Tuning William - Fuzzy Bones

Jack and Gerd both shook their heads.

"The little one," Helton said, "we call 'snap.' It doesn't make any more noise than a teakettle. The mid-size one we call 'crackle,' because it seems to cause more fracturing of the tunnel lining. Now, what do you suppose we call this one, the grandpappy of them all?"

Jack hesitated for a moment. "Pop?" he said tentatively.

Helton winked and made a single, decisive gesture with his index finger. "You got it," he said.

The vapor clouds began to die away into wisps.

"Looks like they're in at the six-inch wall," Helton said. "Time for me to go to work."

He walked briskly off toward Chief Byers.

"What did he mean by that?" Gerd asked.

"I don't know," Jack said,"but if we watch, we'll probably find out."

Helton motioned for Chief Byers to move one side of his headphones so he could hear. "Are you down to the mark?" he asked.

"On the button," Byers said. "We're backin' her out now."

"How long will it take you to blow down the temperature enough for me to go in there in a heat suit?" Helton asked.

" 'Bout twenty minutes, if I use the air changers," Byers answered without hesitation.

"Good," Helton said. "I'll go draw the gear."

Sweating and gasping for breath, Squint and Dave finally knocked off the last confining outcropping and were able to squeeze into the cavern. They were astonished at what they saw. Morrie and Jimmy heard the vibrohammers stop and came down the fissure on the run.

"Gnu! It's hot in here," Morrie said, then stopped short. "What shall we do?"

Jimmy said. Squint growled and wiped the sweat from his face. "Why, get as many sunstones as we can carry, before we all die of suffocation-stupid."

"Yeah, yeah!" Jimmy said excitedly. "And we'll keep this a secret and come back later, with breathing gear."

"Wait a minute," Dave said loudly. "Shut up, you guys. What's that noise?"

"What noise?" Squint asked. "Listen!" Dave said. They all fell silent.

"That noise," Dave said. "That popping and snapping noise. Sounds like it's coming from that rockfall over there." "Great Ghu!" Morrie wailed. "The mountain's gonna cave in on us."

"Maybe," Squint said, "but I'm gonna get some sunstones first. Let's get busy."

Tendrils of vapor trailed from the top of the tunnel opening and the walls still popped and crackled from the rapid cool-down as Phil Helton disappeared into the tunnel mouth, wearing a hot suit and carrying a snooper-phone in a heat-shielding container.

"Now what's he doing that for?" Gerd said. The little hillock where they stood was a grandstand seat from which to watch the entire affair.

The terrene crew had moved that massive piece of equipment to one side, where it bobbed on contragravity, a few feet off the ground, and were re-stringing their orange engineer's tape to make a cordon about sixty meters away from the machine.

O'Bannon, Stag well, and Casagra were still to one side, in a close little group, talking quietly among themselves.

"Well, Gerd," Holloway drawled, "if you were planning to bust into a strange place like that, wouldn't you want to listen to the inside of it a little bit before you charged ahead?"

"Yeah," Gerd said. "Yeah, I guess I would."

It was still a little uncomfortable, even in the hot suit, as Helton placed the snooperphone on a special collar so the pickup wouldn't melt against the glassed-up surface of the headwall.

He cranked the gain and listened.

Now, that's damned strange, he thought. A cavern, closed by a rockfall hundreds of years ago . . . And there's somebody-or some thing-in there, using vibrohammers. He pulled the audio pickup out of his ear, turned, and trotted

back toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ingermann's face was a pale maroon, and his neck bulged out over his shirt collar. "Throckmortoni" he shouted. "You blockhead! Why did you have to stick in that damned conspiracy in the causes of action? Why didn't you draw the complaint just as I told you? Can't you follow simple instructions, you nitwit?"

Throckmorton was quivering in his chair. "I-I thought it would make a solider case, sir," he said in a small voice.

"Solider case?" Ingermann screamed. "Solider case? How in Nifflheim did you ever pass the bar to practice law on this planet-" He paused to suck in another gasping breath before continuing. "-or any other colony world, without knowing you have to have the government's permission to sue them for conspiracy."

"Well, sir,," Throckmorton began.

"You numbskull!" Ingermann raged. "Out! Get out of my sight!"

Throckmorton gratefully rose to take his departure.

"Just a minute!" Ingermann said. "Who was the presiding judge?"

"Why, uh, Justice Pendarvis," Throckmorton replied. "I thought so!" Ingermann shrieked triumphantly. "He's been trying to get me ever since I set foot on Zarathustra. Oh, don't kid yourself. He and Brannhard have been working behind my back for years. Well, I'll get him. I'll get him if it's the last thing I ever do. Him and his sanctimonious mouth; I'll send him to Nifflheim, so help me."

Ingermann had been talking to the top of his desk, his eyes glazed, his breath coming in short rasps. Suddenly, he looked up and saw Throckmorton. "I told you to get out, didn't I?"

Throckmorton nodded.

"Well, then, get out!" He strode around the desk as Throckmorton made a terrified retreat into the corridor. Ingermann slammed the door as hard as he could, then staggered back to the desk and leaned upon it, breathing heavily, for several minutes.

Chief Byers helped with the fastenings as Helton shucked off the hot suit. As soon as his head was free, Helton asked, "Chief-how soon can you have that cold enough for men in body armor and breathing gear to go in? Huh, Chief; how long?"

"Take at least forty-five minutes to an hour, Gunnie," Byers replied. "Still be pretty warm, at that, an' it'll crackle up the walls somthin' fierce."

"It won't make them unstable, will it?" Helton asked as he peeled off the last vels from the over-boots.

"Oh, nothin' like that," Byers said. "Some little-bitty pieces might fall out, but you'll be as safe in there as a pit in a prune."

O'Bannon frowned deeply. "Vibrohammers? Vibrohammers, did you say?"

"Yes, sir, "Helton replied. He had joined the little knot of officers on the

knoll.

O'Bannon pursed his lips. "I imagine, Helton, that you have already formulated some ideas about how to handle this."

Helton smiled. "As a matter of fact, Colonel ..."

"Get on with it," O 'Bannon said as he rubbed the first two fingers of his right hand across his forehead. "What's your idea?"

"Fan out a cordon of scouts and combat cars all around the mountain in a pattern, say, six kilometers in diameter, together with an aloft surveillance in case they try to make a break for it. Slowly pull the purse string tight, looking for civilians or aircars in the area, concealed or trying to keep concealed. Arrest anyone who's not one of us-no matter how good their story.

It'll be an hour before the tunnel is cool enough. Then, I'll take six men, blow the head wall, and go in."

O 'Bannon thought for a few seconds. "Couple things you overlooked, but basically I like it. I'll lead, with the scout platoon and elements of 'A'

Company. Dick," he said to Stagwell, "you lead the aloft cover. Use a waffle-iron pattern." He turned to Casagra. "Glen, you dig in some crew-served automatic weapons about two hundred meters from the tunnel opening so they have good crossfire-and another one up here where we're standing, with some rockets, too. If Helton and his guys don't come out of there first, Ghu knows what we'll be up against. We should be able to make lift in fifteen minutes.

Now, let's see if we all have the same time." Four hands extended as each man checked his watch. As Casagra and Helton trotted away to their respective tasks, O'Bannon was on his belt commo. "Bushmeyer," he barked at his driver,"put down whatever kind of trash you 're reading and get my car over here on the double." Pause. "That's right. I'm on the little knoll, in plain sight."