Chapter 51 - The Kraken Gate
Chapter 51
Harman was incandescent. ‘Rats!?’ He exclaimed, incredulous. He practically threw the shredded cable back at me.
‘Yes, Director. They’ve chewed through a lot of the wiring we’ve put down. If we don’t replace it, there’s a chance that the failsafe could accidentally trigger.’
‘There’s hundreds of leagues of wiring down there for the batteries and such, and no one’s reported any problem before now!’
‘I understand that, but the Koulomb Gate hasn’t been run before. Dr. Evershed thinks that the frequencies or the noise of the equipment might be attracting them.’ I shrugged. An animal thing, so not my area of expertise.
‘Does everyone have to be evacuated?’
‘Back to the manor house, yes. I don’t want another Winslow Hall on my hands. It wouldn’t look good, what with the chancellor here, keeping a close eye on us.’
‘No it bloody wouldn’t,’ Harman raged. ‘It doesn’t sound as though I have a choice. When do you mean to start work?’
‘Tonight. If we start soon after nightfall we should be done by the small bells of the morning. Shall I inform Professor Maddison, or would you prefer to give the order yourself?’
‘I’ll let Professor Maddison know. Draxil’s Stinking Beard! I was hoping they’d finish the repairs tonight.’
‘Thank you, Director. I’ll speak with the chancellor and the marines, and my team will get to all the staff and make sure they stay clear of the hunting lodge.’
‘Very well, Ms. Derringer. Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.’
‘Oh, I nearly forgot… there’s one other thing you should know…’
‘What now?’ said Harman, slamming his walking stick against the leg of a chair in frustration.
‘Well, the patrols will have to stay away. Lieutenant Scott’s marines can continue their guard duty, but at a safe distance. My team will keep the Koulomb Gate safe…’ I held up my hand, stalling the old man who looked ready to jump in. ‘No. I won’t have the marines or anyone else risking their lives when this is my responsibility. It is what you pay us for, after all. As I said, my team will safeguard everything critical but we will be shorthanded because of the rewiring. The coal bunkers are particularly vulnerable, so I will personally stand watch over them.’
Director Harman glared over his pince-nez. ‘Are you done now?’
‘I am, Director.’
‘Go to it, then. Don’t let me detain you.’
I sauntered out as coolly as I dared. Ellen met me outside and grinned when she saw me clench my fist in celebration. We headed for the Green Room hoping to catch Chancellor Gordon there.
‘Spicing up the bait with you was a great idea!’ enthused Ellen. Naturally, I couldn’t be in three places at once, but it didn’t matter, just as long as the groups only heard their own version of the story. ‘Let’s hope it goes as smoothly as it did with Harman,’ Ellen added.
The chancellor was there, this time in consultation with Benjamin and Captain Banks. I couldn’t have arranged it better. This way, they would hear the whole thing first-hand from us, rather than get a confused picture from the Chancellor Gordon. We delivered the news, but in this version, it was the observatory that was most vulnerable. This time it was Ellen who explained that I would camp out in it to offer some protection. Benjamin and Banks frowned at this, but they didn’t challenge us.
The whole team met up again as suns began to set. Inigo and Ankush had successfully set the third trap in their discussion with Rigsby and the other heads of the Lannerville estate, which we were all relieved to hear. Swift execution was the key to no one discovering the different messages we’d conveyed, but there had to be enough time between selling the story and midnight for the traitor to pass the message on to his, or her accomplices. If they were close by, as I suspected, it wouldn’t be a problem.
The Gulreimian brothers grumbled about Emberland’s weather when they set off on their separate evening missions, even though they’d donned four or five layers. It was impossible to believe - so they reckoned - that any race could lay a claim to being civilised, living in such a brutally cold climate. James rolled his eyes. His only concession to the dropping temperature was a thin vest which he had only recently taken to wearing under his shirt. He still wore his sleeves rolled up over his tattooed arms.
Mahkran was heading to the clocktower from where he would keep a lookout over the grounds. He had his long-range carbine and sniperscope, to watch for insurgents, but was under strict instructions only to shoot in the event of a serious incident. Ankush was going to observe the manor from the ha-ha. From there, he should be able to see if any signal was sent to the copse or woods to the south.
The rest of us made a show of repairing the failsafe’s wiring which was in pristine condition, and so needed no work. We had the Koulomb Gate’s portal chamber, control room and other associated underground chambers to ourselves. It was the first time any of us had seen them entirely empty of people. Mostly, we rested, but at nine bells in the evening, it was time to take up our positions to safeguard the three honeytraps we’d established.
James headed for the coal bunker. Ankush would relieve him in the small bells of the coming morning. My destination was the observatory. Inigo was going to take the first watch, but we needed to make some preparations. Na-Su was to take up a position on the edge of the lake from where she could keep the tower under observation. As she left, she held out her masher carbine.
‘Take this,’ she said, pushing it at me. ‘You and this make good match.’
‘Thank you, Na-Su. Are you sure you won’t need it?’
‘No. I still cannot fire it. Also, I need longer range weapon.’ She pointed to her good shoulder, where she’d slung one of the special crossbows she’d designed for Ganessa. ‘This has not so much recoil.’
I asked, ’Can you reload it with only one arm?’
‘Two legs, one arm and teeth? Sure. No problem,’ the Omolit said. ‘I really want to try it out. I hope they come for me.’ With this, she narrowed her eyes menacingly and swept out.
We walked across the Great Lawn, the frosty grass crunching underfoot. My thigh was better, but I still depended on one stick. We went carefully, our paraffin lamp unlit. It was important that anyone who came for us tonight did so because they’d heard from the traitor, not because they’d seen us themselves. Meniah’s late ascension to the night sky was a boon, meaning that the only light was from the stars.
The silvery, rounded hump of the observatory came into sight through the stand of ironwood trees. We reached the iron door and let ourselves in with Professor Maddison’s spare key.
‘Do you really think Lieutenant Scott might be the traitor?’ said Inigo, as he put a match to the wick in the lantern and lowered the glass.
I sighed. ‘He betrayed me once before.’
‘Obviously, I can’t argue with that, but you have to admit that he’s had ample opportunity to make a move since we got here. If he, or that man, Banks, or any of them wanted to kill you, or damage the gate, why wait? We’ve been here for three weeks now.’
‘It’s a fair point, Mr. Forbes.’ I thought back to the night that Benjamin had been waiting in my room with the revolver. He had seemed genuinely concerned for my safety. ‘But what if the traitor’s goal isn’t to destroy the Koulomb Gate, but deliver it to the Nallians? Most, if not all of these marines are patriots, they won’t stand by while someone here opens the doors to the enemy. No…the traitor has been waiting for reinforcements.’
‘And you think they’re coming, tonight.’
I nodded and moved off to search the ground floor. I didn’t like it. It was too cramped to set a trap. It would be as much of a threat to the hunter as to the prey. One central corridor across the rotunda led off into a number of small rooms with low ceilings. Three were empty, three were being used for storage and were piled with wooden crates. One of the crates was ours. James and Ankush had manhandled it over here earlier. It contained three rifles, two pistols, four crossbows and enough ammunition to hold off a small army. There was all manner of additional ordinance, and I didn’t know who had packed the grenades, but they’d clearly been thinking more about my safety than about keeping the observatory intact.
We climbed some steps to the telescope deck, a large circular space with a huge steel frame that housed the optics suspended overhead. Our footsteps echoed in the cathedral-like silence. The great shuttered doors that hinged across one side of the dome, like metal eyelids, were closed. Bundles of optical and electrical cables draped from the observation platform that was mounted high on the telescope. Like lianas in a jungle, they cascaded down to a booth on the floor from where the signals were relayed to the Koulomb Gate’s control centre in the caverns below.
Inigo and I prepared an exciting reception for the uninvited guests. By the time we’d finished, I was utterly exhausted. I laid out some packaging materials on the floor and within a few heartbeats, I was dead to the world.
As agreed, Inigo woke me half a bell before his shift was due to end. It was important for him to get safely back to the hunting lodge before the action kicked off. I’m good at napping and waking at odd times, but for once, I felt physically sick. The wound in my leg was hot and swollen. I was still tired from the trip to Ganessa, and there was a worm of worry that a squad of Nallian assassins were bearing down on me with less than friendly intent.
Inigo offered to stay, but I pushed him out of the door and checked the setup one more time. After that, I hauled myself up a set of steps to the roof of the relay booth from where there was a commanding view of the floor of the telescope room and the steps leading up to it. Feeble illumination was provided by two lanterns; one placed at the top of the steps, and the other high up on the viewing platform where it ought to remain sheltered from any attempts to snuff it out. I shrugged off my greatcoat and lay down on it.
My father’s old pocket watch was no use to me; the luminescent display had faded. Nevertheless, I was peering at it for the twentieth time when I heard the observatory’s entrance being prised open. There was a long silence followed by the sounds of a cautious search of the ground floor. They would sweep it before coming up the stairs, check that their backs were safe. As expected, the lamp at the top of the stairs was shot out, giving me my queue.
‘Stupid bastards!’ I muttered as I depressed the plunger on the portable detonator. The shockwaves of the explosion reverberated in the bell-shaped confines of the observatory and set my ears ringing. Dust and detritus spewed from the stairwell. Chunks of broken masonry and other, unidentifiable stuff, rained down all around the observatory. Well it’s only the stairwell! I haven’t laid any booby-traps near the telescope itself!
The noise of the blast was a sign to the rest of the team. From a standing start within the hunting lodge, they could be here in three turns. Stay alive for three turns, Connie. I swapped the detonator for one of the repeating rifles lying next to me and sighted down the barrel, hoping to take out one or two more of the intruders before they even made it to the top step. Someone’s head popped up, took a quick look round. I fired a shot that chipped the stonework beside them. Damn! There wasn’t much cover on the floor of the observatory; they would either have to shelter where they were and try to take me out, or rush me. They chose the latter, four of them charging up the steps. I fired, dropping one, then reloaded and fired again. A second hit, but not enough to bring him down. Hard to see in the gloom. Only one lantern up near the ceiling! Who’s idea was that?
Cursing, I worked the bolt to put another round in the chamber, then changed my mind. In the noise and confusion, they couldn’t be certain of my whereabouts. They would figure it out soon enough, but I swapped the gun for one of the loaded crossbows, hoping the relative silence of the weapon would work in my favour. I shuffled around slightly and got a bead on one of the attackers who had ducked behind the wheel mechanism on the far side. It was one of the manually operated wheels, attached to gears that rotated the whole telescope platform on its axis. It wasn’t great cover; open framework of metal and the spokes of a couple of cogs, but it would dramatically reduce my chances of hitting him. Before I could take the shot, I heard the sound one of the intruders who had made it to the relay booth and would be climbing up behind me any second, so I snatched a shot at the attacker behind the wheel mechanism and rolled over to gather up the second crossbow. I sighted it between my legs and waited.
The noise of boot scraping on the rung of a ladder was followed by a pistol appearing over the top. The owner loosed off a couple of wild shots and then risked a look, receiving a quarrel through his eye socket in recompense. A thud followed; the kind of noise that makes you think that person’s unlikely to use a ladder again. Ever.
I rolled back onto my stomach. The person behind the wheel mechanism was gone. Gods! Two still alive. Maybe both wounded, but definitely still alive, and now there were more noises in the stairwell. Some quick mental reckoning told me it was too soon for it to be the cavalry. Reinforcements had to be sixty ticks away, and there was no telling if their progress would be delayed by attackers outside. A movement at the top of the stairwell caught my eye. The dust was clearing and my eyes had adjusted somewhat to the reduced lighting, but it was still a few ticks before I realised what it was. Whoever was in the stairwell was pushing a bomb over the top. A large one.
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