//------------------------------// // Chapter 59. A Real Pain in the Butt // Story: H'ven Sent // by otherunicorn //------------------------------// Yes, I can make that jump, I thought as I launched myself without even slowing. Immediately I mentally played through landing, adjusting my course and speeding on my way. I could veer left, take a few steps, then turn right again, but that would cost me momentum. On the other hoof, if I immediately gathered myself and leaped a second time, my momentum would be preserved, and the route would be slightly shorter. It would have been really convenient to have a teleport link between Central and the hangars, like the one between Central and the bridge, and so far, no amount of searching had found one. Running really fast, and taking life-risking leaps simply did not measure up by comparison. Running, as much as I loved it as a recreational sport, was a very poor way of navigating catwalks when one was in a rush. And then there was that painfully slow rotating tunnel to get through as well. Getting to the hangar was taking far too long. What chance did I have of getting to those in distress on time? None, I told myself. I had no chance at all because they were already dead. That wasn't going to stop me. Maybe... I landed on the targeted catwalk, gathered myself and took another flying leap. Wings. I really needed to get myself some of those bat wings, like Snow had. When they had been offered to me, I hadn't felt like spending the required time to have the modifications made. With them I could have bypassed all the jumping, and fly straight to the lock to the hangar. Spending a week in a conversion tank could have saved me minutes here, and at the moment, that seemed like a very fair exchange. Behind me I heard a din of clattering hooves on the catwalk followed by cursing as Cacha missed her footing. Despite her skills, she was having trouble keeping up. The Catwalk Runner was not up to the demands. Realizing that, it occurred to me that such was my desperation, Cacha and I were not working as a team. It was time to ease up and regroup. Losing her en route would not help matters at all. "Sorry, love," I thought to her, slowing, stalling, waiting for her to catch up. She slowed, coming to a stop beside me. "I should be concentrating on teamwork," I said, "instead of worrying about what has happened, as that won't achieve anything. And getting you killed on the way would be awful." "Thanks. I don't fancy falling to my death," Cacha said, reaching across to chew the hair behind my ear. She knew I found that relaxing. "Besides, there will be plenty of time to worry and plan once we get to that damn tunnel." "Too true." "Seriously, you could have done any planning needed back in Central, rather than having to come down here..." Cacha paused. "Oh, yeah. We are two of the remaining defenders, aren't we? C'mon, let's go." We took off again, along a catwalk, what's more. The aerial route had been postponed for when no alternative existed, or for when missing one's footing would not send one plummeting to their death. Cacha guided us right down onto the suspension platform and its marked routes, while my initial route had tried to maintain our altitude among the giant springs employed by the suspension system. Our speed may have been slower and the route longer than my headlong dash, but I had to admit it was safer and ultimately more efficient. Cacha was a native of the lower levels after all. Soon enough we reached the edge of the water jacket of the life support chamber. The distant ceiling it had formed curved away, up into the black maw that was the gap between it and the outer hull. The lamps that highlighted the preferred path, winding and weaving its way upwards through structural elements and machinery, were the only interruption to the darkness. Unlike many lights in the habitat, these had been wired to remain lit at all times, if for no other reason than the sense of security it gave to those not used to running around in the murky bowels of the habitat. And yes, that included me. Fortunately, my HELaTS body was immune to the exhaustion a regular pony body would be subject to by such a climb. I would need to eat more because of the energy spent. The HELaTS body merely did the conversion of food to energy, and the storage and delivery of said energy in a much more efficient way. Evolution had settled on a biological design that worked, mind you, not particularly well or efficiently, but it worked well enough for it not to bother refining the design any further. It had taken alien technology and brilliant pony minds to take the pony body to the next level. Perhaps it would prove to be a misstep, an artificial step that prevented us from developing a better biological solution to the limitations of our body, or perhaps it would be the only thing standing between us and extinction. I had been informed that the teams I had send out to examine the other hangars had fallen as they approached the first hangar in a clockwise direction from where they started, and that hangar was a quarter of the way around the habitat. By my calculations, that put them about fifteen miles from the exit we were using. By hoof, I could cover that distance in half a day to a day, depending on just how bad the terrain was. In a pod, it would be a lot quicker, as was evident from how far the teams had already traveled, including time to attend to other tasks on the way. But they had not had to fight their way through hundreds of clockwork spiders, and despite their training, they had failed when the spiders had attacked. The details of that attack were lacking, too. The reports had started out clearly enough. A clockwork spider had been seen. Then another two had appeared, and soon Death Squad One were battling more spiders than they could handle. Even before they had fallen silent, reports of more spiders came from Lander Team One. We received some coherent messages, but, as was happening with Death Squad One, the messages rapidly deteriorated into pandemonium and screams, before ceasing. Any attempts to reestablish communications failed, leading to the inevitable conclusion that our ponies had all fallen, and in all likelihood, been cleaved apart by the thrashing legs of our mechanical nemesis. As I had experienced that first-hoof, twice, and survived both times, I couldn't be sure that the death of these ponies was as permanent as some would have me believe. "You aren't thinking of going out there, are you, Aneki?" Cacha asked, as she galloped alongside me. I should not have been surprised. While she could not read my mind, Cacha certainly could read me. "They are HELaTS. Even if they have been cut to pieces, chances are that some of them could survive," I said. "After all, we both did." "And in both cases, the enemy was dealt with before we could be put back together," Cacha said. "At the moment, going out there would be suicide. The clockwork spiders took out half of our converted already. Sending more out would only add to the body count." "But I can't just leave them out there!" "Bigger picture, Aneki, look at the bigger picture. You might not have any choice." "But we have to do something. If we don't, we will all die, either because they break in and kill us, or because they keep us holed up in here until we run out of power." "The clockwork spiders may vanish if we stop aggravating them. Ants stop swarming if you leave them alone. There is also another way to leave the habitat, Aneki. Up. We should be able to exit through the bridge." "But that's ten miles above us, and we aren't even sure if we can breathe up there, or for that matter, if we are inside or outside the ring, thus exposed to the great nothing." "So you are just going to ignore the possibility?" "Of course not. It's just that I have other problems on my mind." "So, delegate. You are the queen after all." Of course, Cacha was right. I delegated a lot of the running of the habitat already, mostly by default. If something was proceeding smoothly enough without my input, I left it alone. At least, now that we had installed repeaters around the areas of the hangar and Habitat Ten, I could communicate with others in all of the significant portions of the habitat with ease. Well, there was no time like the present to unload a couple of problems. I brought up Bittersweet's contact entry in my comms unit's HUD, and called it. I also added Cacha's comm unit to the conversation. Within moments Bittersweet's usual deadpan voice answered. "You sound like you are running," she said. "I am. Bittersweet, could you please organize for some of the repair staff to head up to the bridge? There are some blocked windows up there. I want you to investigate the possibility of getting through them, even if it is via destructive methods. As such, I recommend building an airlock between the area around one window and the rest of the bridge." "Okay. I can understand what you mean. I will organize a crew as soon as is possible. How are things? I've heard they are grim." Her voice showed some expression. Evidently, she thought the problem would directly affect those she loved. "Yes, it is quite grim," I confirmed. "Is there anything else I can do to assist?" The concern in her voice was quite apparent. "Get the extra conversion tanks online as soon as you can. I don't care where you take the parts from, unless it damages a critical system." "I know where some parts are, but it could involve the unintentional discharging of one of the emergency nitrogen or oxygen tanks. While those are no longer critical systems, that is a rather large volume of liquefied gas to dispose of." "Okay, leave that one with me for the moment." "Stay safe, daughter, and for the sake of all of us, please do not attempt a rescue of those who have already fallen." That time there was a lot of emotion in her voice. I ran on in silence for a few moments, then thought to Cacha, "Anything else you can think of that we could do at the moment?" "Sure. Why don't we dump the liquefied gas out through the thrust outputs for the engine. If nothing else, it might blow the spiders away from the habitat." "It would also freeze us. Oh, what the hell. Bittersweet?" "Yes?" "Cacha suggests we dump the contents of one of the tanks through the thrust tubes and into the gap between the hull and the cradle." "Perhaps that would prevent any attack from below, but we also risk lowering the temperature of the lower levels even further. Icing would be a much more serious issue." "True, but at the cost of using some of our limited fuel, we could increase the output from the engines to compensate." "Don't just increase the output," Bittersweet said. "Fire them, and the retro thrusters as well. That will evaporate the liquid nitrogen." "With enough output, that evaporation would be practically explosive, never mind the thrust itself. That's a good idea. Get some teams on preparing the engines, and dumping the nitrogen as soon as possible." "Affirmative. Will do." The redundancy of her words amused me. The comms unit fell silent and I returned my full concentration to getting to the hangar, or more precisely, to my immediate surroundings, and how to best navigate them instead of relying mostly on Cacha while I was involved in conversation. That was when I noticed a foreign sound, a repetitive clanging that should not have been there. It was somewhere behind us, and approaching, which was quite an achievement considering how fast we were running. "Cacha?" I thought to her. "Are you hearing that too?" I transmitted her a burst of sound. "I am. That's the sound of a clockwork spider running on the catwalks." "What?" How the hell did one of those get in here? Hang on... the only ways one could have got in were to break in, and I hadn't heard any reports of such, or for us to have brought it in ourselves, so that meant... "It's Briggs," Cacha said. Thank goodness for that! My mind aborted its excursion into the horrific. "Briggs?" I called out. "Behind you, ma'am," a vaguely artificial voice responded. "What are you doing down here?" "I've come to assist. Brainstorm said you would be stupid enough to try and save those that have fallen, so he had Maisie send me along." "I guess Brainstorm is right. I am that stupid," I admitted. "I thought you weren't fully operational." "Maisie took your advice and connected a horn to the internal power systems of this body. It appears stable enough for me to risk going outside the range of the magical power grid. As for going outside the habitat, the general risk to me is also a lot lower." "Why? If they chop your power off, you could be just as dead, or is your memory non-volatile?" "I would be safer because I am also a clockwork spider." Perhaps what we needed was an army of friendly clockwork spiders patrolling the area around Habitat Eleven. Was there any possibility that the systems of the ringworld would consider the problem solved and stop producing the variant that weren't so friendly? We finally arrived at the entrance to the passage through the hull. The large, circular, high-security door had already lifted clear, ready for us. A pony standing to one side waved us in. Briggs, being somewhat on the large size, had to hunch himself down to the height of an alicorn so he would fit, moving forward with an awkward, shuffling gait. The waiting pony stepped in behind us and the door started to descend. We were already walking along the pipe-like tunnel towards the next section as it rotated into alignment. The rotating sections always left me feeling uneasy as the movement, although slow, was constantly shifting my center of gravity. Some ponies did not even notice it, but I sure did. The section locked into position, allowing us to walk into the next, stationary, section of the tunnel. I also did not like being trapped within each section, with a number of similar sections both behind and ahead of me, preventing me from running free. Since I had first traveled along the tunnel, some modifications had been made. Communications repeaters and lamps had been attached to the upper surface of the fixed sections of the tunnel. Lamps had also been fitted in the rotating sections, but what started out as floor ended up as wall or ceiling as we passed through, so the lamps had been attached to points that were above us as we passed them, but would be in other positions at any other time. The result was a rotating light show that added to the unease I already felt. We had passed about half way through the passage, when my tension was the highest, when my brooding was interrupted by my comms unit. So startled was I that my facial armor snapped shut. At least nopony could see me blush. "Aneki, it is Pink Electricia here," the pony on the comms unit said. "I'm in the control room of one of the ship's main guns. This is the gun that had its external barrel cleared of the tendrils by our outside team. I believe we have managed to get the weapon to the condition where it can be fired." While I didn't know her by name, I imagined she must have been the pink-faced, pink-haired pony that had requested the outside teams attend to the weapons at the last meeting. Those ship's main guns were dangerous – extremely dangerous. While I had not yet seen the damage done by one firing, I did recall the mess made by one knocking itself to pieces. When fired, I expected the damage would be significantly greater than that of my most destructive spell ammunition. "Pink E, I think that would be too risky, as you would be firing into what is effectively an enclosed space," I said, picturing the disorganized structure of the multidimensional levels outside the habitat. "According to the sighting camera, we have line of sight down a moderate length of tunnel. I believe it to be worth the risk. We can see clockwork spiders coming from the other end," Pink Electricia said. That made a significant difference. The cons were risking the gun itself, and perhaps damage or injury to those who were firing it. The pros were that we could get rid of some of the enemy between the hangar and where our teams had fallen. The blasts may clear up some of the obstacles in our path. It would also send a very loud message to the clockwork spiders. Mess with us and we will fight back. "You are risking your lives, Pink E," I said. "Are you happy to proceed, knowing that?" "We are HELaTS. We risk our lives every day," she said. "We are prepared." She had a fair point. "I appreciate your bravery. You have my permission to keep firing until you have pulverized the area. If each blast opens more targets, shoot them. If you can blow a hole into the level above, do so. Teach their defence system that fucking with us is a mistake." "Acknowledged. I will report back after our first shot, if I am able to do so." Her voice sounded positively enthusiastic, despite the cautious words. "Alert a rescue team to what you are doing before you start. I'd hate to lose more ponies today." "Will do, but I am sure we will be fine. Signing off." I hoped she was right. "Time to kick some serious spider butt, eh?" Cacha said. I didn't reply. I had only taken a dozen more steps when I started to feel vibrations through the floor, despite the miles between the weapon and the hangar. It started off at a low frequency, then gradually climbed as the converter spun up. For that much vibration to be considered tolerable in a piece of equipment for which balance was essential, it was scary. The energy it was storing was enormous. "We can feel it from here?" Cacha puzzled. "It's mounted to the hull, isn't it? And we are in the hull at the moment. The vibrations are traveling through the material of the hull itself. Nonetheless, I would have expected the sheer mass of the hull to have had a greater dampening effect." "So, the ponies in the life support chamber won't feel or hear anything." "Not a thing, thanks to the suspension system. They can live on in total ignorance, safe in their boring, everyday lives." We certainly felt the thump when it came. The barrel of the gun was mounted on shock absorbers, so the thump could be attributed entirely to the blast against the outer hull... if things had gone well. I could feel the pitch of the vibrations rising again, as the rotary converter and flywheel based energy storage system regained its speed. That was positive. I held off calling Pink Electricia, lest I disturb her at a critical moment. When her call finally came, I found I had been holding my breath. "Aneki, we survived. Mostly everything worked as expected. Nothing was damaged, and I think we can fire it again," Pink Electricia said. "But?" I said. Her intonation suggested she was holding something back. "We can't see what happened. The targeting screen went blank before the weapon actually fired. We think the targeting cameras retracted, and they haven't extended again." That made sense. Unlike on the bridge, there were no windows to the outside. The targeting cameras were the only way to for anyone in the habitat to view what was happening outside, so they would need to protect themselves from shrapnel. The control rooms for these weapons were built into the shell of the hull, as were the weapons themselves. They were accessed through tunnels that passed through the thickness of the shell. While the tunnels through to the hangars were protected by an arrangement of rotating tunnels, these were not. Regular high-security doors protected by hoof scanners were all that prevented ponies from entering them. Nonetheless, that had proved totally effective until Allie was able to override the security settings on them. Until then, the hellites had only been able to stare at the weapons through view ports in the corridors. "I expect they will open after the dust and debris have settled," I said, after a few moments of playing through the situation in my mind. "Oh, you're right! They have opened aga... wow!" "Don't keep me in suspense, Pink E," I said. "The target isn't there anymore. Neither is anything else around where it was." "What exactly did you shoot at?" "A wall, I think. It was the furthest point we could aim at. We aimed between all of the tendrils and barriers. Now that area is open, and all the other junk has been blown away too." "What about the clockwork spiders?" "I can't see any at the moment... no, there is one, and another. And more." "Are they damaged?" I asked. "No. I think these are fresh ones." "You'd better get back to firing the weapon then, hadn't you?" I said. "Affirmative. Pink Electricia signing off." Just how many of these damn clockwork spiders were there? How quickly were they being produced? I guessed we would soon have a pretty good idea, one way or the other. The final rotating section of the tunnel locked with the exit tunnel allowing us to walk down the final stretch into the hangar... and into pandemonium. Flustered ponies were racing about, yelling at each other, their facial armors deployed. Those with weapons had them equipped, and were approaching the open outer hull door. Several dusty examples were staggering in through the same. And there was a lot of dust in the air. A breezie was on the floor at my hooves. It stood, and shook the dust from itself. Oh. I hadn't thought of that. "Brace yourself," I said to Cacha and Briggs. I cast a barrier spell around the breezie. No sooner than I had done it, another blast of dust laden air came though the outer hull door, thwarting the effort of those that were trying to enter through it. Those that were knocked down immediately climbed back onto their hooves and moved away from it as quickly as possible, as did those who had been attempting to approach it. "We are all in," one yelled as he cleared the door, spinning and hitting the button that controlled it, activating the automatic closing sequence. The breezie looked up at me. "Something out there exploded!" she said. "Um, yeah. Things tend to do that when you shoot them with one of the ship's main guns," I said. "The what?" she squeaked. "Excuse me a moment, please." I activated my comms unit. "Pink Electricia?" "Yes, Aneki? The second firing was successful. The cameras are still retracted, so I can't tell you the results yet." "I can. There was an explosion, the effects of which reached as far as the hangar. Pink Electricia, in future, before firing the guns, please warn the ponies in the hangar to shut their doors," I said. "The shockwave was so great that it blasted air and dust into the hangar, and made it somewhat difficult for those who were outside, on guard." "Um. Sorry," she said. "You are not to blame – I authorized the firing. I am merely instructing you to add it to the steps taken when preparing to fire the gun." "Affirmative." I thought about what the shockwave was doing to those who had fallen, near the hangar to which they had been headed. The distance between that hangar and the ship's main gun was the same as the distance between this hangar and the gun. That blast may have made locating them even harder. Nonetheless, reducing the number of clockwork spiders out there was the priority, as it would make the rescue so much easier. In front of me, several unicorns in the hangar were casting air-cleaning spells, so I joined them, our combined magic spreading out to fill the volume of the hangar. If I wasn't so stressed, watching the little spirals of air driven by each unicorn's horn could have been quite relaxing. Fortunately it didn't take long before the air was cleared of dust, and the offending particles had been fed into the local recycling system. I could get back to my planned rescue... or could I? The exit door was now firmly shut, and somepony over in the control center of the main gun was blasting away at anything that moved, so to speak. "Aneki?" It was Pink Electricia again. She was just the pony I needed to talk to. "Here," I said. "The cameras have extended again. The area has opened out a lot, and I think we blasted the path the clockwork spiders were using to descend to this level. So far, no more have shown up. I can't tell if the route has been blocked or if they are just being cautious." "Excellent. For your next shots, aim to the left of where you've hit. Work your way further left with each shot. What I want is for you to clear away as much as you can between your position and mine." "You do know we can't aim that far left. The curvature of the hull, not to mention the limit of the arc of the gun, would prevent it." "Of course you can't, but I'm hoping to make use of the shockwave to help clear the area. Maybe the blasts will destroy some spiders. Maybe it will drive some towards the auto-sentries we have guarding the exit." "What about shooting to the right?" "No. I'm hoping to be able to recover lost equipment, and, with some luck, rescue our fallen teams. They will already be getting enough of a buffeting without us aiming towards their position. You will probably only get two or three more shots in before I am ready to leave. Actually, fire three more times, total, then leave it at that. After that you can stand down, or work on another gun or something." "Affirmative," Pink Electricia said, "Fire three more shots to our left, then stand down for the day. Signing off." The comms unit fell silent. I walked towards the center of the hangar, where the other ponies were gathering, apparently waiting for me to address them. Through my hooves, I felt the main gun fire again. The ponies glanced around, before looking back. That was when I noticed that their eyes were not on me but on the clockwork spider walking beside me. Between its sheer size and the clanging its blade like legs were making with each step, that was no surprise. The non-combatants ponies had not seen a functional clockwork spider before, so their expressions were a mixture of wonder and fear. Those who had fought them looked grim. None, however, raised their weapons. "This is Briggs," I said, pointing a hoof to my left. "He's a little bigger than last time you saw him, but rest assured, he is in total control of the machine. The original brain of the clockwork spider was removed from its head, and his core was placed in there instead." "My brain might believe you, but the rest of me sure as hell wants to get out of here," somepony said. "Don't forget that several of us are more dangerous than him," I said. "All the same..." "What about those blasts from outside? You seem to know about them. What caused them?" another pony asked. "The main gun between us and the next hangar to the right is shooting at the spiders. From what Pink E tells me, the spiders are being reduced to scrap. And that's were we come in. As soon as she finishes firing it, I am going to lead a rescue party to see what remains of the teams I sent out. If possible I will recover them, and any of their equipment that can be salvaged." "Go out there, where the spiders are? I don't mean to be disrespectful, Aneki, but are you nuts? Those teams are dead," one pony said. "Yes, I am quite nuts. Those ponies out there are mark-three HELaTS. Their bodies may survive, even if cut apart. Leaving them there is simply something I cannot do." "What is the point in sending more to die in the hope that there may be something left of them? Those shockwaves probably blew away what was left anyway. Are you going to order us to go, despite this?" They did not sound particularly enthusiastic, or happy, for that matter. I could understand what this pony was saying. Every other pony down here was also thinking it, their expressions and stances those of disapproval. I did not think they would mutiny if I pushed them, but it wasn't something I intended to do. In the distance behind me, I heard the rotating tunnel cycle, locking into place. More reinforcements, I hoped. I continued with my address to those in front of me. The newcomers could catch up later. "The rescue party consists of one idiot and one clockwork spider," I said. "Two idiots and a spider," Cacha said, "unless I can convince you to abandon this fool's errand." "I'm doing it, okay?" I said, sounding exasperated. "If we succeed, we will probably be followed back by a horde of spiders. I want every pony else who can fight to support the auto-sentries. In the mean time, keep the area outside this hangar free of pests, but do not exhaust yourselves." "What if somepony wishes to come with you?" one of the death squad members asked. "There are four pods available, and you will only be taking two." The tilt on Snow's head showed she was also puzzled by the question. Could any of these ponies really be insane enough to go with me? "Sorry, not this time. We will be running, or riding on the clockwork spider as the situation demands. If any of you wish to use the pods to patrol the immediate area, you may, but my experience suggests that they are not the ideal vehicle for combat," I said. "Up!" Snow said. "We can even use your special pod?" one pony asked. "Yes, you can, but what do you think is so special about my pod?" "It's the queen's pod. It has to be better than the others." I almost laughed. "The only thing special about it is that it was chopped in half and stuck back together." "Aneki, please leave this rescue mission to me, alone," Briggs said. "I am more than capable of carrying it out, and as I said before, there is considerably less risk to me, being a clockwork spider myself." "Aneki, this is your last chance to back out of this suicide mission," Cacha said. "Seriously, back out now. Say you won't go." "I'm going and that's tha... ouch!" Something had just pricked me in the butt. I looked back to see what it was, and to my dismay, saw an empty syringe stuck there, grasped in somepony's magic. It was not Cacha's – the color was wrong. Then I noticed Stormie, while still a number of paces away, was the wielder. Whoa – that stuff was potent. My legs felt like jelly, and went from under me. My brain didn't feel that coherent, either. "About time," Cacha said. "So, I won't have to put you to sleep, too?" I heard Stormie ask as a swirling blackness swallowed my sight. "Nope. She's not going anywhere, so why would I?" The last thing I felt was a sense of relief. I had done everything I could. It was now out of my hooves.