by Mark Walden
‘To get the hell out of here?’ Shelby offered.
‘Yeah,’ Laura replied, ‘before this joker wakes up.’ She gestured to the man on the floor of the cell.
‘Any idea where we’re going?’ Shelby said as she took a quick peek into the corridor outside the cell door.
‘Nope, we’re improvising here,’ Laura replied. ‘First step is to see if we can find and free the others.’
‘OK,’ Shelby said, raising the fallen guard’s rifle to her shoulder, ‘let’s go.’
Otto walked slowly towards the door with the camera mounted above it, his hands raised and the hard muzzle of the assault rifle pressing into the small of his back. As he got closer the door slid open and another man in a radiation suit stepped out.
‘Well, look what you found,’ the man said, his voice muffled by the gas mask he wore.
Wing stepped out from behind Otto and levelled the gun he was carrying at the guard.
‘Please place your gun on the floor,’ Wing said calmly, his voice also muffled by his mask. ‘Do it now and no sudden moves, please. I would rather not have to shoot you.’
Five minutes later both the unconscious guards were safely locked in a nearby storeroom minus their radiation suits. But although Wing may have been unusually tall for a boy of his age, Otto was not and it was becoming abundantly clear that the radiation suit was not the right size for him at all.
‘It is a little . . . loose,’ Wing said, fighting valiantly to keep the smile from his face.
‘Well, if you have any other ideas as to how we wander into this place undetected, now would be a great time to mention them,’ Otto said, struggling with the oversized suit. ‘And if you suggest the ventilation system I’m going to hit you.’
‘I think that whoever designed this place may have been one step ahead of us there,’ Wing said, pointing to the ventilation hatch in the wall that was only ten centimetres square.
‘Well, that makes a refreshing, if slightly inconvenient, change,’ Otto said, zipping up the suit. ‘Let’s go.’
The pair of them walked along the corridor towards the elevator at the far end. As they stepped into the empty carriage Otto noted that there was a single button on the wall. This lift had just one destination and they could only hope at this point that wherever that was it wasn’t swarming with heavily armed guards. He hit the button and the lift began to descend.
‘I believe this is what is known as “walking into the lion’s den”,’ Wing said.
‘Yeah,’ Otto said. ‘The real trick, of course, is being able to walk back out again without any missing limbs.’
There was a soft ping and the elevator doors slid open. Ahead of them was a short passage with a glass wall on one side which led to a heavy door at the other end. They walked down the passage and a man who was seated behind a control console on the other side of the glass glanced up at them.
‘Prepare for decontamination,’ he said in a bored voice, pressing a button in front of him. Steaming liquid shot from nozzles concealed in the ceiling and sprayed Otto and Wing. They stood still as the sprays washed any stray radioactive material off the suits and after a minute or so a door ahead of them opened. Otto took this as their cue to leave and walked forwards. The bored-looking man behind the console barely looked at them. They found themselves in a room lined with hanging radiation suits identical to the ones they wore.
‘I have a horrible feeling that this is where our disguises run out,’ Otto said, looking at the racks of suits. He walked past them to the lockers beyond and opened one. Inside were dark grey overalls that must be what passed for a uniform inside the facility.
‘It’d be nice if we could just put on these uniforms and nobody notices us,’ Otto said, ‘but somehow I suspect that Drake doesn’t employ many people our age.’
‘Yes, I fear we may draw undue attention,’ Wing said with a frown.
‘What we need now,’ Otto said, ‘is a diversion.’
Raven opened her eyes as the door to her cell creaked open. She was expecting it to be Furan, come to try once again to break her, but it was not. Instead, three guards entered the room, all with their assault rifles raised and trained on her.
‘On your feet,’ the first guard said, waiting as she slowly stood up. She was pleased to see fear in the men’s eyes.
‘So you’re the execution party?’ Raven said. ‘I’m insulted.’
‘Oh really,’ the first guard said, ‘and why is that?’
‘Because they thought three of you would be enough.’
She moved with a speed that defied belief, throwing herself forwards and rolling across the floor towards the first guard. The pain from the injuries she had sustained was gone; there was only adrenalin now. She speared upwards, swatting the barrel of the first guard’s gun to one side just as he pulled the trigger. The muzzle flashed just centimetres from her head but she ignored the deafening noise and reached down to the man’s waist, pulling the combat knife from his belt and with a flick of her arm sent it flying into the wrist of the second soldier, who howled in pain, his rifle falling uselessly to the floor. Her other hand smashed upwards into the first guard’s chin, lifting him off his feet, out cold. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion to her now as she took two steps towards the man with the knife embedded in his wrist and, ignoring the sudden searing pain from the wound in her thigh, kicked him hard in the face, propelling him unconscious into the final guard just as he opened fire, sending his shots wild and knocking the rifle out of his hands. He collapsed under the weight of his stunned comrade and they fell in a heap of tangled limbs. Desperately, the guard threw the unconscious man from on top of him with a grunt and reached for his fallen rifle. His hand closed around the grip as Raven’s booted foot smashed down on top of it, pinning it to the floor. She stood over him, the first guard’s rifle in her hands and pointed straight at his head.
‘Now you’re going to tell me where I can find Furan,’ she said, ‘or I’m going to really get angry.’
Jason Drake watched from his office as a group of guards escorted Darkdoom and his son up the gangway leading to the Dreadnought. There was a knock at the door and he called out for whoever it was to enter. Furan walked into the room.
‘You wanted to see me,’ Furan said.
‘Yes,’ Drake said, gesturing for Furan to come and join him at the window overlooking the hangar. ‘I have spoken to the other Disciples and they have ordered the executions of all prisoners, including Raven. They decided she was too dangerous to spare and I have to say that I agreed with them. I know you had hoped to turn her, but under the circumstances I had no alternative but to issue an order for her execution.’
‘You did what?’ Furan said angrily.
‘It’s too late now, Pietor,’ Drake said calmly. ‘I gave the order ten minutes ago.’
‘How many men did you send?’ Furan said, an edge of panic to his voice.
‘More than enough,’ Drake said, frowning.
‘How many?’ Furan repeated quickly.
‘Three,’ Drake replied.
‘You fool,’ Furan said, shaking his head. ‘You sent three men with rifles into Raven’s cell. They’re probably already dead. Get on board the Dreadnought and launch now.’
‘I know that you respect the woman, Furan, but I think you overestimate her,’ Drake replied.
‘I don’t just respect her, I fear her, and if you had any sense you would too.’
Suddenly the base alarm klaxon started to sound from outside.
‘We leave now,’ Furan said angrily, ‘while we still can.’
Shelby ducked back around the corner as a group of guards ran past in the opposite direction.
‘Looks like they found our unconscious friend,’ she whispered to Laura.
‘Or something else is going on,’ Laura replied.
‘Whatever it is, it’s got them panicked,’ Lucy added. ‘I doubt that will make it any easier to get out of here.’
Laura nodded. Lu
cy was right. They knew nothing about the layout of this facility other than what they’d seen on their way from the Dreadnought to their cell, and that was hardly going to be a viable escape route. There were occasional signs mounted on the walls of the corridor but unfortunately none of them read ‘Secret Route to Hidden Exit’.
Shelby was about to look around the corner again when she heard two voices approaching down the corridor towards them.
‘What’s going on?’ the first voice asked.
‘Raven’s escaped,’ the second voice replied. ‘There’s a base-wide alert.’
‘Where are you headed?’
‘I have to carry out the termination order on the Argentblum kid before she makes a try for him.’
‘Yeah, looks like they’re tying up the loose ends. They’re prepping the Dreadnought for an emergency dust-off right now.’
‘OK, well I’m gonna go take care of that kid and then I’ll check back in to see if there’s any update on Raven’s location.’
‘OK. I’ll see you in the hangar bay.’
The second guard headed around the corner and straight into the raised muzzle of the rifle that Shelby was holding.
‘Hi,’ Shelby said with a wicked smile. ‘From what I’ve heard, lungs work a whole lot better without any holes in them. Tell you what, you take us to the “Argentblum kid” and you won’t have to find that out for yourself. Deal?’
The guard just nodded, swallowing nervously.
‘Which way?’ Laura asked and the man nodded back down the corridor the girls had just come down. Shelby gestured with the barrel of the rifle for him to lead the way. They walked for a few minutes, stopping several times to avoid groups of guards who all seemed to be running in the opposite direction, apparently preoccupied with a much bigger threat. It didn’t take a genius to work out what that threat might be. They came to a second junction and as the guard was about to walk around the corner Shelby hissed at him to stop.
‘What is it?’ Laura whispered.
Shelby nodded over to the far wall, where the red dots of several laser sights were moving slowly around.
‘Looks like a welcoming party,’ Shelby said quietly. ‘I think they might be expecting a certain “crazy Russian”.’
‘So what do we do now?’ Laura asked.
‘I have an idea,’ Lucy said and she walked up to the guard that Shelby was holding at gunpoint and whispered something into his ear. For a moment he almost looked confused but then he ran around the corner ahead of them and shouted to the guards who were lying in wait.
‘Raven’s been spotted at the other end of the base,’ he yelled. ‘Follow me!’
There was the sound of a commotion and then the guard that Lucy had whispered to ran off in the other direction with several men following him. Shelby cautiously peered around the corner and saw that the corridor was now clear.
‘Good job,’ Shelby said to Lucy. ‘That’s gonna come in really useful.’
‘I don’t know if I can do it again without some rest,’ Lucy said. She looked suddenly pale and she was trembling again. ‘Every time I do that I feel like my head’s going to burst.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Laura said, putting a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. ‘We’re getting out of here and once we do you never have to use it again if you don’t want to. OK?’
Lucy nodded and gave Laura a small weak smile.
‘Come on,’ Shelby said, ‘let’s go get Franz before those goons come back.’
They passed several unlocked empty offices before reaching a locked door at the far end of the corridor. Shelby quickly inspected the lock. She could shoot it out but that would make noise and draw unwanted attention and that was the last thing they needed at the moment.
‘Hold this,’ Shelby said, handing the rifle to Laura, who looked like she’d just been given a live rattlesnake. Shelby may have enjoyed the firearms training sessions with Colonel Francisco, but Laura had never really got used to holding what she saw as a crude machine designed to kill people.
Shelby ran back to one of the empty offices, hurried over to a desk and rummaged around inside for a few seconds before running back out of the office and down the corridor towards Laura and Lucy, straightening out a pair of paper clips with her teeth. She crouched down in front of the lock and slid the metal wires inside. Two seconds later there was a click and she opened the door. Standing against the far wall, his eyes wide with surprise, was Franz. For a moment he looked like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing and then he ran across the room and engulfed Shelby in a crushing bear hug.
‘Shelby!’ he cried as he hugged her. He moved to Laura and hugged her too. ‘Laura!’ he exclaimed happily and released her before embracing a slightly startled-looking Lucy. ‘New girl whose name I am not quite remembering!’ he said happily.
‘Lucy,’ she gasped as he hugged her.
‘Yes, of course, Lucy.’ Franz released her and gave all three of the girls a beaming smile. ‘I am knowing that someone would be rescuing me. I was not sure who – perhaps Raven, perhaps Doctor Nero, perhaps even Otto and Wing. But being rescued by you is a lovely surprise! I would never have been expecting the girls to be doing the heroic rescuings.’ His voice had a certain manic tone to it, which Laura guessed must be down to a combination of exhaustion, delayed shock and adrenalin.
‘Erm . . . thanks. I think,’ Laura said, noting the look of irritation on Shelby’s face.
‘Quickly now,’ Franz said, hurrying past them into the corridor. ‘They have taken Nigel but I have a plan for the rescuing and we must act swiftly. Do not worry, I will lead the way. On the way here I am memorising the route. You have done your part but now is being the time for action!’
‘Give me the gun,’ Shelby whispered to Laura as Franz rushed off down the corridor.
‘Why?’ Laura asked.
‘Because if he carries on like that, I’m gonna have to shoot him.’
‘You have to clear this area now!’ the shorter of the two men in radiation suits yelled as he ran towards the guard. His companion was waving a small black device around that was emitting a high-pitched beeping sound.
‘What’s going on?’ the guard demanded.
‘Someone’s flooded this area with radioactive gas from the fusion core,’ the figure in the radiation suit said urgently. ‘We have to get everyone out of here.’
‘Radioactive gas?’ the guard said, sounding suddenly nervous.
‘Yes,’ the man in the radiation suit said, ‘colourless, odourless and quite, quite deadly. How are the levels?’ he asked, turning to his companion. The other man showed him the display on the small black device and the first man shook his head. ‘Good God, she’ll kill us all.’
‘Mr Drake said I wasn’t to leave my station or let anyone leave this room under any circumstances,’ the guard said nervously, glancing up at the air vents in the ceiling.
‘You see, this is what I admire,’ the man in the radiation suit said to his companion, slapping the guard on the shoulder, ‘a man whose loyalty to his employer outweighs his fear of a slow, lingering, painful death. Such courage.’
‘Erm . . . perhaps you’re right though,’ the guard said quickly. ‘Perhaps we should evacuate. Just to be on the safe side. How long do we have?’
‘Well, if your gums aren’t bleeding yet then you’ve probably got . . . oh . . . two or three minutes to get everyone out of this area,’ the man in the suit said.
The guard swallowed nervously and quickly punched a code into the numerical keypad next to the door and opened it before rushing into the room behind. A few seconds later a group of frightened-looking people dashed out of the room, followed by the guard. He went to close the door but the man in the suit stopped him.
‘No, I need to check the . . . errr . . . the levels,’ the man in the suit said.
‘Yes,’ the other man said, ‘the levels. It’s very important.’
The guard looked at them both curiously. The first man suddenly reached up and
brushed something off the guard’s shoulder.
‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘you’ve just got some hair falling out there.’
‘Right,’ the guard said quickly, the look of suspicion replaced by fear, ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ He ran off down the corridor like he was being chased by a pack of wild dogs.
The two men in the radiation suits walked into the launch control centre and closed the door behind them. Otto pulled off his gas mask and pulled down the elasticated white hood of his suit.
‘“It’ll never work, Otto,”’ he said as he unzipped the front of the suit. ‘“He’ll never believe you, Otto.”’
‘OK, OK,’ Wing said as he pulled off his mask too. ‘Remind me never again to underestimate your capacity for deceit.’
‘Ye of little faith,’ Otto said with a grin. ‘Personally I blame the education of henchmen these days. Everyone knows that regardless of whether it’s a tokamak or laser-pellet-type fusion reactor, it still doesn’t produce radiation levels higher than standard background.’
‘Oh yes,’ Wing replied with a slight smile, ‘everyone knows that.’
Otto walked over to one of the consoles that were arrayed beneath the large window that looked out into the Dreadnought’s hangar bay. He placed his hand on one of the control panels and closed his eyes.
‘Now let’s see if we can’t open this sucker up,’ he whispered.
‘I think we have something here,’ Professor Pike said.
Dr Nero and Colonel Francisco hurried over to where the Professor was staring at the live satellite feed on his laptop. He pointed at the screen, where a thin white line was widening into a rectangle in the middle of the darkened desert floor. As more light flooded out of the illuminated hole the distinctive outline of the Dreadnought slowly became visible.
‘Have we heard anything from Otto or Wing yet?’ Nero asked. The Colonel shook his head. ‘Very well. Colonel, prep your men to drop,’ Nero said quickly.
‘Yes, sir,’ the Colonel replied.
Raven kicked in the door of Furan’s quarters, rifle raised. The room was empty, just as she had suspected it would be, but it was the only place that the terrified guard had been able to come up with. She turned to leave when something caught her eye. Lying on top of Furan’s desk was a pair of familiar scabbards. Raven walked across the room and pulled one of the katanas from its sheath, the edge crackling with a dark purple energy field that gave the swords a cutting edge quite unlike any other weapon on earth. She quickly fastened the swords across her back, one hilt behind each shoulder and smiled.
