Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part XXIII - Walking the Plank
Miles beneath the surface of the Earth, in the hidden lakeside city of the Nomads...
"Doc!" shouted the thrilled Buck Rogers and he pulled Elias Huer into a bear hug, "You made it! You're alive!"
"As are you, Buck, as are you!" Huer blinked at the unexpected, but not completely unwelcome, show of affection, and gently patted the 20th Century astronaut on the back.
Buck released him and stepped back, his face flush with excitement, "Seriously, Doc, we all thought you were dead."
"By all I assume you mean the crew of Searcher?"
"Yep! We're back and ready to lend a hand at tossing the Draconians out on their collective cans!"
"Indeed. But I will admit, that when I and the Computer Council failed to hear from you for the entire two months leading up to the Draconian Invasion, we unfortunately assumed the worst."
Buck dragged a hand down his face and sighed, "Yeah, we got hit by an ion storm that knocked out half our systems and left us drifting for weeks. And even after we got up and going again, communications were still down."
"An ion storm can be extremely deadly!" Dr. Huer gaped at him in astonishment, "But you survived? Incredible!"
"Yeah, it happened in Z-Quadrant. Anyway, to make a long story short we managed to put in at an inhabited planet named Dlieeth for repairs and things got pretty dicey when war broke out there. Wow, don't even get me started on the wacko stuff that happened to us there." Rogers scowled at the memory, "We barely made it back alive."
"It's extremely impressive that you did, Buck."
"Yeah, Goodfellow and Crichton, they-well, what's it matter, we made it back, and now we're home. Not that things are how we left'em, though."
"Hardly..." scowled Huer, then he looked down as his pant leg was being tugged on. A wide smile split his face, "Twiki! Hello!"
"Hiya, Doc! Bidi-bidi-bidi! Good to see ya!"
Huer gripped the drone's right grasper warmly, "You are here too!" he looked back to Rogers, "And is Colonel Deering also with you?"
Buck shook his head, "She's on a mission to infiltrate the lead Draconian Star Fortress with Hawk."
"With who?" frowned Huer, then he made the connection, "Oh! That Bird-Man you found on Throm who joined your crew. I read about him in the early mission longs that Admiral Asimov transmitted back. I would very much like to meet him, he sounds quite admirable."
"Yeah, he's quite the stand-up guy, smart and good in a fight. I still wish I'd gone with Wilma, though. Sure, she's got Hawk to back her up, but still..."
Huer gestured for the two of them to follow him, and he lead them into the recycled city and to a large one-story building constructed from what looked like half-melted highway signs. Inside was a large five-cornered chamber that appeared to be a war room of sorts, with maps of the surface terrain pinned up on the walls, stolen Draconian blaster rifles stacked in one corner, while barrels of detonite explosive filled another. In the center of the room was a large makeshift conference table, constructed out of old oil barrels and a wide piece of plywood. And in the middle of the table, between stacks of old books and half-melted candles, sat
"Theo!"
"Greetings, Captain Rogers." pulsed the photoreceptors of the circular Quad called Dr. Theopolis.
"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" Twiki rushed across the room and picked up his former master. With great reverence he dropped him over his neck, releasing the brilliant AI to hang against his chest in the groove designed specifically for him.
"And it is highly gratifying to see you again, Twiki." said Theopolis.
"You and me both, old pal." the drone patted the Quad warmly.
Buck shook his head in amazement, "You managed to escape from the Draconians too? How'd you do that?"
"I owe my life to Dr. Huer." replied Theopolis, "He managed to get to me just in time and together we escaped from New Chicago and took refuge here in the Forbidden Zone."
"You are giving me too much credit, Theopolis." smiled Huer, "Without your help I never would have-"
Buck cut him off with a laugh, "Sounds like you guys made a great team."
Huer frowned, "We were nearly killed many times."
The Captain pulled up an old folding chair and sat down, "I wanna hear all about it."
"Me too!" said Twiki, "Bidi-bidi-bidi!"
The older man sighed, then nodded and pulled up a seat of his own, "I expected you would. I don't really like to think about it, but if it will help us to plan an operation to retake the Inner City, then of course, I will do my best to fill you in on what has happened."
And taking a deep breath, Dr. Huer began to relate the story...
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Six months earlier, in the heart of New Chicago...
"This is inconceivable! How did the Draconians get through the Defense Shield! How many Marauders have you detected?"
Dr. Huer stared at the display screen hanging on the wall of his office on the top floor of the Earth Defense Directorate Building. All around him his staff bustled and rushed, laying reports on his desk and speaking worriedly into their own comlinks and screens.
"We don't know how they breached the Shield, sir." replied the Starfighter Squadron's Commander-in-Chief from the screen, "They appeared to know the correct manuevers to make, they didn't lose even one Hatchet-Fighter. And we've detected nearly two hundred and fifty of them."
"Two hundred and fifty?" Huer gaped at him in amazement.
"Yes, that many." replied the grizzled face of the C-in-C.
"But we only have thirty starfighters."
"I know, sir. I've dispatched them, but I highly doubt they will survive the first wave. They're good, the best our Flight School has ever turned out, but nobody is that good."
Buck and Wilma might have been, scowled Huer, but they aren't here, now are they. But I dearly wish they were. Nope, we are on our own...
"What about the ground-to-air defences? The network of high-grade pulsar canons that are based around each Inner City?"
"That's the strangest part of all this, Doctor," replied the C-in-C, "I gave the order for them to power-up, but received an error code. They aren't working."
"Aren't working? But that's supposed to be impossible! There are too many redundant systems. What did the Computer Council have to say?"
"I contacted them, but the Quads were as confused as I was. They told me they would get to work on restoring the Batteries, but had to access them directly from the source of their control mechanism."
"You mean at the Energy Directorate." replied Dr. Huer and he cocked his head in surprise, "Really? They said they had to access the Building itself directly?"
He scowled. That suggests some sort of computer virus is to blame for the failure of the Global Pulsar Batteries. But how? Who or what could have done this to us?
The C-in-C nodded on the screen, "Even now the AI's and their Ambuquads are enroute to the EED-" he broke-off due to a shout from one of his Officers, and scowled, "Our starfighters! They're gone."
"What, all of them?"
"Yes!" the Chief studied a hard copy that had just been thrust into his hands, "Our fighters managed to destroy close to a fifth of the enemy before they were wiped out, and now the remaining two hundred Marauders have split into groups and are enroute to all of the Inner Cities. They have already begun to bomb New Phoenix, and I'm reading reports of a legion of hover-tanks are starting to lay siege to City by the Sea. And..." he broke off and his face paled.
"What?" demanded Huer, "What's wrong?"
"You...You need to get out of there now, Elias. Right now."
Huer chewed his lip, "How long do we have?"
"A minute. Probably less."
"Good luck to you, Commander."
"And to you. If the Drac's want to take my HQ then they're in for the fight of their lives." and the C-in-C broke the connection.
Huer swallowed hard and looked to his own people, "Proceed with evacuation. Flee for you lives."
"Sir?" blinked a young Officer, "The Draconians, sir, are they-are they coming?"
And in the distance an explosion sounded, the office rocked hard, sending shelves pitching over and cracking the glowing white walls.
"They are already here." breathed Huer darkly, and with a final nod to his staff he took off at a run...
To be continued...