“It won’t just be the elevator,” Finn says. “My guess is the entire underground network is in the dark.”
“Then I will illuminate the entire network,” I say smiling. “They know that I can do that, so they’re not trying to blind us. It’s something else.”
We’re on Level 5 now, a few more seconds before we reach Level 6 and all hell breaks loose. A few more seconds before I am in the same area as Damian, breathing the same air he breathes.
The door opens. My heart skips a beat. I thrust a bright beam of light ahead of us as we step out into the unknown. I lock the elevator in its spot to block access from the higher levels. The only other elevator that can get down to Level 6 is on the opposite side of the plantation, several miles away.
At first, all we see is a huge room with brick walls. There are desks in a row across one wall, a control panel on the other with numerous switches and blinking lights. In the back there’s a big screen showing a stream of images, mostly images of children at work on plantations. They practice martial arts, attend seminars, eat in the common areas, clean floors, listen to instructors.
Then the images turn into a moving film. A choir of children begin to sing a song from the old times, a song I have heard somewhere before.
Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.
The singing gets louder and louder and the whole thing feels like a nightmare. A sadistic joke to have this odd film of singing children play over and over in the horrid underworld that the aliens have created. To have human children singing the songs of those that came long before them, those that were born free, in a mausoleum where all freedom has been erased and crushed like a cockroach.
We walk cautiously, keeping our eyes on the sliding doors underneath the screen, the doors that lead to Sector C where Retrieved Sliman are kept. Then the song stops, the screen goes black and the sliding doors open with a loud screech.
A pack of Sliman come out running with their weapons in hand. I shoot energy blasts but they bounce right off them. It takes me a second to realize they have a shield around them, just like we do.
I see the alien out of the corner of my eye. He walks to the left of the pack of Sliman, receptor in hand. He’s all shriveled up, his face is covered by a gray veil, his long fingernails are sharp like eagle claws. He must have some nerve if he thinks he can beat me at this game.
I turn the receptor against the shield and attack it with huge waves of energy. I know I can’t afford to spare too much, I need to keep as much strength in me as I can if we are to get out of here, but right now there seems to be no alternative. I must create a hole in the shield. A small crack is all I need.
The alien fights back with equal ferocity keeping the shield in place. I shoot my blasts in big circles as if trying to break down his entire energy field. What I really want is for the alien to worry about the big picture and leave me a small window for action.
The Sliman are moving toward us in long strides.
“Finn,” I call out. “As soon as I have an opening, I’ll jump inside the shield. You’ll be on your own. Time to use your toys.”
“What?” he says but I have no time to respond. I’ve managed to open a little hole in the alien’s shield and I direct my whole energy to that small crack. I start running toward the Sliman which confuses them as much as it confuses the alien. By the time I reach them, the hole is just big enough for me to go right through it.
Once I’m inside, I slow down a bit but keep on moving around. I grab hands and necks and any other exposed parts I can see letting my energy go through the Sliman skin.
“You love me,” I say. “You have to protect me.”
The alien realizes what I’m doing a little faster than I expected. He breaks the shield and turns the receptor on me. The beam hits me across the back and penetrates my ribs. I feel a terrible pain run through my body and struggle to get my own receptor going.
The Sliman stare at me unable to harm me or go against the alien. Their loyalty is split. Their minds confused. They’re useless to me.
I start to think this could be my end but I know better than to underestimate Finn. As I fall to my knees, I see him fly over my head holding the magnetic knife with his teeth. He lands squarely in front of the alien and flips the knife quickly at the alien’s chest.
The energy flow that was killing me suddenly switches angle and deflects Finn’s knife away.
“Finn,” I yell as the alien blasts Finn back against a wall.
I spin on the ground and lift my hand weakly. I manage to cut through the unguarded alien’s throat with a red beam of hate. His neckless head rolls off his shoulders as all parts of him drop to the ground.
Finn coughs painfully by the wall. I try my new trick, healing myself. The white light reduces the shooting pain in my ribs and shoulder blades to dull aches. I run over to Finn as fast as I can.
I pull his shirt open despite his protests. There’s no gushing wound, no trickling blood, just a nasty bruise that covers his entire chest and stomach.
“This will hurt like hell,” I say.
“We’re in the right place,” he tries to joke and then grinds his teeth.
The pack of twenty Sliman make a docile audience as Finn trembles and moans while the white light fuses his broken ribs.
“Sorry, boys,” I say pulling Finn up onto his feet. “You’ll have to learn to live without me.”
“Maybe we should take them with us,” Finn suggests as he catches the breath he had been holding.
I shake my head. “No, thanks. I have enough boy problems.”
We rush through the sliding doors and bump casually into two more Sliman guards. We all exchange confused looks before I bounce them off the wall and into dreamland.
Sector C is located at the end of the corridor we’re running through. I spot the big metallic door from a distance and will it to open. A new horde of Sliman stand ready inside. With no shield for protection I almost feel sorry for them, but I quickly realize these are no ordinary Sliman. They spread out and run at us in staggered waves. My energy blasts can only target groups of them instead of the whole pack.
Finn’s pulse gun takes care of any I’ve missed including one who ran up the wall to dive onto me. I step back quickly but the Sliman that Finn killed still hits the ground and rolls into my legs.
“Thanks,” I say to Finn as I kick the last dead Sliman off my feet. He slides his gun back into one of his many holsters. I’m happy he feels more useful now. Finn’s the best of the Saviors.
There are several doors in a row left and right in Sector C. Finn reads the map quickly and walks to the fourth door on the left with deliberate steps.
I follow him and take a deep breath as I read the sign. “RSW Cell.”
Retrieved Sliman Warriors, our target. I punch the door open with a quick pulse of blue. We feel a shivering cold blow out from the cell. I shiver in my body and soul.
We step inside. Three Sliman shackled to the back wall have been beaten to death’s doorstep. I can feel their dying life forces struggling inside me. They have been there awhile. Their Sliman musculature has melted away to skin and bones. Instead of clothes they wear cuts and bruises and burns all over their bodies.
None of them even bother to lift their heads to see who has entered. Frost covers their lips and hair and eyebrows. The stench is almost unbearable. I search frantically left and right for Damian.
“Maybe they moved him to Sector K,” Finn says. “For take-off.”
I nod. I don’t have the courage to say anything. I don’t have the courage to think of possibilities or explanations. If he’s been through this, I can’t imagine he’s survived and if his body has survived, surely his spirit has not.
I follow Finn as he tries to make his way to Sector K. We cross a steel bridge over a river of reeking sludge. We go through multiple doors and climb stairs. It takes ten minutes to get to our de
stination. I’m in a trance, relying on Finn to figure out our next move.
Sector K – or what is supposed to be Sector K – is a vast, empty, horribly humid expanse of dried mud, dust and debris.
“This place is completely abandoned,” I say.
“There must be something we’ve missed,” Finn says. “Maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere. Stay here, I’ll retrace our steps.”
“It’s dangerous without the shield,” I say.
“I will be fine,” he reassures me. “I’ve been running with Rabbit. I’ll be very quick. They’ll never catch me. Look around the place a bit, maybe you’ll find something.”
He leaves me alone with my thoughts. It’s never a good thing for me to be left alone. My thoughts fall into darkness. I make a quick, impatient movement with my head to clear it up. I walk around Sector K examining the humid walls and the dirty ground. I can’t find a shred of evidence that would renew my hopes of finding Damian alive.
I squeeze the receptor and shed a column of amber light in front of me. I step inside the light and let it shower me. I need to relax and focus.
Then I hear his voice calling my name. “Freya.”
I turn slowly, unable to believe or understand what I know to be true. I see him stand a few feet away from me and my amber light, clad in black pants and a crimson cloak with a silver hood. He looks dashing in his new attire, stunningly handsome like he has been reborn into a magical wellness. At the same time, he looks strangely unhealthy, older, as if he has had to carry a huge burden on his shoulders that weighs him down.
“Damian!” I say. “What are you doing? What have they done to you?”
His expression is severe and emotionless. “Why are you here, Freya?”
“I came to get you. To take you back to the Saviors. Back to me,” I mumble and feel my knees getting weaker.
He shakes his head. “You have to leave,” he says. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“What do you mean? You can’t mean that you want to stay here?”
“Go back, Freya. This is where I belong.”
Maybe this is a nightmare after all. If I can open my eyes, it will all be over. I will be back at the underground base with Damian next to me.
“Have they threatened you? Whatever it is, we can fix it,” I say.
“When word came out that you had broken into the plantation, I didn’t believe it. I thought not even you could be that reckless,” he says. “I guess I was wrong.”
“You would have done the same.”
“Would I? I don’t share your certainty nor your power.”
“Stop it!” I yell at him. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, but you can stop now. I’m in control. We’ll get out of here and they’ll never reach us again. I can’t lose you a second time. You have to come back to me, Damian.”
He locks his eyes with mine. “Whatever it was that I felt for you at some point,” he says, “it’s gone now. There’s nothing left in me for you. It was drawn out of me. My DNA has been cleared, my blood is pure again. I don’t have to respond to your touch. I’m cured.”
His words hit me like sharp arrows. Why do they have such power over me? Why is this hurt so overwhelming?
“You don’t love me anymore,” I say.
“No,” he says without blinking an eye.
Something like the death jolt strikes me. There are other deaths in the life force I realize, ones that the white light can’t heal.
“Okay. No love for me,” I manage to say. “You don’t want to come back for me, I understand that. What about your child? His heart beats inside me. Will you run away from him, too?”
His response is not so quick now. My words have confused him. He struggles with his own thoughts, his own emotions. The new creature that now lives inside him is not in total control.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he manages to say.
I go to him, grab his hand and place it on my stomach.
“There,” I say, “Your child is inside me. A child that will be born free. A child that will never know slavery.”
He retrieves his hand slowly, the whole time staring at me curiously. We stay like this for a while, silent, hostile, suspicious of each other. Hyper-aware that anything we say might lead us away from this moment of connection.
“All right,” he says in the end. “There’s only one way out of here. Only Sliman know about it.”
I take out my touchpad and call Finn before Damian changes his mind.
“I got him,” I say into the touchpad. “He’s right here. He can lead us out. He knows something we don’t.” I slide the touchpad back into my pocket.
“One more thing,” Damian says surveying the barren spaces of Sector K. “You’re not the one in control. I am.”
7
Damian unbuckles the belt around his waist. Its holsters hold his communication devices in place as well as what seems to be a tracking mechanism. He dumps everything on a pile of debris before he leads Finn and me through a cement pipe down to the sewers.
The filthiness of this place doesn’t compare to anything on Earth or in hell itself. I use the receptor to block my own senses. The big iron gate that blocks our way to the outside world is no match for Damian. He swiftly uproots it with his bare hands. Then we hurry out into the woods.
Finn calculates our position and charts a path we have to take to get to where Joshua will be waiting for us.
Dark clouds build overhead and a light drizzle starts to fall as we run into the trees just like old times. Finn runs ahead of me and Damian behind. I feel warm and safe insulated by them. The cool rain feels good on my skin and the forest begins to shine under the wet touch of the heavens. Some of the filthiness is washed off.
I know Finn will have questions. Damian will have a lot to explain about why he was allowed to walk freely around Sector K and why he had no desire to escape. The aches in my body are well earned and the three of us make good time through the cover of trees.
Joshua’s jaw drops when he sees Damian run up behind us. “Is this who I think it is?” he says.
I nod. “Joshua, this is Damian, our lost leader.”
“I don’t understand,” Joshua says. “You were supposed to study and evaluate the situation at the plantation? How did you free Damian?”
I steal a glance at Finn who shrugs his shoulders.
“We saw an opportunity and we took it,” I say. Then I turn to Damian. “I never had a chance to tell you about Joshua.”
Damian walks around Joshua studying him suspiciously.
“He’s a free man,” I tell Damian.
I could have been reciting the recipe for cuttlefish with kale and peppers for all he cares. His original curiosity fades to complete indifference. The severity of his disinterest in the first free man he’s ever seen worries me.
“He’s still in shock,” I say, but Finn knows it’s a lot more than that.
Finn helps Damian into the space pod despite his obvious concerns.
“There will be time to talk when he’s rested,” Finn says although the ones needing rest are Finn and me. We’re worn out and painfully bruised. On top of that, my hidden nausea has returned. I refuse the food that Joshua offers me.
The journey back will be a long one, I think as I sit next to Damian and touch his hand for a short moment. He doesn’t acknowledge my presence and stares outside the window dead-eyed. I know he’s not completely lost no matter what they did to him. If he was, the child in my belly would not have convinced him to come back.
*
ONCE THE CHEERING and excitement quiet down, I lead Damian to what used to be his room in the base. We haven’t exchanged a single word since our first encounter in Sector K and he hasn’t exactly been talkative with anyone, but he did respond to Doc’s questions regarding his health. He assured him that he was fine and that there was no need to run any tests.
Doc didn’t insist but I know he’d love to draw a blood sample and have a look at what he knows co
uld be a combination of human and Sliman genetic material. It’s obvious to him as it is to me that Damian is not himself. Doc hasn’t been able to isolate the unique elements in my DNA yet either and that has been a disappointment to him.
I open the door for Damian. If this room holds any special meaning for him, he doesn’t let it show. He walks straight to the bed and sits on it. I have a hard time coming up with something to say.
“This is where you used to stay before you were captured,” I blurt out.
“I haven’t lost my memory,” he says. “I remember everything.”
“Everything?”
“Yes, everything.”
He looks at me as if I am some exotic fruit. He might remember me, but he doesn’t understand me anymore. Maybe he doesn’t want to.
“If you remember everything, why did you want to stay at the plantation? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Because I don’t belong here anymore. I’m not human, Freya.”
“Of course you are, Damian. The aliens have messed with everyone’s DNA, not just yours. We’re in this together, all of us.”
“It goes a lot deeper than that with me. I’m a freak.”
“Hey, I’m the freak! Alien bride and all,” I remind him.
“I’m a Sliman,” he says avoiding my eyes.
“I know. We all know. Zolkon told us. It doesn’t change anything. You’re still Damian, our leader. You will always be. And you’re missing the point. Yes, the aliens might have mutated your genes the same way they have with the Sliman before you, but did you come from planet Sliman? No. You started out as a human child. You are no different than me. I have alien markers. Frankly, I don’t know what’s worse.”
“Freya, it’s in my blood,” he says. “And it’s not just about my physical self. It’s not about my skills or my strength or my temper. It’s in my brain, the way I think, the way I dream. I’ve always had those strange thoughts that made me feel like I was going mad and I fought them, I fought them every step, but they’re catching up with me finally. I’m tired of fighting them.”
[scifan] plantation 03 - shadow empire Page 5
