William Dietrich - Getting back

"Charcoal?" Tucker asked.

"From the fires. Nitrate from the urine deposits in the stables. Calcium nitrate, actually, which works in a pinch." She regarded her invention. "Maybe."

"Tomorrow she splits the atom," Daniel said. "How do we use it?"

"In the tunnel. The explosion should collapse it, and maybe jar more rock loose besides. I'll wait to light it."

"No," said Tucker quickly. "I'll do it."

"It's my idea, Tucker. My risk."

He shook his head. "I'm the slowest, with this bum ankle, and the strongest. They'll hesitate with me." Tucker looked up at the sky, a slim silver band high above. "This is the pass to make a stand, I think. Like Daniel's Spartans."

"What?"

He sounded excited. "The Greeks and the Persians! Remember, Daniel?"

"Tucker, you're not a damned Spartan."

"How do I know if I've never tried?"

"You have no training!"

He looked back down the defile. "It's the perfect place, the perfect time, and the perfect person."

Daniel looked at him worriedly.

"I'll back them up a bit, light the explosive, and run," Tucker reassured. "Or at least hobble. With any luck they'll decide we're not worth chasing."

There wasn't time for argument. "All right. Light it and crawl like hell. We'll be waiting on the other side."

"No, don't wait! Make all the distance you can! I'll catch up!"

"He's right," Ethan said, dropping to the sand to wriggle through. "We can't risk any delay."

Raven went next and Amaya ducked to follow.

Daniel put his hands on his friend's shoulders. "You be sure to come, promise?"

"I've got to see the rest of Australia." He grinned.

Amaya was through and the others were calling. Daniel hesitated a moment more and then fell on his belly to crawl, his head and back bumping against the overhanging rock. Ethan helped drag him out the other side.

"Okay, he's buying us time," Daniel said. "Let's run like hell."

"They're going to tear him to pieces if he doesn't get through that hole," Ethan said soberly.

"He knows that," Daniel said. "If his courage is going to mean anything, we have to get away."

The canyon widened slightly on the other side of the blockage and they trotted down it toward the eastern opening that showed a gray horizon. There was already a barely detectable blush in the sky. Dawn was coming.

The bomb would have to work.

The canyon walls were so steep that it would be difficult to get around him, Tucker was betting. It might take hours to circle the enclosing rocks. Precious minutes, at least. If he could hold Rugard's men here for a while, the others would have a chance.

He studied Amaya's bomb. A fuse extended from one end, and tied to it, wrapped in leaves, were two of their remaining matches. Could it really choke off the canyon? He couldn't rely on that alone. Rugard's men were already in the defile, pushing forward cautiously and clumsily by torchlight, the reflections throwing shadows well ahead of the actual pursuit.

"Let's give you something to think about," Tucker growled. He set down the explosive, picked up the spear he'd been using as a cane, and crouched at a bend of the canyon, waiting.

They came around the curve arrogant and angry, and he charged them like a cornered bear. Surprise was complete. His initial thrust only glanced off the first man, who was twisting desperately out of the way, but the wound was enough to raise a howl and throw the convicts into confusion. Their quarry had turned! The front rank stumbled back, some tripping in their haste to get away from Tucker's whirling staff.

A braver criminal plunged ahead with his own spear and Tucker knocked it aside. The man came at him again. Tucker parried, seized his opponent's shaft, and jerked forward with the glad ferocity of instinctive combat. The convict stumbled, dropped to his knees, and lost his weapon as Tucker wrenched, his own ankle pain forgotten. The man was trying to retreat on his hands and knees when Tucker speared him. The convict screamed, pinioned through the leg, and then was jerked to safety by his friends, the shaft trailing out of his thigh. Rugard's men fell back, relaying the news of danger.

Tucker got up, breathing heavily, his ankle even worse, and looked at the retreating torchlight with satisfaction. "Yeah, back off, you bastards," he muttered. Then he studied the cliff wall and boosted himself gingerly a short distance up it, bracing himself precariously.

"You keep away from us, Rugard!" he yelled, his voice echoing. "Come up here and we'll kill you all!" No one answered him. He dropped back down to the sand and waited, considering the bomb again.

He could hear the pursuers arguing, picking up the thread of Rugard's rasping, impatient voice. Then the convicts fell ominously silent for a while. Finally someone was being pushed forward, scuffling through the sand. "Get your damn hand off me!" There was a pause and then a familiar voice called out down the canyon. "Tucker, is that you? Listen, we have to talk!"

It was Ico.

"I don't talk to the morally impaired!" Tucker shouted back.

"Come on man, listen to me. We still need each other. We can still work together! Daniel wouldn't listen, Tucker. I'll bet he didn't even tell you he can't get you back. Not without me!"

He was lying, wasn't he? Daniel said they got the transmitter.

"Listen to me! We can still cut a deal!"

"You made your deal, Ico!"

The little man fell silent for a minute. Then: "Let me talk to Daniel!"

Tucker didn't reply.

"Let me talk to Raven!"

Again he was quiet. They were trying to determine how many were ahead.

"What did they do, ditch you too? You all alone, Tucker?"

He didn't answer because he did feel suddenly alone, terribly alone. The quiet of the convicts bothered him. What were they up to?

"Tucker, listen, I did it for your own good! That corporate bimbo was bewitching Dyson! You know that! She was going to fly off and leave us all here like a bunch of bumpkins! It was insane to let her escape! This way, we get to go!"

"Your Warden pal promise that?"

"Tucker, think! If we don't get the transmitter back, our party is stuck here! If you don't help us, we're all stuck here for the rest of our lives. Come on, listen to reason!"

"You come up here where I can see you!" Tucker called. "You come up here where we can talk!"

There was more wrestling, and Ico was shoved lurching ahead. He stopped, straightened, and then walked forward hesitantly.

"All we want is the transmitter, Tucker," he soothed, his arms spread wide. "We're not going to hurt you guys. We need each other now. I did it for you, man."

When Ico was close enough, Tucker hurled the spear. The shorter man squeaked and dodged, but not quite quickly enough. The spear head sliced across one arm and he yelped, scurrying back out of the way. The convicts roared, the sound angry and ominous, and rocks and a couple of other spears fired back. Tucker ducked behind an outcrop as the missiles rattled harmlessly by him. Then he retrieved them and ran back around the corner of the canyon. No one followed. Somewhere to the east, the others were getting away.

Yeah, come on you bastards, Tucker thought. Come and get it.

Several minutes passed. Tucker stayed pressed against the canyon wall, looking for movement. Nothing. He was alone in a dark hole.

It was funny to feel so confined, after the big spaces of Australia.

Then there was a shattering rattle from above and Tucker looked up. Something was falling in amongst the stars. Rock fall! They were up on the rim and trying to get around him! They were throwing things at him from above!

He lurched back to the tunnel entrance and fell on the bomb. Stones banged down. He wiggled into the tunnel backward, pulling Amaya's crude device after him, the rocks bouncing harmlessly outside. Well, that was that: they'd outflanked him just like Daniel's Spartans. This damn bomb had better work.