[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He marked the circle with a stylus so it was clearly visible, then told them, "Everybody on the upper level.I want one man from each squad in a position to see this.On my signal they're to flame it, then back off.We don't know what's on the other side, so it's important for them to get out of the way as soon as they fire.Got it?"They all nodded."Do it."A couple of minutes later everyone was on the upper level.Schultz was halfway down on one side, Kerr on the other.Both were far enough upslope that they couldn't see each other.It was Kerr's responsibility to tell Schultz when to fire."Ready, Hammer?" Kerr asked.Page 194"Always," Schultz growled."On three.One, two, three!" They fired simultaneously and leaped up the tunnel, out of the way of whatever might happen next.At first there were just a few crackles as the weaving around the hidden doorway burned."Take a look," Bass ordered.Schultz went headfirst, down far enough to see the hidden doorway."It's gone," he reported.He stayed in place, blaster to his shoulder, ready to flame anything that emerged."I see smoke." They heard a snapping and crackling and tensed, ready for action."It's burning," Schultz said after they listened to the sounds for a moment."What?" Bass asked."Where we blasted it.The matting's burning." He paused."So's the dirt behind it." Bass dropped to his belly and slid down to see for himself.Small flames flickered around the edges of the burnt matting.Tendrils of smoke drifted up from the flames and began easing up the ceiling of the tunnel.Bass swore.The smoke would rise and drive the Marines out of the underground complex, but would leave the skinks untouched, wherever they were.Then something about the burning dirt caught his eye and he used his magnifier and light amplifier.He'd been right about the walls of the lower tunnel being permeated with a waterproofer.Water was beginning to seep through the walls where they were scorched by the plasma bolts.He saw something else as well--a dense smoke was dribbling from around the charred area where tiny flames flickered, smoke dense enough to sink rather than rise.The waterproofer was volatile and could burn."You see what I see inside?" Schultz grunted."Come on." Bass slithered down to the opening.Schultz passed him on the way down and already had his blaster aimed into the hidden passageway when Bass reached it.This tunnel led down at an acute angle and seemed to widen at the bottom.Is there a room down there? Bass wondered.Is that where they are? The heavy smoke was spreading and thinning along the widened area.He heard a muffled cough."Let's scorch the walls," he whispered."Don't hit them directly, I don't want to go far enough into the walls to start the water coming through, just get the waterproofer burning.""Good," Schultz said.He readied his blaster to give the wall a grazing shot and waited for Bass's command."Now," Bass said, and pressed his blaster's firing lever.Two bolts of plasma skittered along the mid-line of the downward tunnel walls.The matting flamed up Page 195along the path of the bolts and burned with tiny flames at the scorched edges.At the bottom more matting sparked into tiny flames.The exposed dirt began to steam and more smoke dribbled from the walls."Do it again," Bass ordered.Both of them raised up slightly and burned swathes just above the first."Again." They dropped and fired bolts along the bottom of the walls.In seconds thick smoke was flowing slowly from the entire length of both walls.They heard more coughing.A skink voice rose in demand.Another voice snapped back.More coughing.Many voices shouted.Great coughing.A scream that might have been an order.Then the sound of movement and shadows swiftly grew at the bottom of the tunnel.Bass and Schultz each fired one bolt, then scrabbled back up to where first squad waited.Light and heat blasted up the hidden tunnel.More smoke flowed up from below, and soon the overhead was covered with a drifting cloud.The Marines waited.Bass knew he'd have to send someone down there to make sure the skinks were all dead, and to find out if they had another exit from whatever space was down there.That was going to be dangerous.Not only because of any skinks that might lay in wait, but because of the dense smoke that had to be filling the lower chamber.He had no idea what effects that smoke could have on a man.The chameleon uniform would provide some protection from it, unless it was acidic enough to eat through the fabric.He'd have to send someone back into the entry tunnel to retrieve a breathing unit because the smoke might damage lungs.Better do that now, he decided."Wang," he said into the command circuit, "send someone back to retrieve a breather from the water.""Roger," Hyakowa replied.Bass waited with growing apprehension for the breathing unit to arrive.Smoke was filling the tunnels, and the light in the connecting tunnel wavered as the flames ate at the weaving.He wondered whether the man Hyakowa had sent would get back before the smoke filled the tunnels and they had to withdraw.His thoughts were yanked away from the breathing unit and the growing smoke by jabbering from below.Live skinks were still down there.He heard the thud of feet, then a giant skink burst out of the hidden tunnel and turned left, crawling very fast toward Hyakowa and second squad.Bass fired at it, but the skink was out of his sight almost before he pressed the lever.But his bolt did hit a second giant skink that was just pulling itself out of the tunnel and turning toward him.The wave of heat from the flaring giant took away his breath and almost knocked him back.More of the matting flamed up.Then there was a chain-reaction of flashes from the tunnel to the lower chamber, and a few screams were sharply cut off.The tunnel must have been filled with skinks, he thought, all of whom flashed.He clearly heard the crackle of fire, then flames leaped out of the lower tunnel followed by a dark plume of acrid smoke."Out!" Bass roared."Everybody get out!" Instantly, all the Marines turned and raced back the way they'd come.Behind them flames shot along the tunnels, hungrily eating at the walls and giving off billows of smoke."What's happening?" Doc Horner asked when MacIlargie reached the entry chamber."We had them trapped, maybe all killed," MacIlargie gasped."The Gunny wants the breather [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]