Read Burnt Ice for Free Online Page B

problem.’
     
    ‘What’s that, Jan?’
     
    ‘Here are the feeds.’
     
    ‘Shit! Hold here, Harry!’
     
    A chill went through them as they
monitored the numerous feeds from the R & R Base on Nova Hawaii. It
was a mess. As they watched, Orbital-to-surface fighters were screaming through
the atmosphere, firing their ordnance into the sea around the islands. The huge
Orbitals were firing rail-gun projectiles into the sea and into what appeared
to be masses of squid-like creatures. There were at least five large transports
above the base deploying ground troops, vehicles and walkers.
     
    ‘Abort the mission, people!
Gather the drones on the way out. Harry, take us up. Engineering Orbital Base,
this is Longbow. Orders please.’
     
    ‘Return as quickly as possible.
RV with the Gamma Orbital. You’re formally under their orders now.’
     
    ‘Acknowledged.’
     
    From their vantage point the
situation appeared to be getting worse, and they were at least twenty hours’
flight time away from assisting anyway. The three-metre-long creatures were
coming out of the sea, walking upright on some of their tentacles, attacking
anything and everything they could. Being soft-fleshed, the high-speed slugs
the ground forces were firing at them did not seem to slow them down much. The
Orbitals changed tactics and started dropping fragmentation bombs, which
decimated whole groups of the aliens. But more were appearing from the sea
behind them.
     
    The ground forces were getting
coordinated — sections of walkers tore the aliens apart whenever they got close
enough — but there were not enough of them to make an impact. The crew saw a
few walkers swamped by waves of the creatures, leaving the machines torn apart.
The pilots were nowhere to be seen. To the observers’ horror, it soon became
apparent that any human caught by the creatures was being eaten by them.
     
    Games Board monitors were zipping
everywhere across the scene.
     
    ‘I’ve jumped back into the Games
Board news feeds since we left.’ Fritz summed up the range of data he was
processing: ‘They’ve been a bit slow, so this might be an unauthorised
Conflict. I’ve found that reports of disappearances started to come in within
hours of the dropship tests being carried out. Someone has royally screwed up;
they’ve disturbed those creatures. Mobs of cattle on one of the easternmost
islands disappeared some six planet hours ago, which prompted the base AI to
send a team to investigate. The only thing heard from that section was a
terrified message that the sea was alive with monsters — then nothing.’
     
    No one bothered trying to get any
real sleep. Instead they catnapped, watching as things steadily became more
serious. The commander of the orbiting fleet directed one unit to capture a
group of the creatures alive and for the rest to get into orbit by whatever
means they could. Two of the enormous combat carrier lifters descended through
the atmosphere, with every fighting craft available in support.
     
    Over the next twelve hours the
lifters gathered everyone left alive on the string of inhabited islands. The
whole Base Command building, which held the AI, the records and command staff,
lifted through the atmosphere under its own power, the last unit to go. There
was a series of overflights, checking for any other survivors, and a few last
desperate engagements, fighting off the aliens to enable final evacuations.
Large numbers of the Games Boards monitors could be seen being dropped into the
atmosphere by their compact, powerful and very fast lifters, whose design was
based on an Old Earth hornet insect. The monitors, with their squat AG propulsion
units and a human torso and head sprouting cameras and audio gear, were
everywhere.
     
    ‘Bet those shits are excited.’
     
    ‘How so, Harry?’ Jan asked.
     
    ‘Non-sanctioned Conflict of epic
proportions and the Games Board didn’t have to pay a cent for any of it, Jan.
Oh, they’ll pay bonuses