Engineman - Eric Brown [141]
For the first time, Mirren became aware of a distant rumble, a shudder that shook the Sublime.
Ghaine responded to his alarmed expression. "The militia have been attacking us for the past thirty minutes," he said. "They cannot know precisely where we are, just approximately. They are levelling the mountainside. Many of the Temple's upper chambers have been destroyed, but we are deep within the mountain. With luck-"
"How long have I been under?" Mirren asked.
"Almost two hours."
"Then we should be phasing-out!"
"There are difficulties," said the Lho. "Your men are working hard, but they have encountered problems."
An explosion, seemingly directly overhead, rent the air and shook the 'ship. A fall of rock crashed against the astrodome. It cracked with a sound like splitting ice. The Sublime yawed, pitching Mirren and Ghaine across the floor. Shards of plastex rained down; a triangular section of dome fell, narrowly missing an Effectuator.
"We've got to get them out of here," Mirren said. "If the 'ship phases-out now we'll all asphyxiate."
"Where to?" Ghaine asked, climbing to his feet and helping Mirren up.
"There's a chamber on the deck below this one. They'll be safe there. We can seal the dome at the air-lock."
Ghaine spoke to the attendants; already they were lifting the stretchers, making their way unsteadily across the dome to the sliding door of the elevator as the barrage continued and the Sublime rocked beneath the onslaught.
Mirren opened the elevator, helped load three Effectuators and their attendants. He sent them down to the next level, willing the attendants to hurry and vacate the cage. More explosions crashed overhead. Rock rained down on the dome and the body of the 'ship.
The elevator emptied. He stabbed the command for it to return, and when the door slid open he hauled aboard the three remaining Effectuators. This time he and the rest of the Lho rode down with them, squashed together as the booth rocked back and forth. The door opened on the central chamber and he ensured that the Effectuators were safely housed.
He took the down-chute to the engine-room, holding onto the rail as the Sublime pitched like a sea-going ship in a storm.
The engine-room was full of Disciples gathered around the flux-tank and the co-pilot's command web. Mirren staggered across to the tank. "Who's in there?"
Dan Leferve turned, smiled tightly. "Bobby."
"Why the hell aren't we phasing?"
Dan indicated through the viewscreen. Mirren stumbled across to the screen. Beyond, in the chamber, two Enginewomen and an Engineman worked frantically at a bank of computers, occasionally looking up and across at the Sublime as if willing it to disappear. The lights illuminating the tableau flickered, for a few seconds going off altogether. Mirren held his breath until the light stuttered back on, picking out the three figures still at their posts. Another explosion shook the chamber. It seemed only a matter of time before the technicians were lost beneath the falling debris.
He heard Miguelino, in his command web, yelling out the phase-out sequence for perhaps the third time in as many minutes, an edge of desperation in his voice.
Mirren was aware of someone by his side - Ella Hunter. The 'ship bucked. He held her to prevent her from falling. Outside, the floor of the chamber began to break up; the surface erupted, throwing up great slabs of rock as unsteady as ice-floes. Still the technicians battled on.
"They don't stand a chance!" Ella cried.
"They're going to a greater thing," Mirren told her.
She looked at him, fear in her eyes. "I hope you're right," she whispered.
"I know I'm right," Mirren said.
The Sublime slid sideways as the ground beneath it subsided. The technicians fell into the darkness. Mirren and Ella were dashed against the screen. They fetched up against the padded recess, holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it.