Chapter 21 : Crisis

A strange smell was in the air. It was acrid, chemical, unhealthy; the smell of Earth. How the smell might have reached this pristine beach puzzled Jack for a while. Wisps of dark smoke blew through the trees on the hills above, and some of it descended in their direction, heavy and suffocating. The source became clear as they drew closer to the habitat. A mushroom cloud was hanging over the building, and its facets had turned from gleaming white to a grubby grey. Near the top a few frantic figures were running about in small groups, looking for an escape route. The fire must have really taken hold in there. The instinct of the residents to flee was understandable, Jack thought; for a moment they might forget that there was nowhere else to go. The habitat was their only source of power, food, shelter, communication, supplies. Some would surely fight the fire to the end and be consumed by it if they failed.

Hugo had cheered up somewhat. In this chaos minor acts of treachery would be a low priority for the triple-S.

“Here’s a chance to redeem yourself, Hugo. Go put that damned fire out.”

“Down there by the water intakes”. Hugo pointed to an arm of the habitat that extended over the bay and was still free from smoke.

“OK. We’ll enter there and see what we can do”, Jack said.

They ran into a dark underpass that bored deep into the habitat. It was calm, cool and quiet in here; strangely so for a burning building. A gruff male voice broke the silence, shouting at them from a side-door.

“Get in here quick. They’re climbing over the top.”

“What ?”, Jack said.

They arrived in a walkway with big windows on both sides, connecting the water processing plant to the main building.

“There’s hundreds of them out there,” the man said. “They’re coming from the cabins. We’ve locked the habitat down but their breaking in.“ They were in a fine position to watch the chaotic scene unfolding below. Groups of bedraggled but energetic figures were attacking the habitat, pulling away its flimsy panels and setting fire to them. Attaching a cable to a supporting beam, a team of four maniacs pulled at it with all their strength, and a chunk of the building collapsed like a house of cards, exposing domestic quarters above. A long, red sofa toppled from a third floor and hit someone on the back. It knocked him over but he was up again in a few seconds, limping slightly, to resume his destructive work.

Jack had seen riots before, mostly on television. In his youth he had hung around smoke-filled city centers where other young men flung garbage cans and anything else they could pick up at the triple-S lines. This riot on Greenshoot was different somehow, although Jack struggled to say exactly why. There seemed to be no fun in it, he thought; just a grim determination, one might even say professionalism, in the way the habitat was being demolished. They had the industry of an ant colony, working away with unspoken agreement to some unseen plan.

Hugo started to laugh but suppressed it quickly when Jack looked at him. Hugo had been lucky - the triple-S would have no time for his case now. But what about the Beluga ? Would anyone attack it ? Jack checked the ship’s external cameras via his communicator. It was all quiet over there. Should he make a run for the ship and fly it out of here ? This was a tough call. As he considered the options, Tom Axelrod burst through a door at the end of the walkway.

“Jack, I’m issuing firearms. Get over here !”

Tom tossed Jack an automatic rifle and led him up a couple of floors.

“I want Squad-1 on the roof of this block. You may have to fight your way up there. Take it one floor at a time, Brad in the lead, you call clear before the others follow. Shoot anyone climbing the outside walls. Shoot to kill.”

Tom looked on hawkishly as the three young men of squad 1 filed out.

“Squad-2. Go out through the tunnel to the south, move up through the woods and come round behind the enemy. Stay low, under cover. You’re our snipers. Shoot anyone damaging property. Issue no warnings. Shoot to kill.”

The men of Squad-2 grinned and bundled noisily out of the room.

“The rest of you, look at the plans of the building; note the forward positions I have marked in red. I’ll send you out in a few minutes.”

The remaining few men gathered nervously around a screen. Jack stood to one side, he didn’t feel a part of this SSS outfit yet. He wanted to understand what was happening here before shooting anyone, and tried to gather some ideas, but it was hard to think; smoke was coming through the doorway and the walls were shaking. Jack recognized the engineer Alan Pont sitting at a computer, scratching his beard, looking bemused but unruffled. A sign on his screen, in big bold letters, read “CRISIS TEAM - FACILITIES MANAGMENT”. Tom was talking to Alan about the state of the building.

“I’m getting no signal from cells B555 and B556”, Alan said. ”They have broken into block B and they are wrecking it. Now that is adjacent to our block and separated from us by the standard 30 centimeter foam wall.”

Alan pointed to the wall behind him, which was flexing in a steady rhythmical way, as if someone were beating on it from the other side.

“How many insurgents are there ?”, Jack asked.

“We estimate around two hundred”, Tom said briskly.

“How many guns do you have ?” “Twelve.”

“That’s not enough in close quarters combat”, Jack said. “You have to flush them out into the open to give your snipers a chance.”

“Could we pump a nerve agent though the air ducts into block B ?”, Tom asked. “How about that Alan ?”

“Each block has its own system of ducts so you will have to get in there first”, Alan replied.

“The nuclear cell is in this block isn’t it, block A ?”, Jack asked.

“Yes that’s correct”, Alan said. “Well, underneath it actually, it’s sunk into the rock.”

“Block B is already infested”, Jack said. “The water plant is clear of insurgents at the moment and difficult for them to get at, since it’s built out over the ocean. Then there’s block C which links us to the rest of the habitat.”

“So ?”, Tom asked.

“Demolish blocks B and C”, Jack said. “My gut feeling is that the insurgents are trying to get to block A and are driven by some uncontrollable urge. Possibly something is telling them to get to the power plant. I don’t know. But if we can take down B and C then our block together with the water plant will be isolated, the insurgents will be out in the open for a while trying to get in, and your guys on the roof and in the woods will have a shot at them. If you try to clear one cell at a time you will expend all your men.”

“How many people are in C right now”, Tom asked.

“I’m reading fifty two”, Alan replied. “But that may be unreliable.”

“Your gut could wrong, Jack”, Tom said shaking his head. “What if they target the other blocks instead ? We can’t cover every angle on the whole habitat … I’ve got explosives but how can we take out B and C without damaging the other blocks ? Alan ?” “Hmmn”, Alan said, “actually Jack’s idea is not as stupid as it seems. The services to the other blocks run underground in the tunnels, the ones our predecessors built, and they’re solid enough. The rest of the habitat will still have power and water. To demolish a block just take one corner beam out and the whole thing will collapse”, Alan said. “There are no cross members you see. I’ve said this to anyone who will listen - the structure is inherently unstable.” “Damn it”, Tom said under his breath, walking away. The smoke was building up in the triple-S command post, and most of the men were coughing, growing more tense by the second, all looking towards Tom. “All right then”, he said. “Alan, broadcast a message to block C, evacuate into F, they have three minutes. Men, gather round this screen ! Alan, which cells do those corner beams run through ?” “B6 and C4 will do”.

Tom issued his remaining men with grenades and duct tape and sent them to the far corners of the adjacent blocks.

“Jack, come with me up to the roof. We’re going to cover them as they come out of the building.”

The sound of gunfire was coming from all directions when Tom and Jack reached the windy rooftop. Tom’s men were leaning over the edge, taking a shot at anyone who approached A-block; a dozen or so bodies already lay at the foot of the building.

“I hope we’re doing the right thing”, Tom said. “Too late to implant transponders in these people now“. The situation was hard for him to evaluate. The habitat’s residents were supposed to be inside, and everyone else had been ordered back to their cabins, so in theory the crowd down there should all be saboteurs. Many in the crowd though seemed passive; a few hundred men and women, young and old, even a few children, looking up quietly at the armed men on the roof. Occasionally one dropped out of the crowd for no apparent reason and made a suicidal run at the building.

Tom looked at his watch anxiously. “What’s your situation ?”, he shouted into his communicator. “Squad 3 ?“ He was waiting for a reply when his men came charging out of the building, and a few seconds later explosions threw up dust that obscured everything, billowing up until the men on the roof couldn’t even see each other. “Squad 4 ? Where are you ?”