"You've got the con Al. As soon as Boats can get out in the bubble you two link up. I'm going below to help Bryce."

"Aye, aye Capn'".

Tanner slowly, calmly, released the hooks on his sling and pulled himself up and out by the hand hold on the overhead. Leaning over slightly, he turned and started to walk aft, but was jostled by the Al's frantic maneuvering into the starboard, then the port bulkhead. Steadying himself he crept aft and down the ladder to the first belowdecks.

"Capn' I'm in the bubble, there is just a lotta crap out here, we are cutting through cables like butter, and a lot of flags and stuff are falling but nothing major so far. Al is doin' ok so far."

"Copy that, thanks Boats."

Then second belowdecks, then, through the hatchway he could see that Bryce had the bay doors partly open.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"I gotta be careful we don't buckle anything when we hit a cable, when they are completely open and locked, we should be ok." Bryce replied.

Bryce had a remote in his right hand and was fingering some kind of fine line with the other. The line was attached to a winch on a track in the overhead. He seemed to be looking down at the bay doors which he was slowly opening and also looking below to see what was going on and also......thinking....there was a ....calm look on the way too thin face behind the faceplate.

"Cap'n...you should have a safety line on."

"Oh, yes, thank you."

As Tanner was fiddling with the safety line he could see a lot of stuff, torn from the walls by the retracted nacels and also just the overpressure of the anti-gravs, floating downward.

"Josie?" Bryce asked. "Could you get me a drop harness? I'm going to have to go down on the winch."

Tanner felt the boat shudder. "Capn'!!! We've hit a verandah! It's going down!" Boat's voice screamed through the com.

"That's ok Boats....you're doing ok, just keep on, it's ok....let it go....just keep on...."

"Ok Capn.'" Boats replied, a little more calmly.

"Right." replied the third class forward of them on the gangway as he turned to a small cabinet recessed into the bulkhead.

Tanner watched the verandah as it hurtled downward, bouncing from the wall, twisting and turning in the air, more raffle following it.

"Cap'n! "I've got the animals in my sight! I don't know what they are, but they are big, black and scary looking and they are cutting through people like butter down there! There are hundreds of 'em upstreet from the people, I can shoot without hurting anyone if I aim a little upstreet but that won't help the people right in front of 'em!" came Brad's voice from the ventral nose turret.

"Fire at will Brad, fire at will. Do what you think is right, make 'em dead!"

Even the slight recoil of the stabilized gatling started to shake the ship, and then the people on the starboard and port guns opened up.

"Capn' the gatlin's ain't helpin' me any!" Al said with a catch in his throat.

"That's ok Al....that's ok....just keep on doin' what your doin', your doin' fine...By the way folks" Tanner said to the com in general, "Karla said that she checked with your families as best as she could and she says that none of them are below as far as she knows."

A few "Thank's Capns." came through the com but, apparently the people were concentrating on their jobs.

"You know that is a lie." Karla whispered in his ear.

"I know, but it was just a little..."

"Capn'! I can see the Educator! He's riding a bot of some kind they're 'bout three, four meters above the people!" Brad hollered through the com.

"That's good Brad, can you get an optic to Bryce, he'll need it soonest."

"I've got the optic." Bryce said calmly as he finished adjusting the harness and attached it to the line with a quick bend. "And now I can see them."

'Funny how things happen.....' Bryce rolled the line in his left hand while looking down and also locked the bay doors in place. He handed the controller to ...who is that? The man was hidden by the space suit's faceplate....so anonymous....so neutural so.....close to dying at any time... Oh,.. yes..... Josie. "Here Josie, .... take this."......'funny how things happen.....' he continued to roll the line in his fingers as he looked down on the chaos below....


"Bryce.... you just need to do this. Regs say we have to change out the lines every so often and the "so often" went "so never" a long time ago. They are old, not worn much because we don't use them much except for ROPEVALS, but they are still old and still need to be changed."

"Ok, but what about that starboard number two nacel? There's wear on it and..."

"Yeah, and you can trust your people to do that ok? We need to sort out which lines need to be replaced and then test this new line. The nacell just has abrasions. The abrasions can be repaired with aplique but this needs some thinking on our, your, part, ok?

"Ok, so what is this new line?"

"Well, the official designation is "line, winch, type 0452, 3,000 kilos". But I call it spiderweb." He chuckled, looking expectantly at Bryce to respond to the joke.

"Well yeah, I can see that."


'Funny how things happen ........funny, funny...' Bryce thought as he rolled the line in his fingers.

"But, Capn'," whispered Karla in his ear, he could almost feel her breath on his neck. "I did contact them...they all decided to have an "Away Boats" party .."

"Time for me to go Capn'" Bryce said as he put his leg over the railing.

"Be careful." Tanner said. He put his hand on the Bryce's shoulder as the man leaned out into empty space, one foot on the deck and one hand on the railing.

"Al, Boats, Capn'." This is Bryce, copy?"

"Copy!"

"Copy!"

"Copy!"

"Capn, can you try your best to stand very still, fix your optic on the Educator? Al, can you link the projected visual of Capn's optic and merge it with your data to keep the boat on station above the guy"?

"Will do!" replied Al.

Tanner could see the Educator on the bot, waving his arms, seemingly at the animals. 'What does the man think he is doing? Trying to distract them?'.

"Capn'!!' Juke in the starboard turret's voice broke in. "There are two Gendarme flitters down there, small arms, looks like....

"Copy that Juke, I don't see them."

Suddenly a broken cable whipped around the boat and up into the bay slashing at Bryce, at the metal of the bay, as if a demon was trying to pull the ship down into the hell below!

The cable cracked with the sound of a whip as it cleaved at the porside bay door and like the butter which had not existed for a thousand years.....the door melted under it's fury!

And, as if it was pre-ordained by the serpentine that lashed at the men and the metal.....the boat moved inexorably on, and..... as if a sentinent thing that loathed the dammned thing above it.....the cable caught on the bulkhead, ...and it thrashed and thrashed at Bryce as if it was a snake, trying to impale it's fangs in him and drag him into the abyss below!

Bryce spun out of control into the empty space of the bay, his arms and legs akimbo as the cable lashed at him again and again!

Suddenly! Suddenly!!!

From nowhere a suited figure hurtled from behind Tanner and grabbed at the cable, freeing Bryce!

But all the time, the inexorable motion of the boat, following the GPS and now the garbled optic from Tanner; was moving slowly forward, dragging the cable, and the man, with it.... backward, backward into the aft bulkhead///.

Then the cable caught on the portside bay door and ground the man into it. With an explosion of air from his shattered faceplate....he loosed tha cable..... and fell....

The bay door was torn away, ripped along by the cable which tore at the bulkhead as it was dragged aft...and, in going... it took the portside railing on the other side of the bay with it. That, in turn, pulled on the starboardside side rail, but ....that rail.....upon which Tanner held for dear life .... held. Finally with a scream that was audible through Tanner's helmet....the portside rail was torn loose from the anterior rail and flung like a rock skipping on the Silent Sea, skipping, skipping,......skipping...across the people and animals below.

"Oh jeeze!" Juke's voice tore through the come! "One of the flitters just got caught in a flag! It's going down!"

"There's nothing you can do Juke," Tanner could see the the orange Poppy of the explosion's flash below the bay begin to blossom and then felt the concussion through his boots. "....just keep going, just keep going..."

'Who was that man? Why do men run toward the sounds of chaos?" Tanner thought. 'What was that old saying?.... To help their fellow man...'

"I knew you would have checked Karla."

"Thank you." she breathed into his ear....her warm breath on his neck.... "Thank you......" her cheek brushed his.....

The boat swayed to port as the flash of the flitter's destruction washed over Bryce but he kept signaling Josie to continue lowering him toward the chaos below..... Boats, or Al, righted the boat......Tanner could feel through his boots the slight, but continuing concussion of the gatlings as they dealt their black aces of death.....his face plate was misting over again...he wished he could wipe his eyes...

The Orange-red flame enveloped the bay with such a fury that Tanner had to grasp the railing to keep from being blown backward into the bulkhead..... Karla's arms held him against the concussion...... and the spiderweb dissapeared into the now Orange white heat....

Tanner...... whispered.... melting into Karla's arms......"It was just a little.... white lie..."


woodsmoke