Rico Dredd by Michael Carroll

Author:Michael Carroll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Ltd

SUB-WARDEN COPUS STOOD in the doorway and looked from me to First Lieutenant Vine to the still-unconscious Corporal Armando, and then back to me. “What the hell, Dredd?”

As Kurya tended to Vine’s and Armando’s injuries, I explained the situation to Copus, then said, “Either we station some people out here until Colonel D’Angelo makes contact, or we bring them back with us.”

McConnach said, “Sir, that could work out all right. Word will already have spread throughout the prison about the out-of-control freighter. We just need to brief Vine and keep Armando sedated, tell everyone that they’re survivors of the crash.”

Again, Copus looked towards Armando. “And his skin-colour? How do we explain that?”

“Asteroid miner,” I said. “We say that they used the same process that we do here. Except that it’s voluntary.”

McConnach nodded. “Yeah, that’s good. And that explains how he survived the crash intact. Extra-tough skin. Vine survived because he shielded her. Makes him a hero. People are less inclined to question heroes.”

I didn’t agree with that, but this wasn’t the time for that argument.

Copus absently chewed on his lower lip for a few seconds, then said, “Drokk it. We have no choice. Standard maritime laws still apply out here—you have to offer help to anyone in distress. But if that psycho gets loose and freaks out, I’m going to put a round between his ears, don’t care how much the military want to hide him.”

“That’s the right call,” I said.

Copus turned away. “I don’t need your approval or consent, Dredd. You, Wightman and Kurya stay put.”

McConnach and Sloane stood guard while Copus and Takenaga coordinated with Vine on the process of checking the base room by room, level by level, locking every door as the rooms were cleared. They had to account for every corpse, every weapon. They left the bodies where they found them—there’d be an investigation at some stage—but they logged and tagged them.

Wightman and I were tasked with carrying Armando back up to the entrance, then everyone took part in a lengthy discussion on how to transport the unconscious Corporal Armando from the base to the bus. With his hands cuffed there was no way we could put him into an environment suit—and it’s already hard enough putting a suit on someone unconscious: for a start, it takes forever just to get their fingers into the gloves—so in the end we just put a helmet on him, used strips of environment suit puncture-tape to seal the edges around his neck, rested an oxygen tank on his chest, and carried him out on a stretcher.

Getting him through the bus’s airlock was even more tricky, because it can really only take one person at time. Puncture-tape came in handy again: we used it to secure him upright to the inner wall of the airlock—I say “we,” but it was mostly me. It wasn’t easy with so little room in which to work. When I was sure he wasn’t going to topple forward, I left him there, closed the

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