CHAPTER FOUR
After
a short hallway from the control room, the tunnel opened up to a large vertical
shaft, with a narrow pathway being the only path. A couple of old elevators
hang in midair, and several cables are visible all the way to the pitch
blackness that was the bottom.
The
dripping sound was louder now, and a cool breeze gently blew into Puffie's
face. Puffie shivered slightly and observed that there was the air-lock door a
good two-hundred feet above where they where.
As
Peter and Puffie walked silently, Puffie’s mind wandered back to
Rabbitearth. The cool air of the
mountains there was way fresher than this musty mine air. The dirt, trees and vegetation that grew in
the forests of his hometown brought memories of racing his dirt bike down dirt
roads with Peter, looking out for miles on top of a mountain, and diving in a
lake to cool off and find fishing lures.
As
the thought passes through his mind, he gets an idea, and grabs a rock. Peter noticed this and looked as Puffie
tossed it over the side. There was a
barely audible splash. "I did not
know Minerva had water on it." Peter said.
"The
Pit must go through an aquifer, holding water from the condensation that
happens... But this might mean that
anyone who took a plunge down there would have a hard time getting back
up."
"That
means that we have to follow the narrow trail up, and that's a lot of places
for traps."
The
two reached the point where the airlock was in sight, 100 feet of their
position. As they approached the next
bend in the uphill path, a start of an air-compressor jumped them off their
feet. Puffie nearly lost his gun off the
edge as he regained his balance from falling.
Then an elevator started descending.
"This
is bad" Peter said as they watched a spotlight click on aboard the
elevator and begin searching the pathway.
Puffie
thought fast. He was quite sure Peter would agree that they did not want to be
caught like a deer in the headlights, but what should they do? They could split
up, but-
He
felt Peter grab his shoulder and push while in a run. He then grabbed his radio. "Terminators!
Scouts here. We
have an elevator with spotlights and possible mounted machine guns. We need
support NOW!" Peter shouted into the radio as Puffie grabbed the idea and
started running down the trail.
"RPG getting in position scouts.
Hightail it outta there!" replied the
radio. The spotlight caught up with the
running pair and a gun started puffing projectiles at them.
Rock
chips flew as projectiles hit the wall.
Puffie thought of the idea of screwing up the machinegun tracking by
suddenly changing direction, but that would walk him right into the path of
fire, and one a one second delay in turning around could get him nailed.
Almost
immediately, a puff of smoke and a tracer emerged from the tunnel entrance, and
a missile collided with the elevator, sending metal flying everywhere. Two rabbits tried to hold on to the remains
of an elevator, but both fell off with a cry.
Some
splashes sounded as Peter and Puffie caught their breath and watched as the
group emerged from the tunnel. Puffie
noticed a tank hanging from the still-descending elevator. “What kind of gun is that?” asked Puffie as a
soldier came up.
“That’s
a “Rebel Special”. Basically, it’s a
rapid-fire air nail guns used just about anywhere. The rebs call them
“Rifnil’s”
”I take it its homemade?”
“Pretty much.” The rabbit said as the team started moving up the trail. “Most of them
are modified Construction guns. They
don’t have much penetrating power, but make up for their rapid fire and common
supply of ammo, if you can call it that. I’ve seen a few bodies literary pumped
full of nails. Nasty.”
The
elevator to the top was replaced with a ladder, so Puffie and Peter got the joy
of climbing it and making sure there were no rebels waiting for them at the
top. The first thing Puffie felt when he exited the mine was relief. He could only crawl around in those tunnels
for so long before the world closes up on him.
An old military truck sat at
the entrance of the mine. It had a decal
on the side that Puffie could not recognize.
It showed a two-toned background, with a rabbit holding a rifle in its
hands high up. A mounted nail gun with a compressed air tank stood in the back.
“That’s the rebel’s
insignia” said a rabbit from the task force.
“This truck must have been military surplus that was imported from the
moons. Note the vacuum shielding?” he
said, pointing at the sealing around the doors and the air tank on the bottom
of the vehicle.
The Task force leader toned
in. “The base is about half a kilometer from here. We could use this truck to sneak in by the main
entrance.” “What if the rebels are using ID checks?” asked Peter. “Why not just
charge into the corner of the base like we planned?”
The leader shook his head.
“The base is on a hill overlooking the valley.
If we walk over to there, they would spot us. Also, I doubt this truck could climb that
steep a hill.”
“Then we have to disguise
ourselves.” Said Puffie, shuddering about the fact of
scavenging from a battlefield.