AWOL

by Traci Harding

  The reserve power kicked in and activated minimal lighting, which flashed red intermittent with darkness.

  ‘I always was a fan of chaos theory,’ Taren uttered by way of thanks to their hacktivist. ‘Move it!’ She led the sprint up the stairs.

  Their rescue party came to a holding area with several cells, beyond which, Jalila advised, was the decontamination room, and the psychic containment prison beyond that. All the cell doors in this area were open and the cells were vacant.

  Ringbalin was trailing his comrades when, from behind him, a hand clamped over his mouth and another around his waist. He was lifted right off his feet and hauled into an empty cell.

  Leal heard the alarm in the distance, but thought himself hallucinating as he heard the lock on his cell door click open and then observed the door slide aside. A cold shiver ran through him as he expected the Valoureans had finally come to drag him away to the pleasure house.

  A din rose in the prison; he could hear other inmates cheering, and then a few ran past his cell. He stood and approached the door cautiously, wary of a trap, and was startled when he was hit in the face by a pair of flying trousers.

  ‘What are you waiting for?’ Swithin asked. ‘Let’s get the fuck out of here!’

  ‘But even if we escape this complex …’ Leal pulled on the pants, ‘where the hell are we going to go? You can’t teleport and —’

  Swithin grabbed Leal’s wrist and took off up the corridor. ‘But I can run.’

  ‘Where is Yasper?’ Leal, having been released from Swithin’s hold, was having trouble keeping up with him, as he was amazingly agile, ducking and weaving through other escaping prisoners and the handful of Valourean guards struggling to control them all.

  ‘They took him, I don’t know where.’ Swithin threw his hands up.

  They came to a crossroads at the end. Leal could see reinforcements heading this way from straight ahead, thus Swithin veered left towards the decontamination showers. ‘This way!’ Swithin urged, as Leal bolted faster to catch him up. ‘It’s clear, I already checked.’ He grabbed his trousers to imply that’s where he’d acquired them.

  Leal glanced behind to see several Valoureans split from the reinforcements to pursue them. ‘Not for long.’

  Upon reaching the decontamination room, Swithin grabbed one of the hoses, although Leal had no idea why.

  ‘No power!’ Leal explained the pumps would be down also.

  ‘Water is for pussies.’ Swithin began swinging the large metal head of the defunct hose around to build momentum and smashed it into the head of the first Valourean who came through the door. She dropped like a rock to the floor, unconscious, causing a nice obstruction for the two Valoureans who followed.

  ‘Ha!’ Swithin grinned. ‘What goes around comes around!’

  ‘Duck!’ Leal advised, and Swithin was quick to do so as following his comrade’s example, Leal knocked out the second Valourean through the door.

  The third Valourean came in firing, whereupon they both dived for cover behind a cement shower divider. When two more Valoureans entered from the opposing door that led to the dock, they both knew their number was up.

  ‘Oh fuck!’ Swithin uttered, resolved to meet his fate, until the Valourean firing at them suddenly stopped and froze like a statue.

  ‘Swithin?’ The sound of Amie’s voice was a delightful shock to them both.

  ‘That’s my girl,’ Swithin announced with pride and the pair were quick to join their allies. ‘What took you so long?’

  ‘Are you hurt?’ Amie hugged her husband, briefly.

  ‘We’re good,’ he said. ‘Not so sure about Yasper, however. I think they took him into the house.’

  ‘I’ll find him,’ Taren volunteered. ‘And Jazmay, Kalayna and Zelimir —’

  ‘The chief is dead, Prochazka killed him.’ Swithin sounded surprised that no one had filled her in.

  ‘Damn!’ Taren winced at the news but there was no time for regret. ‘Get these guys back to base,’ she directed Mythric, only then noting that they were one team member down. ‘Where’s Ringbalin?’ It didn’t take her very long to figure. ‘Oh shit!’

  Jalila immediately turned tail to go after him, but Taren hauled her back.

  ‘I’ll get him, you go!’ Taren ordered the prime minister to return with Mythric.

  ‘But I’m —’ Jalila was of the mind to argue.

  ‘— wasting time!’ Taren had zero patience and this was obviously apparent as Jalila complied with her request and returned to the team.

  ‘I’ll be back,’ Mythric said. ‘Home in on me,’ Taren said as they parted ways, and Mythric vanished with them all.

  With an about-face, Taren returned into the holding area, and noting one of the doors was now closed, she headed straight for it. Ringbalin was one of two very important keys needed to bring her husband back from the dead and his healing powers were dependent on his peaceful state of being. Her heart felt to be beating in her throat and she slid the door aside, making a silent plea to her guardian spirit that she would find her dear friend unharmed.

  Ringbalin was seated in a chair. The Valourean who had fancied him had her head resting in his lap, and the healer stroked her hair as she wept.

  ‘I should have known.’ Taren breathed a sigh of relief as the Valourean continued to pour her heart out to him.

  ‘I never wanted to be like this,’ she said, looking up into his eyes. ‘I wanted to be a dancer.’

  ‘Well, it’s not too late,’ Ringbalin encouraged, ‘you’re still young.’

  ‘You are so right,’ she replied with complete adoration.

  ‘Okay … therapy session is over.’ Taren entered to retrieve her charge.

  ‘I wish you the very best, Zeonetta.’ Ringbalin rose to join Taren, and the Valourean did not object, but rose also.

  ‘Thank you.’ She kissed him tenderly on the cheek. ‘I shall make you proud.’

  ‘No.’ Ringbalin took a couple of sideways steps towards Taren. ‘You shall make yourself proud.’

  Taren didn’t know what situation might greet her upon going after Yasper, so she felt it best to return Ringbalin to AMIE first, and took hold of his hand to teleport him back.

  ‘Don’t forget Trance … or whoever he is at the moment,’ Ringbalin thought to mention. ‘The Valoureans must be aware he’s occupying the security station by now.’

  ‘Good point.’ Taren’s gut was churning; there were only so many places she could be at once. ‘We’ll pick him up on the way through.’

  When they arrived back in the security station in complex 3, Taren was stunned to find General Prochazka unconscious on the floor, and Trance snoozing on the desk, whilst the chaos he’d created played out on the screens before him.

  ‘What on earth happened here?’ Taren mumbled.

  ‘Let’s not ask questions,’ Ringbalin uttered, as they both noted the general beginning to stir.

  ‘So where is Kalayna now?’ Taren grabbed Trance’s shoulder, hoping he might have some answers.

  ‘Hah!’ He objected to waking to a situation in which he found himself staring at the slumbering head of the Qusay’s guard. ‘What the fuck, Reggie? You made me assault the general of the Valoureans, seriously?’ Then noting the hand on his shoulder, he was almost too afraid to turn and discover who it belonged to. He saw the Valourean attire and a pang of shock made his body reverberate, before he realised it was Taren. ‘Are you trying to scare the shit out of me?’ He was angered by the scare. ‘Get us out of —’

  Taren slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. Obviously the hacker was no longer with them, and Trance by himself was useless — she was not going to discover anyone’s whereabouts this way. Nor did she fancy her chances of torturing the information out of the general.

  With three crew members still missing, she didn’t have the time to pamper Trance’s ego to get him to cooperate; swifter action was required.

  In the flight deck of AMIE they found a not entirely happy r
eunion going on, but all were pleased to see Ringbalin safely returned.

  ‘You are so lucky.’ Ayliscia let go of Jalila’s hair, and smiled sweetly at Ringbalin, as did Jalila, as though nothing had transpired between them.

  ‘I was just about to come after you, but,’ Mythric motioned to the two Phemorian women to explain the delay.

  ‘Three crew still missing.’ Taren didn’t stop to draw breath. ‘We should seek Yasper and Jazmay first.’

  ‘Leave that to me,’ Mythric appealed. ‘You find Kalayna.’

  Taren held a soft spot for Yasper as he had been her first love, but considering the situation in which they expected to find him, perhaps it was better to send a male to retrieve him.

  ‘If I get caught I’ll fare better far with the Qusay than you will,’ Mythric added, seeing how torn she was.

  ‘Not now you’ve betrayed her again,’ Taren cautioned, but as Mythric’s look of appeal was still unflinching, she nodded to agree to his plan.

  14

  SERENDIPITY

  The soft touch of the creature’s legs making contact with the skin on his chest sent a shiver down Yasper’s spine and goosebumps rose all over him in a wave of fear.

  The spider stopped moving, wary of the change in its landscape.

  ‘She senses your fear … and your intent to be rid of her,’ his torturer whispered.

  Yasper’s breath shallowed to minimise movement, his eyes glued to the spider as it stared back at him. Don’t be fearful, he countered her suggestion in his mind, I mean you no harm. But Yasper’s survival instincts were not heeding his affirmations, as adrenaline caused his temperature to rise and cold sweat began to ooze through his pores and trickle down his skin.

  ‘Did I mention she detests moisture?’

  Every word she uttered disturbed him and the spider, sensing this, lowered its body in temporary retreat and shifted its feet about to avoid the drops rolling towards it.

  ‘She is giving you a warning. She does not want to harm you, but she senses you are a threat.’

  An alarm sounding startled Yasper and the spider reared up on its back legs to expose its scarlet red fangs poised ready to attack. The lights went out and Yasper prepared himself for the strike of the predator on his chest.

  ‘Alert! Security system malfunction. All personnel be advised that all security defences are down, prisoners may be at large.’

  Minimal lighting was restored and began flashing red in warning, and the spider had not flinched from its attack stance.

  His captor turned towards the door, and spotting a water jug floating, her suspicious glare turned towards Jazmay.

  The spider struck out at Yasper but was airborne before it made skin contact. The horror of the near miss skyrocketed to relief as he witnessed the creature land on the chest of his tormentor. Highly agitated by the scare of its flight, the spider delivered a full payload of venom into her left breast.

  The Valourean screamed in agony, batting the spider clean across the room, and opening her coat to search for the antidote.

  Jazmay broke free of her bonds, and Yasper’s bonds fell away from him also as his wife rushed over to hug him.

  ‘I’m okay, Jaz,’ he assured her. ‘Get us out of here.’

  Jazmay looked back to find their tormentor in a panic as she loaded the contents of a vial into a syringe. ‘I warned you, Lieutenant.’

  The syringe and vial shattered in her hands.

  The lieutenant screamed in frustration, and shot daggers with her eyes in their direction. But as she moved to raise herself, she found her nerves were already too shot to retaliate. In that moment her warrior façade vanished and only a helpless young woman remained. ‘Help me.’

  ‘Not a chance!’ Jazmay sneered, taking hold of her husband’s hand to teleport him to safety, but he unexpectedly withdrew his hand.

  ‘We can’t leave her to die.’ Yasper was nearly as surprised by his resolve as Jazmay was.

  ‘You didn’t buy into that shit she was whispering into your ear!’ Jazmay was rather furious.

  ‘If you were wearing your Juju right now … if I were … it would never let us do this.’ Yasper explained his reasoning. ‘If you are not one of them any more, then prove it.’

  ‘Fuck!’ Jazmay belted the air in frustration and stamped her foot, then manifested a full syringe. She stomped over to the lieutenant and mercilessly stabbed the needle into the dying Valourean’s chest. Having administered the anti-venom, she withdrew the needle and cast it aside. ‘Remember, the next time you want to torture a man, that you now owe your life to one.’ Jazmay returned to her husband, still furious. ‘Happy now?’

  ‘Thank you,’ called the Valourean, over and over, reduced to tears by their mercy, but Jazmay didn’t care for her gratitude.

  ‘Can we leave?’

  ‘You did good, Jaz.’ Yasper was proud of her spiritual evolution and just how far she had come since her time in service to the Valoureans, even if she wasn’t. ‘But there is one more thing.’

  Jazmay rolled her eyes, and beckoned him with a hand to name it.

  ‘Do you think I can possibly get some trousers?’

  Jazmay finally roused a smile. ‘Perhaps temporarily.’

  When Taren thought of Kalayna and was teleported, she was relieved to be able to safely assume that the young engineer was still alive.

  Rain teemed down on her upon arrival and but for how cold it was, she would have assumed she had landed on Oceane. A thunderstorm flashed across the sky as she looked out over a vast city in ruin being reclaimed by the jungle.

  ‘Taren?’ Kalayna called, and the next thing Taren knew she was being crash-hugged by the saturated girl. ‘Praise the universe, you came!’

  ‘Where the hell are we?’ Taren wondered.

  ‘Never mind about that,’ Kalayna urged. ‘We need to —’

  They heard a very loud growl, and it was quite close.

  ‘Go,’ Kalayna whispered in conclusion, pointing up to the perpendicular wall above the entrance door to the palace where dark shadows loomed.

  As the lightning flashed, Taren saw several wildcats waiting to pounce.

  ‘Suction cats.’ Taren recognised the species from her school studies, and they only frequented the wilds of one planet. ‘We are still on Phemoria.’ She found this most curious, and with a wave of her hand the cats froze.

  ‘Thank fuck for that!’ Kalayna breathed a short sigh of relief.

  ‘How did you get out here?’ Taren asked, curious about the ruins.

  ‘General Prochazka brought me out here to feed me to some demons.’ Kalayna warned they were not out of the woods yet. ‘We need to leave, as they’re still here.’

  ‘Where?’ Taren queried, and as Kalayna pointed towards the exit from the terrace, Taren had to smile.

  ‘You’ve found it.’ Taren made haste towards the opening to inside.

  ‘Found what?’ Kalayna panicked, not wanting to follow, but not daring to hesitate either. ‘You don’t want to go in there! They hate women!’

  ‘I know!’ Taren said with glee. ‘But I also know what they fear.’

  ‘Really?’ Kalayna ran to catch her up.

  ‘Here,’ Taren manifested a Juju stone and gave it to Kalayna, who was momentarily stunned by the light, colour and energy it exuded.

  ‘I was wondering what all the fuss about these stones was.’ Kalayna was having a few revelations of her own. ‘The Phemorians went to great pains not to touch these when they took them from the rest of the crew.’

  ‘They fear I have put a curse on them,’ Taren explained as they wove their way down the corridor, avoiding the broken sections of the roof, through which small waterfalls flowed. ‘And that those who hold them are compelled to follow my orders without question.’

  Kalayna halted. ‘Is that true?’

  Taren waylaid, trying not to look offended. ‘Let’s see, shall we? Kalayna, go on ahead and take care of these demons for me, will you?’

  ‘No fucki
ng way.’ Kalayna backed up, horrified by the thought.

  ‘I rest my case.’ Taren grinned and kept walking.

  ‘Oh.’ Kalayna was relieved to be convinced. ‘I meant no offence.’ She ran to catch up with her only company.

  ‘None taken.’ Taren came to the stairs, down which the water flowed. ‘You are not obliged to follow me anywhere.’

  ‘Considering the alternatives,’ Kalayna posed, ‘I’m your Siamese twin right now.’

  ‘Then let’s go bag ourselves a bunch of pirates.’ Taren headed down the side of the stairway and Kalayna was close behind.

  As Taren set foot in the chamber the shrill from the ghosts therein was absolutely deafening. They cussed Taren, calling her every horrid name ever known to the United Star Systems, and threatened her with a horrible end if she did not leave.

  But their attempts to scare Taren off only made her more confident. ‘Oh come now, lads, surely you are not threatened by a couple of girls? I brought you a present.’ Taren held out a large chunk of Juju stone, and they began shrieking anew, and as she focused on loving thoughts the Juju glowed brighter and brighter, and the ghostly spectres retreated to behind the throne. ‘So that’s where it is.’ Taren grabbed Kalayna with her free hand and made haste in that direction.

  ‘What are you looking for?’

  Taren dragged Kalayna up the stairs to circle around behind the large set of thrones where they found an ancient vat that reeked of death and made their skin crawl.

  ‘The Soul Keep.’ Taren had never seen it, but the ghosts couldn’t shelter from her light anywhere but in their source.

  ‘Oh crap, it stinks!’ Kalayna covered her mouth to resist the urge to be sick.

  ‘Touch that and you will regret it!’ Prochazka called in warning to announce her arrival.

  Taren was quick to defy the threat. With Kalayna still in tow she made contact with the item in dispute, and conjured a picture in her mind’s eye of the one place Prochazka dared not follow.

  With AMIE destroyed, Oceane was the only place Jazmay could conceive of where Taren might hide the few members of the crew who avoided capture. Still, Jazmay had only been here once, as had Yasper, and although Oceane may only have had one landmass, it was a bloody large landmass when travelling by foot. How were they ever going to find anyone?