Planet Leviathan

^{Chapter 12} Cliff Racing

“I don’t know why I’m surprised,” Stanton said as he took her hand and got back to his feet. “This is such a mother way of going about things.”

“You sound like you don’t approve,” Stacia said.

“I wouldn’t say that. It’s just there had to be a more straightforward way.”

“Could someone please explain to me what’s happening?” Skin asked.

“Sorry, Skin. Wish I could, but I get the impression that whoever else came with Faust will be coming for us any minute now. I can explain once there’s no one shooting at us.”

“Is there ever a time when someone isn’t shooting at you?” Stanton asked.

“Not really.” She walked over to where Faust lay on the ground. He groaned but didn’t move much. Stacia wondered if she had damaged something vital when she’d hit him.

“Should we tie him up?” Skin asked. “We could use those ropes to…”

Stacia shot Faust in the face. His head exploded in a wave of charred gore and green plasma.

“Oh,” Skin said. “Um, never mind.”

“Did you really have to do that?” Stanton asked.

“Yes,” Stacia said. “I really did.”

“There wasn’t some less violent way to make sure he doesn’t come after us?”

“It wasn’t just about him coming after us. My neural implants calculated that there was little chance of getting you off world if he reported back to Lexton immediately that I’ve actually been here to save you this entire time. If he doesn’t report exactly what he saw, the chances of pulling this mission off greatly improve. It was simple numbers.”

“He was a man, not a number.”

“Yeah? And she’s a woman,” Stacia said, pointing at Skin. “Yet you’ve seen what people like Faust have been doing to people like her. You go ahead and feel sorry for him all you want. Just remember where this…” She pulled out the piece of leather she’d used to find him and tossed it at his feet. “…actually came from.”

“Is that…?”

“Yes.”

“Jesus. I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Get sick later. Escape now.”

She quizzed him on what weapon he could operate best, but that was a lost cause. Stanton was a pacifist, an activist. She had been told as much when General Borealis had been preparing all this. Stanton had never fired a gun in his life. His preferred weapon was words. Words, unfortunately, would be pretty much useless in this situation. Stacia finally just forced a plasma pistol in his hand and hoped that he wouldn’t burn off his own toes. To Skin, she gave one of the 808s. The other 808 she took over to the prone form of Cobble.

“I’m not going to live, am I?” Cobble asked. Stacia saw her internal organs jiggle as she spoke.

“I’ve actually seen people walk away with worse wounds.”

“Really?” Cobble asked.

“No, not really at all. I was just trying to make you feel better. The plasma cauterization is keeping you from bleeding out, but your stomach honestly looks like the typical Galactic Marine without her armor. Unless you’ve got some spare armor lying around, you’re pretty much gone.”

“Please, you have to make sure that my husbands are safe.”

“I’m not sure that I can make that promise. But if you do something for me, I can promise you this: when I get off this planet, I will make sure people stop ignoring what is happening to the Skins on Leviathan. Maybe something can change.”

“Better than nothing, I guess. What do you need me to do?”

Using one of the ropes to bind up Cobble’s wound and hopefully keep her insides from spilling out a little longer, Stacia propped her up where she had a clear, unobstructed view of the door. Then she gave Cobble the 808 and told her to shoot anyone or anything that came through the door.

“But what if it’s one of my people?” Cobble asked.

“How many more of Lexton’s Shellheads are there in the town?”

Cobble frowned. “Most of them were in here, but there were still some elsewhere keeping certain people from running.”

“So they were guarding the important people? The ones who might come check if they thought something was wrong?”

“I see your point.” Cobble looked at the extra controls on the side of the 808. “I don’t know if I can operate this thing.”

“Just ignore all the bells and whistles and pull the trigger when it’s time.”

“What about us?” Stanton said. “There’s no way out. Lexton’s people would be on the levels below waiting for us.”

“That’s why we’re not going down,” Stacia said. “We’re going up.”

She pointed high up at the wall. Both Skin and Stanton stared at the open window far above them at the top of a completely vertical surface.

“I can’t climb up there,” Stanton said. “I don’t have the muscle strength to…”

Skin went over and grabbed the largest ladder she could find.

“Oh,” Stanton said. “Right.”

“Don’t look too relieved,” Stacia said as she went over to grab several of the ropes and hooks. “Your muscles are still going to get a workout. After the window, we’re going to have to go straight up the cliff.”

“I don’t think I can make that climb,” Stanton said.

“Me neither,” Skin said.

“But I can,” Stacia replied. “I already know that I can carry Skin for long distances. We’re about to find out if I can do the same with both of you. Quick, climb up the ladder and wait for me at the window.”

As they both went up, Stacia heard the roar of gunfire from behind. She didn’t bother to look, instead concentrating on preparing the ropes. As long as the shots weren’t heading her way, there was no use paying any attention to it. Cobble gave a guttural war scream as she held down the trigger, meant more to intimidate the enemy trying to get in the door. Stacia wasn’t one for war cries herself, but she still approved.

Stacia did look down at the door once she was at the top of the ladder just to get an idea of how much time they had. Cobble fired blindly at any movement of the curtain, so no one had gotten in yet, but Stacia could hear voices from the other side conferring on what to do. She gave one last thumbs up to Cobble, who was too busy shooting to even notice, and then joined Stanton and Skin in the window ledge.

The window was roughly circular and cut into the stone at a slight downward angle to the outside so inclement weather was less likely to get in, but the wall was thick enough that all three of them could fit inside if they pushed together. Stacia shoved the ladder away, anything to give them just a little more time before they might be pursued.

“So what’s the plan from here?” Stanton asked.

“Plan’s a bit of a strong word. It’s more like a general idea of how we might not die.”

“Not dying sounds fun,” Skin said. It was hard for Stacia to tell if she was being sarcastic. More likely, it was an honest and earnest assessment from the young woman.

“So what is it, then?” Stanton asked.

“Both of you are going to need to hang onto my back. I’ll do my best to secure you with one of these ropes, but you can’t assume it’s going to hold, so don’t lose your grip.”

“And what are you going to do?” Stanton asked.

“I’m going to climb. I told you it wasn’t much of a plan.”

“And if someone sees us and shoots us?”

“We fall and die.”

“This doesn’t seem like a well thought-out rescue.”

“It couldn’t be. Our intelligence of everything happening on Leviathan’s surface has been limited since the beginning. You’re lucky you’re getting a rescue attempt at all.”

“Because no one leaves Leviathan,” Skin said solemnly.

“Okay. Sorry,” Stanton said. “I didn’t mean to doubt you. If my mother trusts you, that should be good enough.”

Skin started to speak. “I still don’t understand why…”

“We’ll fill in the plot holes later, Skin,” Stacia said. “First, we’ve got to get through the action sequence.”

Skin shook her head. “I don’t understand what any of that means.” She grabbed onto Stacia’s back from the left side while Stanton did the same from the right. They held tightly to the shoulder pads of her armor as she lashed the rope around the three of them several times. Between the two of them and the weapons and pack she still had strapped to her back, movement through the window became infinitely more awkward.

Behind them, Cobble’s gunfire abruptly stopped. Whether she had died or ran out of bullets, that was still Stacia’s signal that it was time for them to go.

Keeping one plasma pistol and one hook and length of rope tucked where she could easily get them in the rope around her, Stacia slowly came out into the sunlight and surveyed the situation around her. On the various ledges and catwalks below, a fight had broken out between Lexton’s people and the citizens of Roo-Soh. Lexton’s Shellheads appeared to be broken up into two small groups, one consisting of the few that had run out the door after Stacia’s attack, and other somewhat larger group much farther down the cliff. The ones up here had the high ground, and the lower ones looked like they had hostages, but in between, the combined Skins and Shellheads who called this place their home were putting up a hell of a fight despite their inferior weapons. Stacia felt a small pang that she couldn’t be down there helping them. But helping people other than Stanton had never been part of this mission. The best she could do for everyone who didn’t deserve to be here was simply to tell the rest of the galaxy that they existed at all.

Still, Stacia couldn’t help but notice a single Shellhead near the top of the lower group that appeared to have two hostages. She had her left arm around the throat of one, while the other she kept at gunpoint. She was also shouting upward as though she thought someone above would hear her and give up if it saved these two’s lives. Both of the hostages were men.

“Skin, can you reach the sonic blade in my pack and give it to me?”

Skin did as she was asked without question. Stacia took the knife, hefted it in her hand to make sure she had the weight right, then carefully aimed below before tossing the blade with a flick of her wrist. It wouldn’t have the advantage of its vibratory function while it wasn’t in her hand, but Stacia’s aim was careful enough that she didn’t need it. The knife spun on its way down to bury itself directly in the top of the Shellhead’s skull. She dropped to the ground and then tumbled over the side of a catwalk, leaving her two hostages safely behind. The Shellheads that had been around her all looked up to see where the attack had come from.

“Why did you do that?” Stanton asked. “Now they know we’re up here.”

“That was just in case I can’t keep my other promise to Cobble.”

Many of the Shellheads shouted and pointed up to her as Stacia took her first tentative grips of the cliff face. From a distance, it had appeared relatively smooth, but now that she was right next to it, she could see that it was rough enough that she could probably make it to the top of the cliff. Or at least, she could under other circumstances. Normally, she didn’t have two full-grown people strapped to her back and adding dead weight.

As she started climbing, several stone chips flew past her face from the potshots of the Shellheads below. Several hit her back, but although she felt both Skin and Stanton cower against her, neither of them screamed. That actually surprised and impressed Stacia. Neither of them was used to combat situations, especially Stanton, who was well known to do most of his activism behind a desk and in front of a camera. Maybe they were both made of sterner stuff that she had expected. That was good. It meant that maybe there really was a chance they could get off this planet after all. Considering the plan that General Borealis had set in motion required…

“Hey, Stacia?” Skin asked, interrupting Stacia’s thoughts. “Didn’t those other Shellheads all get the same training you did?”

“Sort of.”

“Then why are you such a good shot while they all seem to be terrible?”

“Well, there’s a story there.” Another outcropping of rocks exploded over their heads, showering the three of them in sharp shards. “One I’ll have to tell you later. Please, right now, I really need to concentrate.”

About halfway up the cliff, Stanton tapped her on the back of the head. “Uh, looks like we’re about to get company.”

Stacia didn’t dare risk turning her head to see. The higher up she got, the smoother the rock seemed to be. Finding hand and footholds was becoming more and more difficult. “What have we got?”

“I think it’s the two Shellheads who ducked out the door when you started shooting,” Stanton said.

“Any chance either of you two could take one of the pistols and try to scrub them off our backs?”

“I wouldn’t even begin to know how to use those things,” Stanton said. Skin, however, had been keeping a close watch of Stacia over the last several days. Stacia felt the woman shift around on her back until she had one of the pistols. There were two shots, followed by one fading scream.

“I got one!” Skin screeched, making Stacia wince. “I got one I got one I got one!”

“Oh God, his head,” Stanton said. “It just… I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Just remember that puking on me makes it harder for you to hold on,” Stacia said. “Skin, good job, but try not to celebrate so much that you…”

“Oops.”

“You dropped the pistol, didn’t you?”

“Yes, she did,” Stanton said. “The good news is that it hit the other Shellhead on the way down. She didn’t fall, but she’s struggling for her grip now.”

Hopefully, that would buy Stacia the time she needed. They were near the top, but the only remaining handhold she could see was nearly a meter up.

“Okay, both of you two, be quiet. This is going to take some calculating.”

Of course, this was punctuated by more bullets streaking past them and exploding in the rocks. Hardly the ideal situation in which to concentrate, but it wasn’t anywhere near the most distracting place she’d ever found herself. That honor went to the time she had to escape an erupting volcano with a Shakespeare-quoting robot.

She took several deep breaths as her tactical implants did their work, calculating speed, force, trajectory, distance to the last handhold. A diagram appeared in her mind, showing exactly what she needed to do at what moment to move what height.

Complete with a banana for scale.

Stacia leaped up and grabbed at the handhold.

She missed by a few centimeters.

Apparently, a banana was a poor way to measure distance.

Her two passengers screamed as she hit the side of the cliff, failed to get a grip on anything, and then tumbled down the side. Her implants did their work better this time, though, forcing her to reach out and grab the remaining Shellhead before they dropped past and turned into blood smears on the ledges below. She was sure this was just a temporary measure, that the Shellhead would get ripped off the cliff and fall with them, but the Shellhead held on as Stacia got her fingers in a gap in the Shellhead’s poorly attached armor.

“You bitch,” the Shellhead said. “Let go of me or…”

“Climb,” Stacia said in her ear. “Unless you want to get splattered like your friend.”

The Shellhead paused, then said, “He wasn’t my friend. Actually, he was a real dick.” She climbed, although even for someone with her augmentations, the weight of three people, one in full armor, was an obvious strain. There were still a few shots from below that went wide.

“Hey, stop shooting at me!” the Shellhead called down. “I’m on your side!”

“I take it they’re not your friends either?” Stacia asked.

“If they were before, they aren’t now. I’m Kendara, by the way.”

“Stacia. Nice to meet you.”

A plasma shot hit somewhere below them.

“Idiots,” Kendara said. “All of them should know there’s no way to get an accurate plasma shot at this range.”

“I don’t know,” Stacia said. “Some of those pistols looked like they might be the PQ models.”

“Really? I didn’t see that. I’ll have to take a closer look. Assuming you don’t kill me when we get to the top.”

“I’m not going to make any promises just yet.”

“Hey, can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“Seriously?” Stanton asked. “This is seriously the conversation that’s happening right now?”

“You got anything better to talk about?” Kendara asked.

“How about not talking about anything and instead concentrating on not falling?”

“Okay, yeah, I see now,” Kendara said.

“See what?” Stanton asked.

“Why the Lord Commander wants to shoot you.”

At the top, the four people awkwardly pulled themselves up over the ledge. There was still a great deal of shouting below, accompanied by the occasional random pot-shots, but it didn’t look to Stacia like anyone else was trying to follow their insane escape route. They would have to take the long way around to get up, however far that might be.

Kendara collapsed with great heaving breaths as Stacia undid the rope that secured her passengers to her back. “What are you going to do with her now?” Stanton asked Stacia.

“The only smart thing to do would be to kill her so she doesn’t muck up our escape,” Stacia replied.

“No!” Skin shouted. “You can’t! She helped us!”

“Only after I forced her,” Stacia said. “Only after she was preparing to kill us.”

“Stacia does have a point, guys,” Kendara said between gasps. “That’s the way of war sometimes.”

“But this isn’t a war,” Stanton said. “There’s no war within light-years of this planet.”

Kendara shrugged, as if she fundamentally disagreed but didn’t have the energy to argue.

“Are you actually arguing that I should shoot you?” Stacia asked Kendara.

“No, not at all. I’d like to live, thank you very much. I’m just saying that if you do, no hard feelings.”

“And if I don’t kill you, what will you do?”

“Try to catch my breath some more. I mean, Jesus, you are really heavy.”

“You’re not going to come after us?”

“Oh, I probably will. If I don’t, I might as well throw myself right back off this cliff. It’ll be quicker than whatever the Lord Commander will do if it looks like I just let you walk away.”

Stacia raised the rope in her hands. “And what if it doesn’t look like that at all?”

Kendara raised an eyebrow.

Within two minutes, Stacia had the ropes tied thoroughly around Kendara. “Too tight?” Stacia asked.

“No, just tight enough. Can’t make it look like I could easily get out, can we?” She looked distant for a second, then said, “That jump you tried to make on the cliff. You should have been able to do it easily.”

“You’re right. I should have.”

“It was the banana, wasn’t it?”

“Yep. Always the banana.”

“Man, if I ever get my hands on the jackass that programmed that in…”

Stacia pulled her a respectable distance from the cliff so she wouldn’t somehow tumble off accidentally, while also making sure she could kick at anything that might try to come and take a bite out of her while she waited for the rest of the Shellheads to come along and find her.

“Is this often the way you do things?” Stanton asked Stacia.

“No. I like to think of my methods as flexible. Comfy, Kendara?”

“No, not comfortable at all. It’s perfect. Hey, thanks for not shooting me.”

“Any time. Maybe you can repay the favor sometime.”

And with that, Stacia, Skin, and Stanton ran off, trying to put as much distance between them and Lexton’s forces as possible.