by Trevor Gregg
Kyren dodged aside as they crashed past him, rebounding off the walls as they struggled. While he was distracted, another Crevak had managed to get inside. He raised his rifle but realized he was going to be too late. The wart-nosed red-skinned creature fixed its yellow eyes on him as it raised its pistol. Glee filled its face and it’s nostrils flared.
He clenched for the incoming rounds, ready for them to tear through his body. Instead, he watched Alis’ wrench making a graceful but powerful arc towards its head. The gun bucked as the wrench impacted, knocking his aim off enough for the round to crack just over Kyren’s head.
Adrenaline flooded him as he turned around and squeezed the trigger just as the third warrior scrambled through the door. His rifle bucked as pulses of blue light streamed from the stocky barrel. The energy took the thevar warrior in the leg, taking it off at the knee.
Kyren walked the pulses up the creature’s body, blasting huge holes in its’ armor and splattering the creature’s body into fountains of gore. The indicator on the side of the weapon transitioned to yellow. Swinging the rifle to bear on Tharox and the grendle, he bellowed “enough!” as the gauge on the side faded back to green.
The grendle looked up at Kyren and then froze. “Hey kid, you don’t have to do that, I’ll stop,” it said in obvious panic.
Tharox kicked the back of its knees and drove his fist into its head as it fell. The grendle went to the floor and Tharox followed, delivering a flurry of vicious blows until the creature was still.
“Come out come out whoever you are,” a voice bellowed from the street outside.
“I’m sure he’s already called in reinforcements, this is bad,” Kyren cried.
Alis handed him her wrench in the extended mirror configuration. He peered around the corner.
“Shit, he’s behind heavy cover, and he’s got a bead on the door,” Kyren informed them.
“Hand me that rifle, Alis,” Benjam said. “I think I know how to deal with this scumbag.”
Alis handed the rifle to him, and to Kyren’s surprise and dismay, Benjam stepped into the doorway. A hail of fire sprayed Benjam’s black blood into the room, spattering his face with tiny flecks. But Benjam persisted, and raised the long barreled rifle. He squeezed the trigger with the tip of his tentacle and a charged sphere shot out.
The energy sphere whizzed past the vindel commander as Benjam dodged back into the building, whimpering and screeching.
“Nice shooting there, sniper,” the commander mocked.
“Just wait for it,” Benjam said through gasps of pain, as his wounds began regenerating. Kyren heard a faint bloop, followed by several more bloops, as the charged sphere bounced around outside.
“You should all come out, and I will show you mercy. You have bested my men, which means you are worthy adver…” his bellowed tirade was cut short by a thunderous flash of light and energy.
As it faded, there was only silence.
“He should have watched for the ricochet,” Benjam said with a wry grin, propping himself up and back into a standing position.
“I think we’re just a couple blocks from the archive now,” Kyren informed them.
“Then let’s get going before those reinforcements arrive,” Tharox said, raising his rifle and striding out into the street purposefully.
30
Dark Terminals
Kyren led the way as they approached the archive, Tharox covering their escape.
“You stay here, Tharox. Keep our exit clear. Be ready to get Isa over here in a hurry,” Kyren commanded.
He was on high alert as he picked his way through rubble lining the blasted frame of the welcome center, rifle at the ready, finger on the trigger. He hoped there wouldn’t be any Crevak inside. He doubted there would be, since the Crevak probably didn’t understand the value of this place. Had they, it wouldn’t have been orbital bombardment, they would have invaded it while whole.
“Hopefully, the archive is intact. It consists of many, many levels below ground. At least some of it must have survived,” Benjam explained as they entered the massive courtyard.
He had to pick over and around deadly shards of glass, lying at all angles. A fall in here would be deadly. They made their way carefully through the courtyard of broken glass and wound their way to the bank of elevators. The control panels were dark.
“There’s got to be a stairwell, let’s keep going,” Kyren suggested, making his way past the elevators.
To his relief there was a pair of doors labeled stairwell. He flung them open and brought the rifle up. Alis’ light illuminated the darkened stairwell. It was empty. Good, they probably didn’t care about the records. They were too busy plundering, he was sure.
“Going down?” he said with a grin, then began to descend the stairs. “Benjam, what level contains the terminals we used last time?”
“We’ll need to go to fourteen, that is where the private terminals are.”
Kyren led them deeper down, his thighs burning and quivering by the time they reached fourteen. His arms ached from holding the rifle, but he ground his teeth together and struggled on, pushing through the door at level fourteen. Only empty corridors met them, abandoned and dark.
They reached a door labeled “Terminals” and went inside. Entering the cavernous space, Alis’ light shown on massive columns and grand staircases. Consoles dotted the space and lined the walls. All were dark.
Kyren made his way to the first and found it inactive. No combination of controls would wake the terminal up.
“As I feared, the terminals are brought down in event of a breach. Only the staff terminals on the floors below will be accessible,” Benjam explained.
“Then lets go down to the staff floors. Can you lead the way?” Kyren questioned.
“I’m afraid we’ll need access codes, which we don’t have,” Benjam began but was interrupted by the cascading sound of falling rubble.
Kyren whirled and spotted a shape darting away, so he yelled, “stop, or I’ll shoot!”
The shape froze and put up its’ hands, slowly turning around. It was a young human woman, blond hair, in her mid twenties, wearing a dark tattered cloak and soot stained breeches and tunic.
“Okay, don’t shoot. Are you Consortium? Are we rescued?” she asked, hands still held high.
“No, sorry, we’re not here to rescue anyone, we’re actually trying to access a terminal for some data,” he replied. “Can you help?”
“You’re not even here to help me, and you expect me to help you?” she said, and darted behind a pillar.
Kyren raised his rifle but didn’t have it in him. Instead, he called out, “just lead us to an active terminal, that’s all we need. We’ll get the Consortium to dispatch a fleet, we have connections.”
“Sure you do. I’m beginning to think you’re pirate scum, despite your appearance. Later!” she said and dashed away down a side passage.
“Shit! Follow her,” Kyren exclaimed, dashing after the young woman.
He sprinted down the hall and careened around corners as he pursued. He rounded a corner and watched as a door hissed closed behind the woman. The control panel went red.
“Dammit,” Kyren exclaimed slamming his hand into the door jamb.
“Wait, that’s an old-school keypad panel, I have an idea,” Alis said, transforming her wrench into an IR camera.
She looked through the display and saw the buttons seven, six, and four had faint marks glowing over them. Transforming the wrench yet again, she held the wrench over the panel.
“It’s some combination of seven, six, and four. I’ll run the permutations through the comp unit and apply it to the mag resonance. We should be through in no time,” she said, her claims punctuated by a click as the panel went green.
Kyren hit the button and the door whooshed open, revealing a small antechamber. He entered cautiously and found the woman standing in the center, attempting to look menacing, holding a small knife. He lowered his rifle and put out his hands
, palms up.
“I just need terminal access. Once I get that, we are gone. When we get away, we’ll contact the Consortium and they’ll dispatch a fleet.”
“I don’t believe you, but I see I’ve got no choice. You can use the terminal over there,” she barked derisively.
As Kyren glanced where she indicated, she sprinted for the room’s other exit. Benjam made to intercept but he waved him off. He could see the terminal in the corner was still active. That was what he needed. Dealing with the girl could wait.
31
The Hound
Kyren knew he had to hurry, so he ignored the fleeing young woman and focused on the task at hand, search for a method of disguise and in parallel find any information on giant robots.
“Alis, Benjam, cover the entrances,” he said, handing his rifle to Alis and turning to the console.
He began to code the search algorithm, using similar parameters for both searches to cut time. It was advanced technology he was seeking, after all. He worked for minutes, ignoring all else while he coded the search. Satisfied with his work, at least what he could muster in short order, he hit the execute button.
“Let’s hope we get some results,” he said nervously.
They waited for what felt like an eternity for the terminal to chime. Kyren quickly panned through the results.
“Alis, bring your wrench, I need to download this data,”
She punched the wrench’s control panel and it transformed into a box with a larger screen, several wire leads dangling below it. Handing it to Kyren, she paused, ears twitching.
“What?” Kyren said.
She held her finger to her lips and he went silent. He motioned to the terminal and gingerly took the rifle from her hands. She nodded and attached the leads then initiated the download.
Kyren crept to the doorway, rifle raised. Then he heard it. Footfalls and harsh, guttural language. Shit, the Crevak found them! What did that mean for Tharox? Was he dead?
No matter, they had to move, and fast. He made for the exit the woman had used, gun at the ready. Glancing back he confirmed that Alis and Benjam were on his heels, Benjam brandishing the long rifle and Alis clutching her wrench.
He led them into the maze of tunnels, navigating blindly, hoping to avoid any dead ends. Each time they had to backtrack, it put them closer to the sounds of their pursuers. How the hell were they following them? Some sort of extra-dimensional essence scanner? Who knows, maybe Alis might have an idea but it wasn’t like they could have a conversation about it.
“Dammit!” Kyren exclaimed as they turned down a dead-end corridor.
He began backtracking them, but was halted by Alis, hand up and ears locked forward.
She whispered, “coming.” Then she began to examine the corridor walls and floors. Kyren tore his attention away and took up a defensive position at the corner, covering the approach.
It wasn’t long before he too heard the footfalls, and a strange cackling sound he wasn’t familiar with. They would be upon him in moments. He hoped Alis had something up her sleeve.
“Here!” she whispered, and he heard her wrench transforming. The sounds of screws being extracted was nearly drowned out by the footfalls and the chuffing, cackling sound.
Then it came around the corner. It was a beast out of nightmares. The creature stood four feet tall at the shoulder, shaped much like a dog if that dog had unnaturally hunched, powerful shoulders and lean, strong haunches. The face was unlike any of the city mongrels Kyren had encountered on the streets of Magar City. This face was a hideous visage of multiple expansive jaws and huge razor teeth.
The creature was snuffling and cackling, but began to squeal a high pitched whine when it spotted Kyren. The handler came into view, a greasy-haired gray-faced humanoid. It was holding the chain which was looped around the beast’s neck, but dropped it the second he spotted Kyren.
Realizing he had milliseconds to act he depressed the trigger, even before aiming. Streaming sizzling blue bolts impacted with the floor, leaving great scorch marks in their wake. He kept the trigger down and walked the stream of fire toward the charging whatever-it-was.
The display on the side of his weapon lit yellow just as the burst slammed into the beast. It was thrown back by the blast and landed in a heap. He continued walking the fire toward the Crevak, but the indicator on his rifle went red. With a hiss steam vented from the ports on the side and the streams of high energy death ceased.
The Crevak handler grinned, revealing a too-large mouth filled with too many teeth, and raised his bulbous pistol. Kyren dodged back, as plasma bolts melted the wall behind him.
He looked at Alis, who was lifting a piece of floor grating away, revealing a passageway below, a ladder leading into darkness.
“Quick, down!” Alis urged.
Benjam wasted no time squiggling into the opening, disappearing into shadow. Alis pointed at the hole and gave him a commanding look. He dropped the rifle into the hole and scrambled down the ladder into shadow. Alis slid the floor panel over the tunnel and descended, the chamber lit faintly by the glow of the readout on Kyren’s rifle, a faint yellow light not even enough to illuminate the chamber walls.
Bright light filled the space as Alis lit up her laser torch, immediately going to work on the hatch, sealing it shut.
“I’m only buying us time. Once they realize we’re in the maintenance tunnels, they’ll track us again,” she explained, deactivating the laser torch.
“Oh dear, where do we go then?” Benjam said, quivering
“There should be a vertical access shaft, a large conduit containing all the utility pipes. Probably at a central location. Think you can get us there, Kyren?” Alis indicated, looking sidelong at Kyren.
“I’ll do my best but I’m not really sure where this central location could be. I can try to get us back the general direction that we came, though.”
“That’ll do,” she said, lines of determination tracing her face.
He reoriented himself and set off down the cramped passageway, climbing over pipes and under girders to reach a narrow walkway that ran the length of the long passage. They reached a “T” and Kyren turned down the right passage, rifle at the ready.
He led them through several more twists and turns before Alis touched his shoulder. Turning, he spotted her ears swiveling and bit back his question. He listened, but heard nothing.
Alis mimed talking with her hand and pointed down the way they had been heading. Kyren pointed his rifle, which had gone back to green, and Alis dimmed her light. They resumed creeping forward, Benjam squiggling along silently.
It wasn’t long before Kyren could hear the muffled sound of conversation somewhere ahead. Nerves frayed and heart pounding, he continued forward, expecting the conversation to resolve into Crevak at any time. But the closer he got, the more human the voices sounded. Relief flooded him when he recognized a male and a female voice, engaged in a heated argument.
He was nearly upon the source when he located it. There was a grate in the ceiling of the passage, or rather, a vent in the floor above. He motioned for Alis to kill the light. Faint illumination filtered down through a tight mesh grating. A ladder led up to the panel.
Kyren reached out and touched the ladder, locating it in the dark. He slowly, quietly, began to climb.
“…what do you mean “leave them”? Where are you going to go? Either we all go or no one. We made a pact,” a woman’s lilting voice said.
“Right, a pact. I’m not going to die for honor. I’m going to get out of here, and I’m taking anyone willing to go,” a man with gravel in his throat said.
“You’ll get us all killed. If you open the doors you’ll leave us all vulnerable,” she responded emotionally.
“I don’t care who has to die, I’m going to survive. Why don’t you come with me, I’ll make it worth your while,” the man said lecherously.
“You’re sick, sick in more ways than one, Crobnar,” she said vehemently.
“Sick, but I’ll be alive,” he said, as Kyren heard his footsteps receding.
If there were others here, besides the woman they had encountered earlier, then perhaps someone knew the way out, he thought. It sure sounded like this Crobnar had a way out. Not wanting to miss his opportunity, he heaved the grate aside and scrambled up.
He came face to face with the woman from earlier, wearing the soot stained white clothing and tattered dark cloak.
“You…” was all she said, a look of anger and fear upon her face.
32
The Robot
Elarra sat in the bridge on one of the consoles, her feet dangling above the floor. She was reassuring herself that she had done the right thing by revealing the vision to Kyren, but hadn’t had any more visions, so she couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t sure if she was thankful, or terrified when she felt a vision begin.
The scene shifted to an alien landscape, unrecognizable flora and fauna all around. There was a garden. A waterfall. Some strange butterflies. The pictures came in a jumble, she could barely understand.
She wasn’t sure what she was seeing, as her vision swam around a compound of low stone buildings, populated by humanoid aliens, hairless with deep blue skin. She felt drawn onward, as her vision swam down the street.
She realized the vision was beginning to slip, so she grasped at it, managing to keep the movie in her mind playing. Soon she saw Kyren and Alis come around a corner and make their way into a large amphitheater.
She watched as an alien with a haughty expression taught them hand to hand combat. The vision blurred and seemed to run in fast forward. Kyren and Alis spent some time training, but then Alis ceased to show.
