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Axler,_James_-_Deathlands_59_-_Amazon_Gate
Ryan shook his head. "There may be maintenance shafts, but we can't mount an
attack through them, not even if we could find them quickly. It'd be too
constricting and make us easy meat. Count that out."
"I would say that the reason there is only one way down, and it is not an
elevator, is simple," Doc said softly. A silence descended as they all looked
to the old man to continue, but he was lost in his own thoughts. It was only
after a few seconds, when he noticed the silence and looked up in surprise
that Doc realized that they were waiting for him to expand. "Why, I would have
thought it was obvious."
The old man stepped away from the small party of group leaders and gestured
expansively to the long, winding tunnel that led down from where they were
positioned. It was much wider than any other they had encountered in the
redoubt, and was sloping in a fairly gentle gradient, which was presumably why
it was doglegged rather than running in fairly straight lines.
"If they are what the Gate call the guardians of the gateway, then I would
make the supposition that this gateway is either a large mat-trans or a series
of mat-
trans chambers. I believe that it is large enough to encompass a number of
wags, and that they are used on this lower level to transport materials to and
from another redoubt. Therefore, to have an elevator would be impractical, and
this is such a low level beneath the surface of the earth that it is stable
enough to build these sort of tunnels rather than have to reinforce and build
on a horizontal level."
J.B. pushed back his fedora and scratched his head. "Yeah, I'll buy that, Doc.
But there's one thing that still gets me. Why is this so open? One way in and
out?
That's just plain stupe."
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Doc shook his head. "Not stupid so much as simple arrogance and
overconfidence, my dear John Barrymore. Quite simply it never occurred to
whoever built this redoubt that any enemy would have the skill and sheer
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audacity to get down this far. And if that was the case, then why bother to
waste precious time and effort on an alternative exit?"
"That's so dumb it might just be right," Dean blurted out. Doc's expression as
this unintended backhander broke the tension with a wave of laughter: the
laughter of relief rather than humor, as it was now obvious that the next
assault would be the final action.
"Okay, so what do we do about this?" Gloria said to Ryan, recovering her
composure rapidly.
"I'd like to work out some plan of action other than just a headlong charge,"
Ryan stated. "If we can get as much old tech as possible, then mebbe we could
answer some questions about the mat-trans."
"Yeah, and if we leave it too long they'll all be gone and we won't be any the
wiser," Gloria replied. "We're only getting the one chance at them, and this
is our destiny. I say we hit hard and we hit now."
Ryan and Gloria stood face-to-face, the battle scarred veteran looking down on
the wiry Gate queen. Both were born leaders, both had won glorious battles and
both had wills of iron.
But Gloria had the greater numbers. Ryan was aware that he had only his party
of seven, whereas the Gate warriors outnumbered his people by about six to
one.
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In the end, he would have to defer to Gloria, simply because she could go
ahead and do whatever she wanted.
Ryan stepped back from her. "Okay, I don't agree, but I see your point. We hit
now, and we hit hard."
THE MASSED RANKS of the Gate warriors made their way down the sloping tunnel,
scouts checking every bend. It was empty and seemingly undefended, the tension
among the warriors growing with each undefended turn.
"We must be near the bottom by now, for fuck's sake," Tammy murmured to
Krysty.
"Keep it frosty," the Titian-haired woman replied gently. "None of us can
afford to lose our grip at this stage." Especially when they were going
headfirst into their defensive position, she added to herself.
A chorus of whistles from up ahead, just around a corner, was followed by the
scouts sprinting back to cover as a volley of laser blasterfire scorched the
walls.
"At least we know we've hit the end of the trail," J.B. muttered before
dipping into the canvas bag slung around his shoulder and producing a handful
of shrapnel grens. "These should do the most damage," he said, tossing two to
Ryan and two to Jak, keeping two for himself.
Each man pulled a pin on a gren and threw it with a curve around the corner of
the corridor. They then hit the ground, gesturing the tribe to follow.
The grens exploded with a deafening concussion in the enclosed space,
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Axler,_James_-_Deathlands_59_-_Amazon_Gate spreading shrapnel around a wide
radius of the three areas of impact. Some of the shrapnel was propelled far
enough along the tunnel to ricochet against the laser scarred turn of the
wall, clattering with a high pitched whine around the edges of the Gate tribe.
The vast majority of it, however, exploded with a deadly impact into the
defending party of the Illuminated Ones, and the wailing screams of the
injured and dying sec squad mingled with the sound of the explosion.
The aftershock of sound was still ringing in their ears when the attackers
picked themselves up and advanced to the bend in the tunnel. Beyond, there was
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nothing more than an eerie silence where the entire defending squad had been
wiped out.
Gloria gave a high-pitched scream that ululated around the corridors,
announcing the arrival of the attacking Gate tribe. The way into the main
chamber was now undefended, decorated with the chilled corpses of the sec
force.
With wild cries, the Gate warriors swept forward into the chamber, the force
of their attack pulling Ryan and his companions with them. The one-eyed man
would have preferred a more considered and tactical attack, as there was old
tech that he would prefer to keep intact for observation, but he realized that
the chances of that happening were now nonexistent, and instead contented
himself with going along with the flow.
SINCE THEIR FIRST meeting, Margia had, in her spiky and awkward manner,
maintained a soft spot for Doc Tanner. As they charged into battle, she took
hold of him.
"Stick with me, sweetie," she yelled, "and I'll see you all right."
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