Earth Awakens (The First Formic War 3)

Imala closed her eyes and shook her head. Three dead. And so far only Bungy was out.

She gripped the flight stick. Her hands were trembling. Victor wasn't half the solider ZZ had been. Not even close. And if ZZ hadn't made it ...

No. She couldn't think that way. She had to act on facts. And the only fact that mattered right now was that the "X" was painted. The nozzles were turned. All of them. She was going. Whether the crew got out or not she was going.

*

Victor launched up the shaft, breathing hard. He collided with Benyawe, who collided with whoever was ahead of her. They had been moving this way for almost a hundred meters now, advancing up the shaft in a stop-go-stop-go manner. They were all positioned in a line, but you could only advance when the person ahead of you advanced. And the space--which was narrow and tight to begin with--was now cluttered with Formic corpses.

Victor waited for the line to advance. Shenzu was behind him, with Deen bringing up the rear, firing a steady stream of ammo and lasers back down the shaft toward the cargo bay. Dozens of Formics were clamoring up the shaft after them, crawling on top of each other, scrabbling forward, coming up the shaft like water rising in a well.

"Move!" Deen kept yelling. Or, "More clips! More clips!"

Ammo clips kept being passed down the chain to Deen, who shot at and sliced the Formics to ribbons as he shuffled backward up the shaft. This didn't slow the Formics in the least, however. The advancing mob consumed the dead ones and pushed them back, surging forward, never slowing.

"Move!" said Deen. "Launch!"

Benyawe had a clear path. She launched, and Victor launched right behind her, colliding with her before she had reached the person ahead. That sent her into one of the walls and stopped her.

"Keep moving!" said Deen. "Don't stop!"

More flashes of gunfire. More launching. More orders screamed. Victor's heart was hammering in his chest. They weren't going to make it. Deen would be overrun any moment. The Formics were less than ten meters away.

Victor felt a rush of air. The hole ahead. Wit had reached the hole and pulled it. The air in the shaft was being sucked out into the vacuum of space.

There was ten meters of empty space between Victor and Shenzu behind him, who had stopped to help Deen fight back the onslaught.

Suddenly a wall slid down into place just below Victor's feet, sealing off the shaft and leaving Shenzu and Deen on the other side with the Formics.

"What happened?" said Benyawe.

"The shafts," said Victor, "they're gas isolated. They must automatically seal when they detect a leak. There's nothing you can do. Keep going. I'll cut them free."

She launched away.

Victor bent down the shaft and immediately started cutting with his laser. It seemed painfully slow. He wasn't going to reach them in time. The Formics would overrun them, and when he opened it, he would only unleash the Formics onto himself.

After a long painful minute, the hole was cut. Shenzu immediately burst through, colliding hard into Victor and sending him ricocheting up the shaft. Another rush of air as the vacuum sucked up the shaft from below.

"Where's Deen?" Victor shouted.

A moment later Deen's head appeared through the hole, he was still firing his laser below him. Victor couldn't see; Shenzu was blocking his way.

"He's hit," said Shenzu. "Three in his legs."

Deen tried to push off with his legs, but it was no good. His legs were useless. Victor saw the projectiles protruding from Deen's thigh, like narrow black darts.

"Take him," said Shenzu. "I'll bring up the rear."

He passed Deen up, who winced and moaned.

"We need to get these out now," said Victor. "We're in the vacuum of space. Your suit is punctured."

"You can't pull them out," said Deen. "I'll bleed to death. You've got to patch the holes with the darts still in."

Shenzu was firing down in to the hole, but not with the same urgency that Deen had before. The Formics left in the shaft were asphyxiating.

"Do it," Deen said to Victor. "Put the seal casts on now. I'll die if you don't."