Page 35 (1/2)

"And now," Devereaux said, "I’ you really have to see Check your HUDs"

"Oh, da his head rather than his eyes in a bid to activate the right icon "Can I take this helmet off now?"

"Yeah, take a look out of the viewscreen" Devereaux gestured to hi around "Come up front Check this out"

Phil ips left his helmet on the bench seat and moved forward It took Mal a few seconds to work out what Devereaux was sending to everyone’s display On first glance he thought it was a section of a refit station, a long slab of a hul with bristles of sensor th that stretched past the lie tracked to port and the vertical wal ofwhite lettering: UNSC INFINITY

He couldn’t quite get the scale But it had to be bloody enor it with the naked eye Mal could tel by the whoops

"Ohhhh my God " Phil ips’s head bobbed up a couple of ti in his seat "Oh my God, that’s a monster That can’t possibly land anywhere, can it?"

Vaz started laughing Phil ips loved al this stuff and seemed total y unashamed of his excitement Mal wondered how the professor would ever est battles he saere probably over parking spaces or dodgy research papers, and then realized that he never would Who’d want to go back to that? Kilo-Five got to see and do things that no other hu did This was life, lived

"Move over, Prof, ant to see her too" Mal got up to peer through the cockpit hatch and found hi for position with Vaz and Naomi Phil ips slid out of the seat and Mal took his place

Now he could get the scale of the ship She was in just the right position to be ful y lit by the sun with nothing behind her, hanging there like a long, thin, death-dealing shoebox

"Oo-er missus," he said

"And we’re stil fifty klicks away froe on her monitor "I can’t even see Stanley, but if we could, she’d be a dot"

Vaz didn’t sound ree-heads have to be able to see her fro to him but he was drowned out instantly by the fire alarm klaxon Devereaux reached out across the control panel and shut it off

"’Scuse me, folks, I need to check that’s not a real one," she said, squeezing out of her seat "None of the ?"

"So’s hotter than it should be in section seven-alpha-ten," he said "Nothing specific froo" Naomi motioned Devereaux back to the cockpit Tart-Cart was only a heavily hly thirty meters nose to tail

There weren’t many co?"

Os what little status data was co out of Tart-Cart "Port Stanley to Kilo- Five, I’ it out,to Naoth of the crew bay and slide open a door in the transverse bulkhead

There was an internal cali her glove sensors to pick up hot spots Phil ips was about halfway down the bay, watching

"It’s pretty hot behind this panel," Nao, you’d better seal the bulkhead behind me and I’l use the --"

She was cut short by a sht overwhel back into the crew bay, grabbed Phil ips’s helht down on his head A sheet of fla away as if so had sucked it back

"Shit shit shit" Phil ips was rooted to the spot, arht grip on his arm "You’re okay The suit’s sealed Relax"

Mal went aft to check them over The view fro out into space as the oxygen escaped

Nao’s blown a hole in the repair"

"Okay, everybody chil ," Mal said "We’re al suited and sealed The fire’s not going to kil us, and we’re almost home You okay, Naomi?"

Mjolnir armor was built to take close detonations More flame licked out from the ruptured compartment for a few seconds and the Spartan just stood there, letting it curl past her "Hit the fire suppressant, Dev," she said "It hasn’t kicked in automatical y"

A o whether the fire control systeen ran out and stifled them Osman’s voice caot the cam feed Everyone okay?"

"We’re dead in the water, ma’am," Devereaux said "The fire’s suppressed, but we’ve lost propulsion We’re going to need a hand"

Phil ips pushed back the top filter on his visor Mal could now see his eyes, and it was the first tier had actual y looked terrified

A shipboard fire was pretty scary stuff at the best of times, but everyone knew their aret the blaze under control, and al they had to do was not panic if the flames passed over them It was a natural ani to resist Phil ips hadn’t had it

"It’s okay,terrified of a blaze in a ship "You won’t cook and you won’t asphyxiate Trust the suit

And underashes"

"This," Phil ips whispered, eyes stil wide, "has been theweek of my entire life Fantastic "

Mal knehat heyourself to your absolute limits and maybe a bit beyond You knew you were alive But they were stil fifty klicks from safety, and ODST armor was rated at fifteen er

"UNSC dropship, this is Infinity, " said a voice Mal didn’t recognize "Stand by for assistance We’re on our way"

Nobody cheered It was a ht the team had become that Infinity was al us up?" Mal asked