Звездопад / Starfall: Глава 27

Chapter 27

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 17:28

* * *

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 17:29

The flight to the station took at least another hour and a half. When the hum of the engines died down and the back door opened again, Alex saw a starry sky filled with a myriad of stars and the rim of the white floor beyond which the cosmic void began, and the jagged pins of some kind of antennae, riddled with narrow coal-black opaque shadows. Having gotten over the initial shock, he realized that they were actually already inside the station and that space was separated from them by a protective field.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 17:43

Those who sat closer to the door, not at all surprised by what they saw, jumped down quickly without waiting for the ramp to fall completely. On the left, several droids and a forklift with long arms and manipulators like giant forks stood in silent anticipation.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 17:44

"Hey, hurry up in there. Why are you standing up?" There was a call from behind, and a hesitant Alex quickly ran off onto the station's white floor, which was slightly springy and rubbery. And quite cold for his bare feet.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 17:45

The shuttle was in a relatively narrow but incredibly long hall with a high ceiling. The room stretched to the right and left as far as the eye could see. It was difficult to estimate its true size, though, because of the sheer number of ships, containers, and equipment of some kind.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 17:45

The entire crowd of arrivals reached the huge square of the freight lift at the back of the hall, and after the grey containers were loaded onto it, the platform, large enough to fit the entire shuttle, went up smoothly. The PVD men who had come with them to the lift remained at the bottom, from which Alex deduced that they had gone with them to make sure everyone had left.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 18:54

"I think we should get ourselves some shoes after all." Lord Lister mouthed in a half-voiced voice, wringing his frozen fingers as they made their way up the stairs. "Not to say it just attracts attention. It's a lot colder here than on Tallana."

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 18:55

"As soon as possible.' Sincerely, assured him Alex, who was already starting to freeze.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 18:59

The first thing he saw at the top was the four barrels of some kind of cannon covered by transparent shields and looking straight at him.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 18:56

Two double-barrelled machines, which looked like heavy machine guns with very thick barrels, stood at an angle on either side of the platform to provide a crossfire if necessary. Around them were piled some sacks, metal crates, and plastic containers, creating improvised embrasures. There were no people near the guns, though.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:36

The relatively small room they arrived in matched Alex's idea of a space station room. It was finished in grey metal panels and filled with some kind of equipment. And exclusively by people from the ROV. Alex thought so because they were all solidly sober and busy with business. There were three entrances to the hall-their lift, two corridors wide enough for two forklifts to pass through at a time. Near the exit to one of the corridors, another cannon was welded to the floor, causing the hall to hum and hiss. At the second corridor, the cannon was already mounted, and an embrasure was being built around it.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:38

The containers were greeted with cheers, and they were immediately dragged to a disassembled square box a couple of meters high, made of light grey plastic strips. In its depths, something gleamed with a dull gleam of metal and into which several white hoses as thick as an arm ran. Replenishment, on the other hand, was all but ignored. It was only when they were all dragged to the crate and began to open it that a tall, broad-shouldered man in his thirties approached the new arrivals. Judging by his slanting grey eyes and long dark hair gathered in a ponytail, he was a Tallana. He wore a brown jacket over a pair of light gray overalls, like all PVDs, and was armed with a shorty, sporting a large gold earring and a pair of gold rings curled into a small goatee.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:40

Krain made a gurgling sound as he approached and tried to duck down so that he couldn't be seen behind those in front of him, but he had to hang onto Alex's arm to keep his balance.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:41

"It's Balik," he gritted through his teeth in response to Alex's surprised look. "I know him, he knows me, and he knows how I left the PVD. If he sees me..."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 06:02

Luckily, they were almost in the center of the incoming group. As Balik approached, he introduced himself as the chief defense coordinator of Transit Six and began to explain how important this station was to Tallana's freedom.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 06:03

As he spoke, Krain ducked sideways to the edge of the shaft, where there was some kind of panel with buttons, which must have served to summon the lift. Before either Alex or Lord Lizard could stop him, he struck the panel with two swift blows, each one resulting in a pathetic pop of broken plastic which was barely audible amidst the noise in the hall.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 06:05

"What are you doing?" Alex hissed angrily, barely moving his lips when he finally pushed his way over to the rebel and stood so he had covered him. "Do you want to get us killed here?"

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 06:06

"Later," Krain whispered back, straightening up and hiding his blaster.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 06:07

When Balik finished his speech, they were led into a huge hall, which, judging by the partially melted signs, was the ".....ing Area". In the .....ing Area, there was music, songs, snoring, and other often indistinguishable sounds made by a huge number of "freedom fighters" - several thousand at least. There was also the "Resistance Headquarters of Station Six".

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 07:03

"And what did you do there?" Alex asked when the PVD man finally left them to their own devices, and most of the new arrivals reached for the smell of food and drink.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 07:04

"I'd like to know the same thing," added Lord Lister in a whisper. "But first, I suggest we move behind that container over there."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 07:07

"I broke the call marker and the sound box," Krain explained as they stepped back.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 07:07

"Why?"

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:35

"Balik is a sick psycho who doesn't know a damn thing about tactics. He's as much a defensive coordinator as I am a poet. Grand used to use him in acts of... let's say, "intimidation" that others just wouldn't go for. And I want to know what this zwigolot regurgitation is doing here."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:38

"And?"

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:35

"And... these panels not only summon the lift but can also be used to communicate between floors, so you can yell at those holding up the lift, I guess. So now you can summon their floor, and they won't know about it because the signal marker is broken and the sound box doesn't work, but the recording element is perfectly serviceable."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:40

"There's a lot of noise, and the hall is quite big. Can you hear anything?"

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:40

"The thing is." He explained with a mentor-like tone, "that most recording systems are far more sensitive than the human ear. And they record and transmit all sounds, even the ones we can't hear."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:41

"And?"

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:41

"Look, your Lordships." The rebel grinned, gesturing to the magician to retrieve one of the trophy infoblocks. "An expensive model, with a voice recorder mode." He explained, loosening the screws on the case with his fingernail. Having removed the upper panel, he took out some small device connected by a transparent stem and started to fiddle with the settings of the infoblock, commenting at the same time:

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:42

"We remove the recording unit from the casing. Select the recorder mode, set the sensitivity to the maximum, and switch on the option "record speech only". The noise amplification and filtering device are now ready. The only thing left to do is to find a secluded spot, call their floor, and connect our recording unit to the sound unit." With these words, he screwed the case back on, leaving the wire with the little device on the outside. "So much for a hand-held eavesdropping device." He added with a smug look.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 10:44

"Okay..." Alex said as he watched the rebel's manipulation with interest. "You take care of this Balik. Lord Lister and I will get the lay of the land and find the shoes." He added, shivering.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 18:43

"So, how did you say you met the esteemed Krain?" Lord Lister asked softly as they stepped back. "The specificity of his skills, I couldn't help but wonder."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 18:45

"In the warehouse," Alex lied without thinking. "He was tied to a chair, too. Only unlike you, he was conscious. He helped me when the commotion started."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 18:56

"I think he's a secret agent, probably from the imperial security service." Brenor shared his doubts. "Or even a pirate."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 18:57

"Anything is possible." With a doubtful look on his face, Alex nodded. "But we weren't doing anything completely illegal anyway. And even if he is a pirate, we have a common interest now, to get out of here as soon as possible. Why not use his help? Anyway, we need to find the shoes and find out where the 'evacuation' groups are forming here."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 18:58

The atmosphere at the Station was interesting. There were several hundred of the crews of the ships stranded at the Station. Needless to say, they were extremely unhappy. Several thousand enthusiastic Tallanas of both sexes, mostly students and mostly not sober. And only sixty PVDs. The number was an estimate, but Alex was sure it was well under a hundred.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 19:06

The PVDs, though few, must have been the most organized to run the process. They held both control rooms, the flight and lift area, and that lounge. They did not let anyone else in. The people from the PVD practically never left their posts, except for dozen "crowd pleasers" who were constantly in the crowd, making speeches, and seemed to Alex to be making a strictly calculated mess of the "resistance headquarters" which technically was supposed to run everything here.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 19:09

The most troubling thing was that no hint could be found of any evacuation of the POWs from the station outside Tallana. Maybe something could be found out with an "emergency committee" card, but the idea seemed excessively dangerous. So Alex decided to postpone that option for later. //At least after we've got our shoes.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:32

They found a working information terminal and Lord Lister grasped and summoned a map of the station. In front, at eye level, a hologram appeared composed of translucent colored blocks with captions. Together, they looked like an avant-garde-painted grand piano: in the area around the keys, a flight deck of several stories opened out into space. In the center, there was the transit and passenger area. And in the elongated part and in the space next to it - the cargo area.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:30

Somewhere around the "lid" of the piano, a small blue ball pulsed with the sacramental signature "You are here". Judging by the markings on the map, they were indeed in the waiting area and had come from the 'transition zone'. It remained to be seen where to look for the source of the shoestring here.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:30

"Where do you think there might be a place with shoes?" Alex asked Lord Lister when he finally got tired of looking for something like a 'staff changing room'. Such places just didn't seem to be marked.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:28

"In the shops?" he suggested, looking around with interest.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:26

/Right, duty-free, why I hadn't thought of that. - Alex thought, looking for something with 'shops' on the map. "Shouldn't they be near the passenger terminal?" He asked out loud.

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:27

"That sounds reasonable." Nodded Brenor. "Or near the VIP lounges. In any case, I think it's better not to guess but to ask at the terminal." Lord Lister turned to the map hanging in the air and, looking at it pointedly, ordered:

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:26

"Create a route to the nearest shoe shop."

Camrad_RIP 22.03.23 в 05:24

The terminal responded with an electronic "Executing" and a jagged blue line stretched across the map. As Alex suggested, it ended at one of the walls of the adjacent passenger terminal.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 19:56

"Well, looks like we got lucky." He smiled. "It's not far to walk."

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 19:55

It really wasn't far to walk, but as they got closer to their destination, it was clear that their luck seemed to be running out.

Camrad_RIP 21.03.23 в 19:55