by Todd Mcleod
“That makes a lot of sense. What did you have in mind?”
Barick moved to the side, feeling along the wall, until he found a large shuttered vent. “Unless I am mistaken, this vent is at the back of the engineering room. I have never seen the schematics, but I think this is right. It seems to be slightly ajar and people could easily fit through it.”
“Yeah, it looks like there’s a lock, but it was not reengaged when it closed. Whoever went through it was likely in a hurry after snatching the console.”
“That, and seemingly pursued by the guard, and possibly the young crewman. I doubt either of them is the thief, so it had to be someone that came in when it was opportune.”
“That does make a lot of sense. Who do you think it is?”
“Unknown. I can’t really guess at this time. This back vent looks like it has to be unlocked from the outside with some manner of key. It would have had to be unlocked beforehand. The kid was brought down here by me and suggested by the Captain. I cannot imagine one of his tenure would be someone who would do something like this. I also don’t think it’s your partner, as I don’t imagine he would have the technical expertise to pull off the sabotage.”
“That sounds right.”
“It has to be someone with high rank to have the key. Also someone with the technical knowledge to use the chaos to escape.”
“Yes,” the guard replied with a nod.
“This does give us a plan. The person who used this to get at the console likely had a whole path to get here, and to wherever they are now. We just need to retrace it. We’ll find them and…everything else.”
“Let’s do it,” the guard said enthusiastically, seeming to like the idea of doing more than thinking.
The pair moved on from area to area to put together the most ideal path between the engineering area and somewhere to hide. The communications room being so predominate in the other direction made it most likely to go the other way, and toward the front of the train. Soon they came across blood, and it didn’t take long to find the unconscious body of the young bridge officer.
“Is he dead?” the guard asked as Barick leant over him.
“No, but he’s hurt bad, and something’s hit his head. I don’t think the pitching did it. It looks like he was bludgeoned by something big.”
“Could be the console. He might have gone after the console and tried to get a hold of it. The culprit could have swung it at him…it looked pretty sturdy.”
“You might be right. We’re putting this together.”
“Can we get anything out of him? Can we wake him up?”
“Not safely.” Barick dragged the young officer into a stateroom and tucked him in where were the pitch and roll of the mag train would not hurt him, “He’s hurt bad, and we would make it worse. We must keep searching for answers.”
The guard nodded. “Okay, let’s move on…we can’t be too far from where they’re hiding.”
Barick continued to lead them through the train. All manner of little passageways led up to the front compartments. He thought through what he remembered about the passageways of the train, and ideas flowed into his head. Soon the path came to an open door that led to cargo bays. There were signs of a scuffle on the ground, and the remnants of blood still wet and pooled.
“What happened here?”
“I’m afraid you will not like it.” Barick looked over the area, careful to keep his balance as he took it all in.
“Just tell me,” the guard demanded, “We need to figure this all out.”
“Well, it all seems to fit into an idea of a pursuit. The culprit was with us in engineering and likely waiting for a chance to take the console. I would imagine that they tried to take it earlier, but discovered they couldn’t detach it whole as the ship’s computer was locked. So, as I rebooted it and got the primary power back online, all they could do was hope for a distraction. As the ship did that violent lurch, they snatched it and made for the vent they’d prepared for their escape to cover their tracks.
The others saw this as you, Brendan, and me braced at the other end of engineering. It was not an ideal situation, but in the close quarters, even in the diminished light they gave chase. The culprit went though the vent, but the two were at their heels, and they couldn’t close it fast enough. The culprit then ran through the close quarters, likely using the advantage of knowing their way around. The officer maybe anticipated their tactics, and either caught up or cut them off. The culprit attacked, pushing past him, and out onto the cargo bay to lose the other.”
“And they faced off here.” The guard looked around and noticed the burn marks from an energy gun, “And my partner lost.”
“It appears that way, I’m afraid. The culprit knew the train, but that if it came to it he could not fight your friend. He needed to get him to a place where he could use the element of surprise against him.”
The guard nodded, seeming to not get angry. He went around a series of crates and found a body. “I’ve found him…it is as you have said. I’ll deal with all this later. I will finish the job that we started, retrieve the console, and then deal with the saboteur.”
“We can’t have much time. We’re still venerable, and this storm is getting worse.”
“You can rely on me.” The guard replied drew his gun, “Whatever it takes, I have your back.”
“Thank you. Your friend will be honoured, I promise you.”
The pair continued along through the cargo bay. The storm seemed to be getting monumentally worse around them, but as the train continued to come back online, it appeared to be trying to stabilise things. It was not far ahead to the bridge and the emergency compartment. Barick figured that if someone wanted to uncouple the train they could detach the section behind the bridge, and it would come to a stop. They reached the section with the escape compartment and found a figure waiting for them.
“You think you are quite clever, don’t you?” The voice was familiar. It was the Sergeant, and he stood with the console in his hands, “Though it’s too late to stop me. They will certainly have found us by now!”
“He wants the aliens to find us!” The guard was furious, “He’s killed his own for them.”
“I know.” Barick gestured for the guard to be careful. He’d already aimed at the Sergeant but was concerned with hitting the console. “I can’t let you take the console.”
The Sergeant stood his ground, seemingly ready to fight. He was bloodied and looked like he was pushing back shock and pain. “They are the superior life form. We can not fight them…those who serve them will be spared!”
“Okay, stay calm,” Barick replied, “How do you plan for the storm and telling them that? If we are fired upon we will derail and perish.”
“I will tell them! I will tell them that I am surrendering, that I am the one that delivered the train to them. I will be rewarded and spared when everyone else is destroyed.”
“You’re cracking under the pressure. You’re not thinking straight. You need to calm down and surrender.”
“I know you’re used to being so smart and right about things.” The Sergeant laughed, and a strange device on his neck lit up as he spoke, “But I was there when they breached a firing line. Dozens of hardened soldiers were torn apart, and no one could stand against them. They are demons, and any fight against them is folly. They fell. We all did.”
“If you fell, how did you get to the bunker? And what is that thing on your neck?”
“I..I don’t know. It all…I don’t know.”
“It’s a tactic in guerrilla fighting,” the guard replied, “Take out an encampment, but let one person flee. Tag him so he leads you to the rest.”
“He was lucid and normal before. This device seems to be manipulating his judgement and making him paranoid and fanatic. It seems to be meant to breed the perfect saboteur.”
“I agree. He is not in his right mind.”
“What are you talking about?” The Sergeant’s voice was growing shak
ier as the device on his neck flashed again, red veins spiking out from the source, “I need to call them.”
“You and I both know the comms are down,” Barick answered him, “As you are affected more and more, you are forgetting things.”
“What do you mean? I thought I…Maybe.”
“You have no way to win here. Your plans are contradictory and unravelling. You are serving a device on you that’s clouding your mind. Stand down, and give me the console.”
“No…I have to figure this out! We cannot beat them!”
“I have a shot.” The guard stood motionless and calm, “I can take him out in an instant.”
The Sergeant looked at Barick in shock and raised his gun up slowly, his face deeply set in mania. “We can’t...”
With a blur, the guard went to work. Though he was several yards back, and it was not a clear shot, he acted like a solider, compartmentalising his thoughts to jump into action. He shot once, just missing Barick’s shoulder, but struck the Sergeant in front of him in the chest. He was knocked back as he instinctively pulled the trigger on his own gun, the shot going wide and striking the ceiling. He fell back but was dead before he hit the ground.
CHAPTER 4
“Thank goodness.” The guard looked at the shot to see if it had damaged anything vital, “He hit the servos to control the escape compartment. It’s not safe to use.”
“It’s not of much use to us,” Barick admitted, looking back to the Sergeant, “I feel bad that it came to a shot like that, but if it was for the life of the entire crew, then it’s what we had to do.”
“That’s true. There are a lot of lives on this train to consider.”
“I’m sure there’s a lot we could figure out here, but we don’t have the luxury of time to do that. The train is about to come back online, and we probably have bigger things to worry about here. You should get to the bridge, and make sure we’re safe or need to fight or anything.”
“You’re right about that. We need to make sure we’re out of danger before we try and piece this all together.”
“You can leave this to me. I’ll take the console back and make sure that crewman gets medical attention.”
He made his way through the train and dropped the console off with Vi and Brendan. They hastily put it in place and started to power it up. Within moments, it was online and again cloaking the train’s signal. Barick sighed only a moment’s relief before he was called to go to the bridge. He double-checked with the others before heading off.
Back on the bridge, the train was still pitching and rolling, but it seemed the automated systems were trying to kick in and dampen it. As he went, the lights came back on, and hopefully things were returning to normal.
“You okay up here?” Barick asked.
“Just fine…now,” Captain Stevens said with a sigh, “It looks like everything is coming back online.”
“Dampeners and cover field fully online,” a crewman replied as he manipulated the train’s controls, “The storm seems to be stopping its increase. We’re still not out of it, but it’s at least not getting worse.”
“Well, let’s make sure everything is all right and those hurt are dealt with.” Barick moved over to the side near the Captain, “We can worry about anything else later.”
“Agreed,” Captain Stevens said with a nod, “Let’s ensure we are stable. You did good work, Cadet. The guard you worked with told me how well you handled everything. I will need to be fully briefed when there is time, but you have gone above and beyond.”
“It was the right thing to do. And the people on this train are my people. I would do anything to protect them.”
“Sir, we have a problem,” a crewman sad, his tone grave, “In fact, we have more than one.”
“Explain.” The Captain he walked over to him, “How bad is it?”
“Well, first of all the train is not as good as we think. When the main systems were offline, we were unaware of damage from the storm. The main power batteries took a hit, and we are literally haemorrhaging power. I estimate we have maybe twenty minutes of power left before we have to shut down and stop.”
“Is there any way to fix it? We can’t afford to be dead in the water.”
“We have neither the time nor the resources to fix it. The train is going to be powerless soon one way or another.”
Stevens sighed and rubbed his temples, “I have a feeling that you’re going to tell me that it’s worse than that.”
The crewman nodded. “The comms are back on, and we are detecting a small fleet of enemy vessels. They’re heading toward us. Though we currently have the cover system running, they definitely saw us and can triangulate an approximate position easily enough.”
“I am open to suggestions from anyone here.” Stevens looked around, “We’re looking at a lose-lose situation here, and any idea is one we need to hear.”
“Well, they don’t know exactly where we’re heading,” Barick said, “We need to find somewhere in the route ahead where we have time to evacuate the train. We then use the last of its power to send it ahead. They’ll be searching for the train and not us, hopefully buying us the time to find shelter.”
“There’s a mining site up ahead.” The guard came forward, “My mate was surveying it, and they haven’t done much but dig some service tunnels. It might be hard for them to find us, and it would give us time to find more options.”
“Works for me,” Stevens replied, “Let’s prepare the evacuation, and be ready to stop. We have a lot to do, and not much time to do it.”
A few minutes later the maglev train slowed down at the entrance to a still under construction mining area. The crew worked together in an inspiring feat of teamwork to get the wounded off the train and the supplies out of sight inside the enclosure. The Captain had rigged the train to remote control. Once the last of the crew were confirmed off the train he set it to go, intending to run it until the power failed, then come to an emergency stop. The aliens would chase it down, and while they searched the empty vehicle, they would hopefully be well hidden.
Barick looked as the train sped off, part of him thinking their last hope was going with it. He looked over to Vi; feeling better, knowing as long as the two of them were together, there was always a way forward. Movement caught the corner of his eye as he saw an alien moving through the ragged terrain. There was some manner of vehicle several yards back, a transport.
“A scout!” Barick shouted as he ran after him.
With the sound of the storm still whipping through the area, he knew only Vi had heard him. The pair got to some high ground, the last place to take a shot before the alien reached the vehicle. They acted as one, both drawing their weapons and firing. Striking the lightly armoured scout alien in the back, taking him to the ground as he tumbled down the rocky hill. The terrain tore into his exterior armour. Elvin and Vi moved carefully, approaching the fallen scout. The fall had dislodged its helmet. As Vi kept her gun trained on the alien, Elvin flipped it over. The face looked like an insect, discoloured like light hitting oil. It had multiple eyes and a mouth that did not closely resemble a Human in shape or form.
“They aren’t machines after all. They’re like us.”
“They are organic and rely on technology, yes.” Elvin checked that the alien was dead, “But they use tactics and plans that we were not ready for. Help me take him to the others. We need to learn all we can from his biology and technology. We’ve been one step behind these guys all along, and if we’re to mount any kind of meaningful defence, we need to find a way to get ahead of them.”
“I agree. Because we’re not winning here. We need something…anything to turn the tides.”
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