Galaxy Rangers: "Time Bomb"

Chapter 11


Doc frowned, studying two wires carefully, as he crouched over a
hole he had opened in the floor. "It's either the red one, or the
green one." He muttered, "but which? Ah, well..." Reaching down among
the components of the prison tube, he jerked the red wire out of its
socket.

The hacker cried out in pain as the tube activated again, sparks
of electricity crackling up and down the surface of the glass. Through
sheer force of will, Doc managed to shove the freed wire against a
bare terminal nearby. The power cable shorted itself out, with a loud
crack, and the electrical field around him dissipated.

The tube popped open slightly, a cloud of smoke rolling out from
the fried machinery. Doc shoved the tube up out of his way, and rolled
out into the open. He lay still for a moment, trying to catch his
breath. "Momma always told me not to play with live wires."

Brushing himself off, we walked over to the console, grabbing his
badge and CDU. He then grabbed the Queen's copy of the disk. He shoved
the disk into a slot and brought up the data, nodding as he scanned
the file. He then pressed a few more keys, and brought up a schematic
of the asteroid.

"Time to start walkin'," Doc says. "I won't get anything else
from this terminal." He shut down the display, then ejected the disk,
and put it in his pocket. He then crept up to the door, put an ear to
it, and jerked back as he heard talking on the other side.

Doc put his ear back to the door. There were definately two
voices, the electronically altered speech of Crown Troopers. One of
them was trying to engage his partner in conversation, but apparently
the second guard was not interested in chatting.

"Wish I'd paid more attention when I was here last." Doc looked
around the room, hoping to spot a vent shaft or some other back way
out of the little room. There was no way out, and the other prison
tubes in the room were empty, so he wasn't going to be able to
distract the guards with a jail break.

"These guys aren't going to be swayed by my charm and wonderful
sense of style," Doc told himself. "After all, they think basic RED
is a fashion statement." He held his nose. "Pew. So, come on, Doc,
THINK your way out of this..."

* * * * *

Nearer the surface of the asteroid, Goose, Zozo, and Daisy
slipped down the corridors, Buzz and Eve a cautious distance behind
them. Goose watched up and down the corridor, while the others filed
into an elevator.

"Watch the floors," Goose warned, as they waited for the elevator
to stop its decent. "The last time we were here, the Queen dropped us
down a trapdoor. I wouldn't be stupid enough to think that she doesn't
know we're here..."

"I never though I'd be goin' inta this place..." Daisy muttered,
looking around her at the small, rectangular room.

"Second thoughts?" Goose asked her.

"Ever since I decided to join this little team... You owe me one,
Shane..." She gave him a wicked smile. "You're gonna owe me BIG for
this."

The elevator stopped, and Goose leveled his blaster at the open
lobby area. Finding it empty, he stepped out and scanned the area.

"Perhaps we should split up," Buzz put in. "It would be more
difficult for the Queen to track us that way. Zozo and I could try and
shut down the transmitter which the Queen is going to use to broadcast
the signal, while you and Daisy rescue Ranger Hartford."

"It might be safer if you an' I split up, Shane," Daisy added.
She glanced at Zozo. "No offense, fur-face, but if Gooseman an' I get
captured, I dinna thin' you can get us free..."

"I 'dinna' think that myself," Zozo said with a grin. "I don't
know the first thing about transmitters, so I could go with you or
Goose to find Doc."

"Sounds good to me. You got something I can draw you a map on?"

Daisy dug around in the pockets of her spacesuit, and pulled out
a scrap of paper, a cleaning bill to the original owner of Daisy's
ship. Goose sketched a crude map on it, then pointed to a spot on the
map.

"If the room we saw Doc in is the one I think it was, it should
be around here... Zozo, you probably know this place better than Daisy,
since you were briefed along with the rest of BETA when we came back."

He looked up at Daisy. "Even so, I've only seen this place a few
times, myself, and I wasn't in a hurry to see it again. That's why I'm
not trying to point out likely places for guards, they're probably in
different places by now..."

Buzzwang gestured at another point on the map. "Analysis of the
layout of the asteroid from the outside would suggest that the sensor
and transmission equipment are located on the upper face. I would
expect our target to be near the transport tube to that area."

"... Which is nearer the surface than the Psychocrypt," Goose
added, "for all the good that'll do. Daisy, you take the map. I'll
count on Buzz and his computer memory. All right, let's go."

Daisy nodded, and took the slip of paper, then she and Zozo took
off down one of the passageways. Gooseman stared after them for a
moment, then gestured Buzz and Eve to follow as he headed off in the
other direction.

* * * * *

"Real pretty", Daisy remarked, closing the drawer. The alien that
lay inside it, unconscious, was of a type she'd never seen before. She
wasn't sure she wanted to see it again.

"This is where the Queen stores her victims before she sends 'em
to the Psychocrypt," Zozo told her. "The Rangers told me all about it
after their first visit to this place.

"Well, we're ginna haf' ta turn around. This is a dead end." The
Irish outlaw made a quick sweep of the room. There was only the one
door that they'd entered through.

"Ya know," Daisy commented. "If I were this Queen, I wou' set a
trap hereabouts, so if somebody in here thawed out, he wouldna be able
to leave..."

Zozo thought for a moment. "If I remember correctly, when the
Rangers first came here, they fell down into that pit trap right
after discovering a Gherkin, frozen like that."

"They may ha' trigger'd an alarm. An' we may have just doon the
same thin'. I'd better check for booby traps."

Zozo held very still, a look of rising panic in his round eyes.
"Do you think it's okay to move?"

"If it isn't, it's too late now." Daisy scanned the room
carefully, moving from drawer to drawer, checking up and the walls and
even along the ceiling. "Still, don' go near th' door 'til I've had a
chance ta check it. Most likely tha's where a trap would be."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Zozo said. "Wait..." He paused, one of
his pointed ears cocking as he turned to look back at the wall. He was
clearly listening to a sound out in the passage that went past the
room. "We've got company!"

"Great!" Daisy pulled out her blaster. "We're sitting ducks in
here." She glanced around, then up, at a grating set into the cieling
above her head.

"That's a vent shaft, I think," she told Zozo. "It's the only way
outta here... but if I were Queenie, I'd have it trapped. Kin we fight
our way out?"

Zozo shook his head. "There's about ten of 'em."

Daisy sized the little Kiwi up, then turned back to the grating.
"Then we can't fight our way out." She fired her blaster at the vent,
and it swung open. "Come on, furry-face, I'll boost you up there."

With the outlaw's help, Zozo climbed up into the shaft, then
turned around to help Daisy up. As a handful of Crown Troopers burst
into the room, opening fire, Daisy leaped, grabbing the little Ziwi's
arm. He cried out as her weight pulled down on him, but somehow
managed to keep his grip on the edge of the shaft, until Daisy could
grab onto the opening and pull herself up.

"Come on, we've gotta hurry," Daisy snapped, as she scrambled
down the vent shaft. Finding another grate ahead of them, she began
to kick at it. As Zozo came up behind her, he sniffed the air, his
eyes growing wide.

Daisy looked up, to see a cloud of gas rolling down the vent
towards them. With one final kick, she knocked the grate open, and
dropped into the room below.

Zozo dropped after her, and the two of them charged out of the
room. By the time the guards arrived at the room, Daisy and Zozo were
already long gone.

* * * * *

Elsewhere in the asteroid, Gooseman readied his blaster. The two
Troopers guarding the room in front of them were caught completely by
suprise as he darted out of the corridor, taking out each with a
well-placed shot. As he, Buzzwang and Eve stepped up to the fallen
guards, he fiddled with one of their helmets.

The Ranger worked for a few more moments, then harumphed. With a
tug, he pulled the Crown Agent's head off. He held it up, studying the
circuitry that now hung from the Trooper's neck. "At least we've
answered the question of whether they're androids or armored soldiers."

"Not necessarily," Buzzwang countered. "It could be that the
Queen uses robot guards here in her Psychocrypt, because they are less
prone to rebellion. She may also use robots only for the lower level
Troopers, with living beings as the leaders."

Gooseman looked at him for a second, then shrugged. "Oh, well. It
looks like we won't be using their armor now."

"Perhaps not... but I should be able to salvage the parts I need
to repair my own circuitry."

"I don't think we should stay in one place for that long," Goose
countered. "The Queen is probably tracking our movements even as we
speak."

"I am not detecting any monitoring signals in the area," Buzz
told him. "And we have been careful to avoid the sensors I have
detected. For the moment, I think we are safe. But if you feel we must
keep moving, I could perform some minor repairs while walking. Enough
that I would no longer need Eve's support, at least."

"I don't mind," Eve protested.

"Yeah, but with Buzz repaired, we could protect you better,"
Goose told her. "It's dangerous enough for you to be here as it is. I
would have left you behind on the ship, but I was afraid that you
might be spotted. Then we'd have Doc AND you to rescue from the
Queen."

Eve blanched as the Queen was mentioned. "Well, I know I'm safe
with you, Shane."