Man Of Earth
5
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
"Of course it’s going to work! Susan, trust me." explained Dan Ward, pulling on the arm of the Atmosphere Suit to a tight fit, then he turned to first pick up Susan's helmet and handing it to her, before picking up his own and twisting it into place.
#
## It all began as such an innocent jaunt, for Dan and Susan to take a Hopper out across the lakes and the more remote parts of White Haven, gliding low between the twin harbours, now left to ruin, out to the vast ice-capped mountains and over the canopy of trees that constituted almost a third of the planet's surface. They buzzed many the wild creature of the Plains, with their skittish natures and their calls of excitement - the tall, the small, the harmful and harmless alike, to the most colourful and stocky, muscle-bound animals that stretched about the vast living planet of White Haven. Then the Hopper lifted its nose and headed skyward for the stars.It was possible to see the individual colours of each star, in their untold millions, spread about the Galaxy in logical mathematical patterns, a visible description of the consequence of the individual. Dan rode the Hopper around the Planet a half dozen times, and each time, they both witnessed a fresh new sunrise ahead and the dying of the sunset behind them. Then Dan turned the Hopper out and into focus with the asteroid belt. He expertly danced the Hopper in and out of the spinning rocks, almost touching them, just to see the surprise on Susan's face, immediately replaced by a giddy smile. Dan's own face curled up with a grin from ear to ear, at the wondrous things he could show Susan. It was phenomenal. That is until Susan spotted something on one of the larger rocks below ##
"Dan! Look there! Isn't that -"
"Troops! Sorry, Susan, looks like our little trip is to be cut short!" said Dan, as he turned the Hopper around and searched for a secluded spot to land the craft.
In a large crater were a goodly number of Troops, but there was also something much more alarming. There was a small factory facility placed in the centre of the crater, and frantic action was all about it.
"We need to get down there and see what this is all about." expressed Dan.
"They'd spot us a mile away with these Sunray City Atmosphere Suits, though, Dan." said Susan, in reply.
Dan tugged her arm and pointed soundlessly to a Transporter Craft a little distance from them, "Lets get there! I'm guessing they may have one or two spare Sigma Dissonance Suits, if our luck holds!" So the two kept low and crept to the Craft. It was empty of Troops, thankfully, so they slipped inside.
#
Susan twisted her helmet into place, with a little help from Dan. It was now a case of heading to the factory, without raising suspicion, and mingling with the enemy. This was something Dan was a dab hand at. For Susan, it was the first time.
"I'm scared." expressed Susan as they exited the Craft and began the short stroll to the factory, still surrounded by Troops, like soldier ants protecting the colony.
"Don't worry about it, Susan. I'm sure as a Reporter, once or twice you had to appear as something you were not?"
"Is that an accusation?" asked Susan suddenly.
Dan laughed, "Ah, there's the Susan I know and love!"
She punched his arm playfully, but it had built her confidence, enough to know that as long as she wasn't confronted, or asked a question - in fact in any way interrupted in her task - she would be fine. She would let Dan do the talking, if talking was to be necessary. It was one of his better honed skills.
Once the two impostors hit the outer crop of Troops, their attempts at appearing nonchalant became increasingly more stressful. This was a special unit of Sigma Dissonance Troops before them, not like the common or garden variety. These were Elite Troops, with a particular set of skills for a particular task. What that task may be, Dan was determined to find out, whatever the cost. He tried to both keep Susan close and make sure she wasn't too jumpy that she would reveal herself. He really shouldn't have worried though. Susan Weathers was quite capable of looking after herself, even when it seemed all was lost.
"You!" called out one of the Troops. He held insignia that indicated a Commander rank. Susan turned, but Dan continued on, waiting for the second call that didn't come. He just had to hope Susan would be alright. Meanwhile he carried on toward the factory.
Susan turned to face the Commander, "Sir!" she saluted solidly, like she had been doing it all her life. Being an Army Brat, it seemed, had eventually come in handy.
"I don't recognise you, and I know all the men under my command." he expressed cautiously. This was it. Do or die.
"Special Scientific Unit, Sir! We were assigned last minute!"
"Hmm." the Commander eyed Susan suspiciously, "From what depot?" he asked further.
This was where Susan's memory would come into play. She remembered a conversation with someone back at Headquarters once, about the ranking system of the Sigma Dissonance, and their locations about the Mother Ship, called depots. She remembered a depot name that had something to do with scientific investigations, and hoped the Commander was less familiar with it than her, "Jagged Depot, Sir!" answered Susan confidently.
The Commander looked pensive, burning a hole into Susan's forehead with his thoughtful gaze, then he relented, "Right, of course! Damn you Scientists! All it takes is a communique!"
"I understand, Sir! I will bring it up with my superiors as soon as I return to the Mother Ship!" expressed Susan, equally as confidently. As long as she said it with certainty, it appeared as though it was truth.
The Commander nodded, "Right. Stand down! Go get some nourishment, Soldier. We move out in fifteen."
"Roger!" said Susan, turning on her heel and heading for any direction where they couldn't see her visor steam up from the relief of tension she was now richly supplicated. She eventually turned and headed toward the factory, where she suspected Dan had arrived. If not, she would have to finish the job herself. There was time enough for emotion when they were away from danger. Right where she stood now was a viper's pit of exigency.
#
Dan Ward, in the meantime hadn't been idle. He managed to bypass any major incidents, trying to block out what might happen to Susan, but he had to go on. She was only one person, to the whole of the planet and the outlying Galaxy. But she was one perfect person, so beautiful inside and out, a generous woman of spirit, strength and passions that showed her energy as unabounding. But right now, it was all about the factory, and nothing more.
The front was far too well guarded, though after a little wander around the facility, Dan found an unattended door, where he could slip in unnoticed. He found himself, once inside, behind a series of shelves, packed with different kinds of chemicals, dark in colour or bright in a kind of acidic tone, some thick, some thin, some perhaps little more than vapour. Beyond the shelves were some of those Troops, working hard on the mixing, fixing and inserting of the chemicals into circular, medicine ball sized chrome spheres. Once filled, the spheres were then fitted with a trigger mechanism on the end to seal in the deadly chemicals.
It was some kind of advanced bomb. They were making, in secret, a new kind of bomb, that no matter how high the payload, would take lives. And there was no way Dan was going to let that happen.
Dan continued to watch the same pattern repeated, of casing, chemicals and trigger, until eventually the room emptied of Troops. This gave him the opportunity to sneak into the bomb making assembly-line area without being seen. He knew he only had a few seconds to get it right, so searched the shelves for something he could use. He pulled down a large bottle full of something called Sovonum - a type of accelerant the Sigma Dissonance used sometimes in their fuel tanks. Dan also grabbed a trigger and broke the top off the bottle, carefully pouring a trail of the liquid out of the room, to the door he had come in by, then he threw the remnants of the bottle back into the room, just as a handful of Troops entered the room on regular patrol. Upon seeing Dan, they called for him to halt, as they withdrew weapons. Dan clicked the trigger until it sparked, then threw it to the ground, where it ignited the accelerant. The shots came close to hitting Dan, but he quickly turned on his heels and ran in the direction of his Hopper, hoping against hope Susan had managed to make it back there. He wasn't expecting to see her coming in the opposite direction, however.
"Susan! Run!" Dan managed, just as the Troops had caught up with him. It was at this moment the factory exploded, sending the whole place into commotion. Dan grabbed Susan's arm and pulled her along, shocked and ever so nervous, "Come on! We have to keep going! They'll be upon us any second!"
Susan tried to comply, but she kept pulling on Dan's grip, "I'm sorry, Dan." she managed at last.
Dan instantly knew something was badly wrong. He stopped and pulled Susan into cover, "What is it?" he asked, looking all about her for some sign of what was wrong.
"My oxygen. Hit. Can't breathe. Sorry Dan."
Dan pulled her to him, "Don't be silly! You've got nothing to be sorry for!"
She looked into his face, "If I hadn't -"
"Nonsense! Not another word! Look, we'll work this out!" insisted Dan.
"Not this time, Dan." Susan smiled, "Not this time."
"Yes, this time! Take this." Dan unplugged his oxygen tube and fixed it to Susan's. Hers, he hooked to his own, "Now, move. One of us might die soon." he managed with a smile, which only angered Susan.
"You want to kill yourself to save me? I won't have it!"
"Look, no one's going to die, if you pick yourself up and get moving! Oh, and by stopping me to argue with you isn't exactly helping either!" Dan insisted, gently pushing Susan on. The Troops were tantalisingly close behind, so the journey back to the Hopper took longer than Dan had anticipated. By the time he reached the Hopper, he was crawling the last few metres, near death. Susan dragged him, anger etched on her face, but also with a desperation to keep this man alive. He was her world, and that was all there was to be said about it.
Susan opened the ramp door and the two of them collapsed breathlessly on the floor as the pressure and oxygen normalised inside the Hopper. There came a rat-tat-tat of bullet rings on the hull of the Ship, as they lay there.
"Susan. Get the Hopper up, before they hit something important." huffed Dan. Susan stood heavily and slammed on the autopilot, which jerked the Hopper up and out, to the accompaniment of weapon fire on the tarnished hull.
#
Back at Headquarters, those who had gathered listened intently to Dan and Susan's story of their trip that had quickly turned into sabotage. The Professor remarked it surely wasn't the only facility, given the importance of this one by the number of Troops present. It seemed to him like a precursor to a massive push coming soon. Rex Canon, the Democratic Prime, subsequently ordered for that stretch of the asteroid belt be destroyed, after first checking for further facilities. Dan took point on this mission, and along with a half dozen other Hoppers, they disintegrated the asteroids into pumice stone, to wander the Galaxy alone. Once Dan returned to Headquarters, he took the opportunity to pull Susan aside.
"I'm sorry. I truly am. Not only for how I spoke to you on that asteroid, but also for turning a fun jaunt into space on its head, ending up as a dangerous mission, for both of us. For that I'm sorry, Susan."
It was Susan's turn to hold Dan gently by the arm in comfort, "Oh, my Dan! Always with the right thing to say! But no, you don't need to apologise. I knew what I was getting myself into, the day you introduced me to the Professor! You know what, like deep down - secretly at the bottom of my mind, I - I think I actually quite liked it!"
Dan kissed her then on the forehead, "Yes. That's my Susan, alright." he chuckled.
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