back on the deck, eyes streaming, hacking a cough that dug claws in the bottom of my lungs.

“Holy. Fuck.”

Ameli Vongsavath darted into view. “Are you guys—”

Hand waved her back, nodding weakly.

“Corrosion grenade,” I wheezed, wiping at my eyes. “Must have just tossed it in and locked up after. What was in this one, Ameli?”

“Give me a minute.” The pilot went back into the cockpit to run the manifest. Her voice floated back through. “Looks like medical stuff, mostly. Back-up plugins for the autosurgeon, some of the anti-radiation drugs. Both ID&A sets, one of the major trauma mobility suits. Oh, and one of the Mandrake declared ownership buoys.”

I nodded at Hand.

“Figures.” I pushed myself into a sitting position against the curve of the hull. “Ameli, can you check where the other buoys are stored. And let’s get the hold vented before we open this hatch again. I’m dying fast enough, without that shit.”

There was a drink dispenser on the wall above my head. I reached up, tugged a couple of cans free and tossed one to Hand.

“Here. Something to wash your alloy oxides down with.”

He caught the can and coughed out a laugh. I grinned back.

“So.”

“So.” He popped the can. “Whatever leakage we had back in Landfall seems to have followed us here. Or do you think someone from outside crept into the camp last night and did this?”

I thought about it. “It’s stretching credibility. With the nanoware on the prowl, a two-ring sentry system, and lethal-dose radiation blanketing the whole peninsula, they’d have to be some kind of psychotic with a mission.

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