City Of Phase

by George Willson

  The alley was empty from end to end with only the sounds of the rain overhead and the occasional vehicle passing by at one end or the other breaking the silence.

  “So if Halloway has his building guarded?” Blake asked wanting to be ready for whatever lay before them.

  “No ‘if’ to it,” Hector said confidently. “I’d be surprised if he didn’t call ahead to have someone meet us there.”

  “Seems like this is less of a risk and more of a certain loss,” Blake said. “If you’re certain he’s guarded, do you have a plan for getting in?”

  “Whether it’s a loss or not, if there were any other options, they went down with Gerard,” Hector said. “I’m out of ideas.”

  “I guess we’re stuck,” Perry said.

  “Well, while we’re stuck with Hector’s idea,” Blake said encouragingly, “we still have our wits about us when it comes to not getting caught again. That would mean certain doom, since Halloway wouldn’t hesitate to toss us both in the city rather than risk us escaping again. He doesn’t want our tech that bad.”

  They reached the end of the alley, and Hector pointed out a red brick building across the street that was not as patchwork as some of the others around them and six stories tall. It was very wide with at least a dozen windows across the front set probably three feet apart. Down the alley side of the building appeared to be a series of fire escapes attached to each set of windows top to bottom going at least halfway down the alley. It appeared to be the largest and most structurally sound building they had seen so far in this part of town.

  “He lives on the top floor,” Hector said.

  “The whole floor?” Perry asked, surprised.

  “Yes,” Hector replied. “He just bought it with what he had at the time. Back then, it was a big deal, but no one cares now.” It certainly went a long way to explaining why the building looked so well made.

  “Top floor means we can’t just hop through a window,” Blake said. “We have to be a little more discreet about it. We can be certain that entering through the front door or some other way that uses the standard elevator or stairwell is out.”

  “I don’t see anyone standing outside,” Perry said, observing the quiet street before them. There was a vehicle or two parked on the side of the street, but nothing that screamed government. There was no one standing by the door trying to look inconspicuous either. Blake shrugged.

  “They won’t stand outside,” Blake said figuring they would be just inside the door so as to not draw attention to themselves and trap anyone who came in.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t just waiting in his apartment for us to show up,” Hector suggested. Blake finally realized how much like a crackpot conspiracy theory this all sounded, and he shot a skeptical look at Hector. Hector looked hungry to get going, though that could have been the loss of blood. Blake looked back to the street before them, and really wondered if Halloway would bother. After all, the further they were from Carburast, the less of a problem they might be to him.

  “You really think they would?” Blake asked him doubtfully.

  “Yup,” Hector replied without hesitation. Blake sighed and turned back to look at the apparently harmless building. Everything within him said that there was no problem here, but sometimes, things were not as they seemed, so he was willing to trust Hector on his own planet.

  “Well, I guess that makes it easy then,” he shrugged.

  “How?” Perry asked.

  “Looking at the building,” Blake said, taking the angle that there was some kind of danger here, “I see two very clear ways in. The first is on the ground floor to access the room from the inside. But since we could have visitors inside to give us some trouble…” He pointed to the metal balconies and stairways of the fire escapes in the alley next to the building. “The second is the fire escape. Just get to the ladder, climb up to a window and knock.”

  “And if they’re inside already?” Perry asked.

  “We’ll have to face them either way,” Blake said. “I would bet they’d expect us to be as reckless as we have been, and come in the front door. They’re likely sitting in there right now, if they’re anywhere. That leaves the window. But if they’re waiting inside the room, then they may expect us to come in the window.”

  “So it’s a no win situation,” Perry said.

  “We’ve had worse,” Blake said. “Best to go for the window all the same.”

  “I’ll just follow you,” Hector said, deferring the authority to Blake. He felt this was very similar to how Gerard had handled the power plant situation where he brought Blake and Perry to the location, and then backed off to let him do the actual strategic heavy lifting. It really was no wonder they had gotten nowhere in their plans when they seemed to be all plan and no action.

  “Then let’s go,” Blake said. The rain started coming down a little harder as they cautiously peeked out of the alley to check one more time for any prying eyes before they emerged from the alley and ran across the street getting thoroughly soaked by the rain. As soon as they entered the alley next to their target, the buildings blocked the rain again. Perry shook some of the water from his clothes.

  “Rain,” he commented. “A universal constant.”

  “Earth-like world, Earth-like conditions,” Blake said. “With all the vegetation we’ve seen, the rain should come as no surprise.”

  “Doesn’t mean I like getting all wet,” Perry said.

  “At least you didn’t pick wool,” Blake said indicating his overcoat, which had kept him comfortable in the moderate temperatures up to this point. Now, it was just heavy, and he was grateful that his scanner and lockpick were waterproof.

  “Your home is just like ours?” Hector asked.

  “Mostly,” Perry said.

  “From what we’ve seen of it so far, it is very similar,” Blake said looking up at the fire escape over his head. The ladder was up, just like they normally were on Earth as well, and just out of reach. As he had said, “very similar.”

  “Give me a lift?” Blake asked Perry. Perry knelt down and clasped his fingers together, nodding to Blake when he was ready. Blake stepped into Perry’s clasped hands and jumped as Perry pushed upward. He caught the bottom of the ladder with his hands. The ladder gave way, and he was able to pull it down.

  “Too easy so far,” Blake said noting how uneasy that made him feel.

  “Figures,” Perry said, echoing his sentiment. Blake looked back to Hector, still cradling his injured arm.

  “You going to be able to climb all right?” Blake asked him. Hector looked at him, momentarily confused, but then glanced at his arm.

  “Oh yes,” Hector nodded. “No problem.”

  Blake nodded and climbed up to the first landing and looked back for his companions. Perry had gestured for Hector to go first, so he was on his way up followed by Perry. Blake continued up the fire escape level by level followed by Hector and Perry until they reached the stairway to the sixth floor landing where they stopped. There was a curtain drawn on the window there, so they were unable to see inside immediately, but the lights were on. At this level, the rain was no longer entirely blocked by the buildings, so they were getting wet again.

  “What if he’s not home?” Perry asked.

  “As in they might have carted him away already?” Blake asked.

  “The lights are on,” Hector pointed out.

  “Doesn’t mean anything,” Blake said.

  “Well, they wouldn’t have taken him away,” Hector said. “While most people have forgotten about the city, any disturbance around Doctor Velata, and the media goes crazy.”

  “So they keep a low profile,” Blake said.

  “Yup,” Hector confirmed. Blake considered this for a moment, but parts of it still sounded more like a conspiracy theory than actual fact.

  “So, we have this city in the middle of nowhere that made a shield that made them all disappear ten years ago,” Blake said. “We have one of the head minds of
the shield right here. No one cares about the city anymore, so the government uses it as a prison. Yet, if this scientist, who disappeared from the public eye in disgrace also ten years ago, is accosted in any way, there’s a frenzy about it?”

  “Exactly,” Hector said.

  “Something about that doesn’t add up,” Blake said. He looked back up at the window, and wished that, perhaps, they had surveyed this more completely. The building next to them was fairly close and the sixth floor window was wide open to an empty hall meaning that they could have simply walked into the unmonitored building and probably looked straight across into the window to see what was there before climbing up to it.

  “Well?” Hector asked.

  “Let me see what I can see in there,” Blake said. He slinked up the fire escape the rest of the way to position himself under the window. He peeked over the edge of the window sill and looked through the gap in the curtains.

  He saw a well appointed living room with a couch, end tables, and chair, in which an older man sat watching a flat viewscreen like a television. The walls and floors were all coordinated and what he could see of the place looked like it had been done by a professional interior decorator. The old man had tufts of white hair on the sides of his head with none on top and wore glasses. A dark shadow obscured the light coming out the window and Blake ducked back. Someone else was in there with Velata and stood at the window.

  Blake looked back to Hector and Perry who looked anxious to move, but he gestured for them to stay where they were. He wanted to see if he could get a look at this person still filling the window with his shadow. After what felt like an eternity, the shadow moved, and Blake felt like he could risk another look to assess whether they could get in there or not.

  He wiped the rain from his face and slowly turned to look back in the window. He was shocked to find himself eye to eye with a huge, bald-headed man staring angrily back at him. The person who had created the shadow moments earlier had merely knelt down to see who was looking in the window, and the close view caught Blake completely off guard. He barely had time to think before the large man threw the window open, grabbed Blake by the shirt, and swung him inside the apartment to land on his back on the floor, knocking the wind out of him. Doctor Velata jumped out of his chair, surprised, and backed away from the unexpected visitor as the large man held Blake firmly on the floor. The man was dressed as one might expect from a government operative or bodyguard: black suit and tie with a white shirt and he was huge in stature.

  “State your business!” the large man barked.

  “Well, you know,” Blake staggered through his words, “just paying the good doctor a visit in the least convenient way possible. Wouldn’t you?” The man clearly did not appreciate Blake’s sense of humor and pulled Blake up by his shirt closer to his face to say something else, but before he could say anything, Hector and Perry bounded through the window behind him.

  “Let him go,” Hector said as threateningly as possible. The man turned to look at the average-sized and wounded Hector next to the equally average-sized Perry behind him, both looking even less threatening considering the rain had thoroughly soaked them. He appeared to assess their threat level in an instant by looking between them, and then scoffed.

  “Or what?” he asked. Blake took the moment of distraction to recall the most ideal pressure point on a man’s neck to disable him, reached up, pressed the nerve, and the large man’s eyes rolled back in his head before he fell to the floor. Blake jumped to his feet looking over his victory.

  “What was that?” Hector asked, surprised.

  “Pressure point,” Blake said nonchalantly. The man groaned and tried to rise back to his feet, but Perry pushed him back down.

  “Stay where you are,” Perry warned. They looked over to Doctor Velata, who only continued to stare at him, clearly angry.

  “Doctor Velata, I presume?” Blake asked.

  “May I ask what you’re doing here?” Velata demanded.

  “We need to talk to you,” Hector said desperately.

  “And what kind of an entrance is this?” Velata demanded.

  “We were afraid the military was watching you,” Hector said with considerably less conviction in his voice than he had ever had while explaining it to Blake earlier.

  “I know you,” Velata said eyeing Hector closely. “Hector, isn’t it? You and that lad, Gerard something. You were always coming around here. Asking about Carburast. Couldn’t let it go.”

  “Are you in danger?” Hector asked.

  “Of course not,” Velata said as he pushed past them to the man on the floor that Perry was standing over. He knelt next to him and touched his back.

  “Are you all right?” The man nodded unsteadily. “Come on,” Velata encouraged. “Up with you then.” He helped the man to his feet, and once up, he nodded and waved Velata off smoothing out his clothes with more than a little humility.

  “So he’s not holding you hostage then?” Blake asked, knowing the answer.

  “Why would he?” Velata asked. “He’s my protection.”

  “Protection from?” Blake asked.

  “Idiots like you,” Velata sniped. Blake nodded, and it all made sense again. Hector was desperate to turn off the shield in Carburast, just as Gerard was, and they did whatever they could to learn what they needed to know. Over time, they simply believed whatever they needed to believe that fit with their ideals, including the idea that Velata was important to Halloway, when in fact, Halloway probably did not care in the least about the old scientist. He could admit that Halloway was not interested in shutting down the phase shield, but they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble and rain by simply walking in the front door and knocking.

  “Now if you’ll excuse me,” Velata continued, “I was in the middle of a program.” He pushed past Blake and walked to his chair. Blake turned to look at Hector, this time with the truth in his mind, and Hector looked like a child caught in a lie.

  “How was I supposed to know?” Hector shrugged. Blake thought a little logic might have gone a long way in knowing this, but at the same time, Hector was trying to save his family. Such ties tended to obscure reason, so he thought it best to just let it go and move forward with what they needed. After all, Hector had brought them to someone intimately involved with the creation of the phase shield and might have some kind of idea as to what they should do next. He walked to Velata’s chair and knelt beside it. Velata ignored him.

  “Please excuse our intrusion, sir,” Blake said politely. “I am actually the one in need of assistance, and I guess my guide is a bit overzealous.”

  “Always has been,” Velata scoffed with a cold glance to Hector. Hector averted his eyes in shame.

  “Point is,” Blake continued, “we do need to get to wherever that phase shield is located and shut it down.”

  Velata’s reaction was expected. He picked up a remote control from the side of his chair and turned off his screen. He turned to look at Blake as if Blake had said the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, and considering the effect Carburast has on anyone who enters it, this was reasonable. Blake only looked back at him with unwavering conviction.

  “No,” Velata finally said, shaking his head. He turned his screen back on and seemed intent on ignoring them.

  “Please,” Blake begged.

  “I will not have someone risking their freedom for some foolhardy task,” Velata said.

  “Our friend is trapped in there,” Perry said.

  “A lot of people’s friends are trapped,” Velata snapped back, losing his cool. “Family too. You think I wouldn’t jump at the chance to get them out? You think I’m just blowing you off because I feel some streak of cruelty? No, this is pity. I don’t appreciate the way you barged in here and roughed up my friend, and I’m sure he’d like to toss you right back out that window onto your heads, and I’ve half a mind to let him to knock some sense into you.” They turned momentarily to look at the bodyguard who smiled to show
he would be more than happy to handle this.

  “But to condemn someone to Carburast is beyond cruel,” Velata finished. “I won’t help you.” He turned back to his program.

  “Will you hear me out?” Blake asked.

  “No,” Velata said. “This discussion is over.”

  “Please,” Blake said again as the bodyguard moved to corral them toward the door. “We’re not from here.”

  “I don’t care,” Velata said.

  “No, I mean not from this planet.”

  Velata paused for a moment, considering what Blake had said, but then shook his head. “That really doesn’t matter, even if it were possible.”

  “We have a temporary immunity against the phasing effect,” Blake called out as the bodyguard backed them against the wall next to the door. “It might give us enough time if we can get close enough.” The bodyguard opened the door, and Blake noticed that Velata had stopped watching his program and was looking at Blake, caught off guard by Blake’s declaration.

  “We’re not asking you to go,” Blake said. “Just tell us what to do when we get there.”

  The bodyguard pushed them out the door, gave a hasty, “Don’t have a nice day,” and then slammed the door in their faces.

  The lobby area of Velata’s apartment was every bit as nice as his home, and appeared to have the same interior decorator. They walked to the elevator, but instead of a button, there was only a keyhole. Blake sighed.

  “Electronic lockpick?” Perry asked.

  “We’ll just take the stairs,” Blake sighed. “It’ll give us time to think.” They reached the stairwell which started on the outer wall of the building next to a window that looked into the alley in the back from where they started and walked down single file. Collectively, they were all left with one thought: now what?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Three steps forward and two steps back. It seemed that with every step they managed to complete here, they were always left with a sense of wondering what to do next. Most of the time, Blake was able to get at least an idea of where to go, but this world continued to evade every attempt he made to progress. Hector was so certain that Doctor Velata was the answer to their problem that when the old man turned them way, it felt that much more disheartening. With one more setback under their belts, each step in the stairwell leading down and out of Velata’s building felt like an eternity, but at the same time, they were not in any hurry.