Runaway World

The Sentry Weapon

     Andrew was sitting in the living room, feeling guilty and ashamed, when Cheval descended the stairs again with a piece of paper in his hand. "Look at this," he said, thrusting it in his face.

     Andrew took it from him and read it. It was still warm from the printer. His eyes widened with alarm. "They can't do this!" he said, rising from his seat.

     "They've done it," said Cheval with savage satisfaction. "You are deputised, mate. You are now an acting member of the New London constabulary and you are required to follow any lawful order I give you or you'll be thrown into a cell the moment we get back to the city and you'll be looking at your lovely wife and your wonderful children through iron bars for the next six to twelve months. On top of that, your rover will be confiscated and you'll be found useful employment as a common labourer for the rest of your working life."

     "Ordering me to risk my life isn't a lawful order."

     "Keep reading," Cheval told him. "The Commissioner himself is giving us our orders, and he's ordering us, you and me, to take out the sentry weapon by any means necessary so we can continue our pursuit of Reginald Fox. So buckle up, buttercup. We're going for a walk."

     "It doesn't take both of us," Andrew protested. "If all you're going to do is flip a switch and turn it off..."

     "It does take two of us," the Sergeant replied, however, fixing him with his eyes. "They included a set of schematics for the weapon, so go get suited up."

     "I don't know how to climb a mountain!" protested Andrew, playing his last card. "I don't think anyone's climbed a mountain since The Emergence."

     "I looked at a terrain map," said Cheval. "Doesn't look too steep."

     He led the way into the cockpit and Andrew followed with strangely mixed feelings. Still afraid, but strangely relieved as well, as if he'd always wanted to go with Cheval and had just needed an extra push to overcome his very natural reservations. He plopped into the seat beside the Sergeant as he took the pilot's seat and pulled the map onto a monitor screen. "There," he said, pointing. "Just like climbing a flight of stairs. So long as we only touch the ground with out hands and feet we'll be okay." He stared more closely at the map. "I think I can see a route that'll allow us to get within fifty metres of it before it knows we're there..."

☆☆☆

     The sides of the valley had a one in one slope at the point where they had to climb it. Andrew and Cheval had to climb upwards on their hands and feet, ready to keep hold with their fingers if their boots suddenly slipped on the ice. Even though their gauntlets were padded and insulated, Andrew could still feel the cold trying to seep in. Whenever they came to a more or level place where they could stand they would stop for a moment with their hands away from the icy surface while they waited for the heating elements in the palms of their gauntlets to warm them again.

     They couldn't wait too long, though. Not only was Fox getting further ahead with each passing minute but their surface suits only contained enough battery power for six hours. When that power was used up they would start getting cold fast. As soon as the numbness in their hands gave way to the prickly pain that told them they were coming back to life again, therefore, they put their gauntlets back to the ice and began climbing again, kicking the toes of their boots into the granite-hard water ice so that the forward pointing cleats could find the tiny cracks that had opened in it as the ice had continued to cool and shrink.

     "You're drifting too far to the east," said Windsor's voice in their ears. "You need to keep to the west to stay out of sight of the sentry weapon."