Aurora Blazing

by Jessie Mihalik

  I tried gently breaking his grip, but he was past reason. I pulled my air filtration mask down, revealing my face. “Listen to me! I’m your sister!” I hissed. I knew at least half a dozen ways to get out of this hold if I didn’t mind doing serious injury to my attacker. I hesitated, even as my throat closed.

  Strong arms pulled Ferdinand’s hands away from my neck. Ian. I smiled in relief and took a grateful breath. Ferdinand tried to turn on Ian, but Ian refused to let go of his arms. “Stop!” Ian commanded, his voice quiet but forceful. He shook Ferdinand lightly. “You’re attacking your allies. You hurt Bianca.”

  Ferdinand froze and blinked, squinting at me in the uneven light from the light stick I’d dropped. He looked so different with his shorn hair and bruised face. He made a noise, then grunted in frustration.

  I climbed to my feet. My back ached, but I tried to keep the pain off my face because Ferdinand was still watching me. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  He made more sounds, then finally opened his mouth and gestured. There was a void where his tongue should be. Shock and horror bloomed into furious, impotent rage. Someone had cut out his tongue. I clenched my fists against the need to move, to act, to somehow fix it.

  “Did Silva do this?” I asked.

  Ferdinand nodded. Ian let him go but kept a close eye on him.

  I should’ve killed Riccardo when I had the chance, promises be damned. Silva had mutilated my brother. “We will make them pay,” I promised, “but first, we need to get out of here. Are you able to walk?”

  Ferdinand grunted, then nodded. I handed him my canteen and he opened it with trembling hands. He drank the water so fast it ran down his face. Apparently the guard hadn’t been joking about dehydration.

  I turned and retrieved my blaster while Ian crouched and fiddled with Ferdinand’s shackle. The metal opened with a screech. Ian turned to the remaining four people. “I am going to release you. Do not make me regret the decision.”

  The three who were responsive agreed instantly. “Take us with you,” the young woman pleaded.

  “We can’t protect you,” I said. “You’d be fodder.”

  “But you’ll protect him?”

  I tried to cut her some slack because she’d had a shitty few days at the very least, but her tone grated on me. “He’s my brother, so yes, I’ll protect him,” I snapped.

  Her eyes rounded and she clamped her mouth shut.

  I caught a message meant for Rivers’s com, asking about his status. “They’re going to know the guard is down in about ten seconds,” I told Ian. “We need to move.”

  He unshackled the remaining prisoners. The young woman and the middle-aged man shared a look. “Try it and I’ll leave you down here,” Ian said mildly.

  They lunged for the lift.

  Ian sighed and almost casually hit each of them with the stunstick. They went down with matching screams. The third person, a young man, stood frozen.

  Ferdinand moved like someone in pain. He favored his left leg, but he didn’t ask for help, he just hobbled to the lift. Ian gestured the remaining young man in with us. It was a tight fit, but the four of us made it to the top of the pit. After we exited the cage, Ian hesitated for a second, then sent the lift back down.

  “Do you think they’ll bring up the unconscious person?” I asked.

  “It’s on their conscience if they don’t,” he said. He turned to the unnamed young man with us. “Wait five minutes, then follow us. We’ll make enough chaos that you might be able to slip out.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t want out. There’s nothing for me out there. I just want to go back to my usual work group. They never get in me trouble.” He cast a bitter glance at Ferdinand.

  I opened my mouth to argue, but then closed it without saying anything. If the kid came with us, he’d likely end up dead. Perhaps he was making the smarter choice.

  “Five minutes,” Ian reiterated. “Faster if the others come up before then, but I don’t think they will.”

  “Wait,” I said. “How do they get the ore out? They can’t take it up the way we came down. Is there another way out?”

  The young man shook his head. “Not unless you want to be liquefied first. They process it down here then pump it up in pipes. I don’t know of any other exits.”

  Damn. It looked like we were going back up the way we’d come down.

  Ian led us to the square room. The two guards were dead at the table, slumped over in their chairs. I couldn’t see any blaster wounds, but their heads were at odd angles on their necks. I made myself look at the carnage, to acknowledge that these deaths were on my conscience.

  I helped Ian search the cabinets on the far wall. We came up with three more blast pistols, a pair of stunsticks, and a few smaller light sticks. Ferdinand and I each got a blaster and a stunstick. I would’ve liked a long gun with a shotgun setting, but the universe didn’t feel compelled to comply.

  “Strip,” Ian said to me. “The woman’s clothes will be too big, but it’s better than what you have now.” He peeled off his outer shirt. Apparently we were both getting a wardrobe change.

  I tried not to think too hard about what I was doing as I stripped a dead woman of her clothes and equipment. Revulsion welled, but I forced it down. I’d said I would do anything for my brother and it was still true. I didn’t have to like it, I just had to do it.

  I tucked the too long pants into my boots and cinched the belt tight around my waist, thanks to a new hole courtesy of the dead woman’s knife. Deciding now was no time to be squeamish, I carefully removed her hair tie and pulled my own hair into a high ponytail. I dropped my air filtration mask next to her body. Gone was any trace of the MineCorp corporate drone who had come through earlier.

  Ian looked the part in his Rockhurst uniform. The shirt was a little tight across his shoulders, but it was convincing enough from a distance. He’d also ditched his mask. With Ferdinand still in his mining clothes, Ian and I were just two soldiers escorting an injured mine worker, a common enough sight.

  After we were properly clothed and equipped, Ian wrapped Ferdinand’s arm over his shoulder and started into the complicated, twisting maze of tunnels between us and freedom.

  Chapter 25

  Ferdinand leaned heavily against Ian’s side and grunted with every step. We had to take the elevators or Ferdinand was done. He couldn’t climb three kilometers of stairs.

  Ian stopped just before the main tunnel.

  The wireless signals had been surprisingly quiet. Either that, or we’d been out of range. I had no idea what was going on ahead of us. Had they already created a blockade?

  “Do you have a plan to get us through the checkpoints?” I asked Ian. Identity chips only worked if the person with the chip was alive, so we couldn’t kill a soldier and chop off an arm. I didn’t know how many explosives Ian had brought, but certainly it wasn’t enough for the vast number of checkpoints we had to go through on the way back up.

  “I’ve got a codebreaker,” he said. “The bigger problems are the number of soldiers between us and the elevator and the lack of cover.”

  “I’ve got my shielding cuff. It’s good for around eight deflections if they’re using pistols. If they’re using long guns, then the protection drops fast.”

  “I also have a von Hasenberg prototype shield. Ideally, we’d save them until we reach the surface,” Ian said. “Until then we’ll have to rely on speed and shock.”

  I glanced at Ferdinand. He was barely standing. He was a few centimeters shorter than Ian, but he was solidly built. I might be able to carry him for a short distance if Ian helped me get him over my shoulders.

  Ian caught the direction of my gaze. “I’ll carry him,” he said. Ferdinand made an indignant noise, but Ian overrode him. “You can barely walk and you expect me to believe you can run for several kilometers?” Ian asked. “Your sister’s life is on the line. Swallow your pride and deal with it.”

  Ferdinand bowed his head and nodded.

&nb
sp; “We run for the first checkpoint, shouting about a medical emergency,” Ian said. “If they open the gate, we get through before we start shooting. If not, you apply the codebreaker while I shoot.” He handed me the com-sized device he’d pulled from his belly pack. “After that, keep moving and keep shooting. I’m going to seal the gates behind us.”

  As far as plans went, it was pretty thin, but we were on a short time line and trapped in the ground with a military base above us. It would have to do.

  Ian and Ferdinand tried various carry positions until Ian decided that a fireman’s carry with Ferdinand over his shoulders gave him the best balance and mobility. It was less comfortable for Ferdinand, but he just clenched his jaw and held on.

  As we neared the main tunnel, the wireless signals picked up. Apparently the tunnel to the pit hadn’t been deemed a high enough priority for repeaters for the whole length.

  I pulled Ian to a stop as I listened in. Pain spiked down my spine, but there were few enough signals that I could endure it. A four-person fire team was on the way down to retrieve us. They were still on the first level. Our level was on lockdown. The soldiers supervising miners were told to stay in place and report any unusual movement.

  “They’re on lockdown,” I said. “They won’t believe a medical emergency.”

  Ian’s mouth firmed into a grim line. “I’ll activate my shield. We’ll go in shooting.” He pulled out a small silver disc about three centimeters tall and eight centimeters across. He clicked the button in the middle, then clipped it to his belt. “I’ll provide cover and a distraction while you use the codebreaker. Can you stop their transmissions?”

  “No.” But right now, I wished I could.

  “Then speed remains our first priority. Ready?”

  Nerves and adrenaline made a toxic soup in my belly, but I nodded anyway.

  Ian broke into an easy jog for the final meters of our tunnel, then we were in the main tunnel. He shot the soldier at the first checkpoint, a perfect head shot, before I realized he was shooting.

  I snapped out of my shock and ran for the control panel. I attached the codebreaker and hit the override button. While the codebreaker worked, I popped up and looked for a target, but Ian shot them before I could aim.

  An avalanche of wireless signals drove a pike through my skull. I looked at a few, but they were all calling for emergency backup while the people up above tried to figure out what was happening. They deployed a new squad to send down and told the fire team to haul ass.

  The gate unlocked with a click. I pulled the codebreaker free, then provided covering fire while Ian opened the gate. He put a strip of insta-weld compound on the closing mechanism, then firmly pulled it closed behind us. Now we had to move forward or die here.

  I shot a female soldier as she peeked out of one of the side rooms. She fell with a scream. Ian ducked into the guard station and slammed a hand into the emergency lockdown control. Doors banged closed and another burst of wireless signals flew through the air.

  Ian grabbed a blaster from a downed soldier and tucked it into his waistband. The doors to the various side rooms remained closed as we advanced. They were solid metal, so I couldn’t see inside, but I kept a wary eye on them.

  I attached the codebreaker to the second control panel. The soldiers at the far end of the tunnel had finally organized. Blaster bolts sailed our way and Ian’s shield took a number of hits. But without the ability to duck into the side rooms for cover, they had no escape from Ian. He methodically shot them down.

  His face was a mask of icy calm and I worried about the price his soul was paying in order to help me. The gate clicked open, faster this time. The codebreaker had figured out the pattern.

  We moved through the gate and into the soldiers’ section of the level. Ian sealed the gate closed behind us. A door on my right opened and I shot the soldier before I could think about it. The man behind him clipped my left arm with a bolt before Ian put him on the ground. I flexed my left hand. Searing pain accompanied the movement, but my hand still worked. Good enough.

  The soldiers could open the doors in this section from the inside, but I guess they didn’t want to give the miners the ability to open the doors in their section during lockdown. It was hard to quell an uprising if those rising up could let themselves out.

  I counted five soldiers down in this part of the hallway. At least two were down beyond the next gate. How many were left?

  We dashed to the final checkpoint and I put the codebreaker to work. Ian watched our backs, but the hallway was eerily silent. The wireless signals were still flying fast and furious, but most of them were coming down from command. A few soldiers trapped deeper in the mine with the miners were requesting an override to the lockdown.

  The gate clicked open and we were through to the elevators. The control panel was illuminated red and nothing happened when I pressed the call button.

  “Don’t bother,” Ian said. “They won’t work under lockdown and even the codebreaker won’t be able to override it.”

  I stared at the stairwell door. We were three kilometers underground, which was likely over nine hundred floors. If a typical floor had fifteen steps, there were—I did some quick mental math—over thirteen thousand steps between me and the surface.

  “I don’t think I can do the stairs,” I said. “I’ll give it a shot, but I want you to promise to leave me behind if I can’t keep up.”

  Ian grinned at me and some of his iciness melted. “I appreciate your honesty, but we’re not taking the stairs quite yet. Hopefully. Help me get the elevator door open.” He put Ferdinand down and leaned him against the wall. He handed him a blaster. “Shoot anything that moves in the hallway.”

  Ferdinand nodded shakily.

  I wedged a combat knife in the sliver of space between the doors. Ian pulled them a few centimeters apart then ran into resistance. He strained, his arms flexing, and I heard metal snap. The door opened to reveal an empty space where the elevator car should be.

  The elevator shaft was dark and silent and the air was calm. Still, Ian carefully glanced up, checking to make sure he wasn’t about to be flattened by a descending car. “Stay here and keep the door open,” he said. Before I could protest, he hopped down into the shaft. The top of his head was below the door level.

  The elevator car to the right was also missing, but the car to the left was in place. Ian slid between the left two tracks and scaled the elevator car with an ease that never ceased to amaze me. He disappeared from view and a few seconds later, the car moved upward.

  “Ian!”

  The car moved down far enough that I could see Ian standing on top of it. “I hope you’re not afraid of heights,” he said with a grin.

  Heights didn’t usually bother me but I had a feeling that standing on top of an elevator car in a shaft that was nearly a kilometer deep was going to test that truth before all was said and done.

  “Let the door go and I’ll open this one for you. Can you help Ferdinand over so I can grab him?”

  I agreed and let the door go. It refused to close completely. By the time I’d helped Ferdinand hobble two doors over, Ian was waiting for us. The elevator car was half below the door, leaving a meter-long gap at the top. My brain gave me a vivid image of what would happen if the car moved upward while I was pulling myself through that gap.

  Ian hauled Ferdinand up first while I kept a wary eye on the hallway. “Give me your hands,” Ian said.

  I tucked the blaster in my belt and raised my arms. Ian grabbed me around the wrists and lifted me easily. Sharp pain lanced up my left arm from the blaster graze, but the bleeding had already stopped thanks to my nanos doing their job.

  The top of the elevator had a short safety rail around the three sides away from the wall and a control box with a few manual switches. Ferdinand sat next to the controls in the middle of the car.

  “How did you know about this?” I asked.

  “I had an adventurous childhood, remember?”

 
; Perhaps, but I’d been trained to break into buildings and didn’t remember anyone mentioning that elevators had manual controls on top. Or had they? I frowned as I searched my less than stellar memory.

  Ian drew me closer to the center of the elevator car. “Stay away from the edges,” he said. I nodded my agreement, still trying to remember if I’d ever learned about elevators.

  Ian pressed and held a button on the control panel. We moved upward with stomach-dropping swiftness. The bottom of the shaft fell away with alarming speed. I crouched down, then when that didn’t feel stable enough, sat on the roof of the elevator car, as close to the center as I could get.

  Ian laughed. “It’s disconcerting at first,” he said, “but it’ll get better once you’re used to it.”

  I’d take his word for it. Thanks to the smart glasses I could see, but I wasn’t sure that was actually a positive in this case. The frame holding the elevator tracks flashed by, punctuated every few seconds with an ominous creaking, grinding noise.

  Ian glanced around, checked on Ferdinand, and looked up, waiting for the ceiling to come into view.

  In a pitch-dark tunnel. Without smart glasses.

  “You can see,” I breathed.

  Ian cut a glance at me, then Ferdinand, but my brother hadn’t heard me. Yet Ian had. He nodded once, sharply.

  I bit my lip to stem the tide of questions I wanted to ask.

  We rode in silence for the rest of the trip. It took nearly fifteen minutes to reach the top. Ian stopped the car with our platform level with the bottom of the door. I’d lost signals during the trip, but now I could once again feel messages pressing against my skull.

  “The soldiers are still on the first mine level,” I said. “Command pulled the fire team back and now it sounds like they’re planning an ambush. At least two teams, probably a fire team and a squad, so at least twelve soldiers. They are trying to capture us alive.”

  The three of us versus twelve of them in fortified positions was not good odds, even if they weren’t shooting to kill. Ian must’ve decided the same thing because he was back to looking grim. He cracked open the door and surveyed the hallway beyond before opening it all the way.