"58!" came another voice, "I can get your man.
What's his frequency?"
"215," the captain snapped, recognizing the
mechanicalness of the voice. "He's Lt. Wong."
"Hold on," the voice continued, "Another flight of
Chigs should be here in twenty minutes."
"Great!" Hawkes moaned.
"Stop the chatter, lieutenant!" the captain snapped.
On the planet Lt. Wong managed to get his canopy open, and was
getting out when he saw movement. He brought up his pistol and
fell two Chigs as they came into view. His radio began to
crackle.
"Lt. Wong, do you read?"
"Yes!" he answered.
"Pull out your oxygen equipment. Bring it with you. Hurry!
Head for the two peaks to your west. Only a few Chigs that way.
Move it, lieutenant!"
The lieutenant looked around. He was hesitant to obey a strange
command, but he had a pretty good idea where the majority of the
Chigs were and west seemed to be a good idea. Several times a
ship came down and poured fire into the area around him but he
couldn't get a look at it. Finally he was heading between the two
peaks and was almost between them when an explosion knocked him
off his feet. He was dazed for several seconds and when he came
to three Chigs were approaching him. One of them raised his large
ax-like knife, and was about to strike when his chest suddenly
glowed bright white and he flew backwards! The other two Chigs
tried to raise their weapons but they too, were cut down.
Suddenly someone was standing over the lieutenant.
"Come on, lieutenant!" he screamed, pulling him up with
one hand, and firing into the distance with a Chig weapon in the
other. "We're not welcome around here!"
The lieutenant stared at the AI in disbelief, but quickly obeyed.
As they rushed through the rocks the lieutenant saw the AI's ship
ahead. The AI was behind him laying down a heavy barrage when
there was a tremendous explosion. He rose into the air and landed
hard, on the rocks, sparks and smoke coming from his legs. Wong
rushed over. The AI pulled a computer disk from his pocket,
shoved it into the lieutenant's pocket, and said "Go! Give
that to your commander, ONLY to your commander. Don't let any of
the intelligence corps see it. Some of them are working for the
Chigs. Go! If that gets through at least my people will be
avenged!"
Wong could see Chigs approaching in the distance. He didn't wait
any longer. He reached down, grabbed the AI, hoisted him over his
shoulder, and ran for the craft. Somehow he made it inside, shut
the door, and got air borne. He wasn't used to the controls, and
two Chig fighters would have got him if Lt. West and Hawkes
hadn't got them first. "That's all we can do, ladies and
gentlemen," the captain cried. "Our fuel is gone. Wong,
you all right?"
"Few scratches," Wong answered. "Tell the
technician boys to stand by. I've got a damaged AI."
"Understood!" the captain answered. "Stay in the
middle of the formation. We don't want any defense battery taking
a pot shot."
"Understood!" Wong answered. "I'm putting it on
automatic, leaving the channel open. Let me know if anything
comes up. I'm going to see if I can help my companion."
"Understood!" the captain answered. "Eyes open,
people! Some of them could have slipped behind us hoping for
stragglers."
The squadron spread out around the AI ship and headed back for
the carrier.
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