As Cole touched the hot spot on the graphic, then the repair symbol, the pulsing lights turned blue, indicating that the repair sequence had started. The graphic showed several modular robots moving along the conduits to perform the repairs. Cole let out a sigh of relief.
“It seems to be working." He laughed. “We did it, kiddo." He watched the panel for a few seconds as the modular repairs seemed to go quickly. “I think we circumvented the meltdown." The cadmium rods may still be stuck, but it didn’t matter anymore. All they needed was a little time to get off the planet. He turned to face Rhonda. “No need to stay and watch. Now that the robots are activated, they’ll finish the job on their own. Let’s just get out of here."
“Captain, watch out!”
A group of crazed prisoners surged through a crack in a wall, fifty meters away. He was right. They couldn’t trust the compads anymore. Cole fired an explosive salve and yelled “Run!”
He and Rhonda fled through the maze, taking as many turns as they could to shake their pursuers. Suddenly, after a sharp turn, Cole saw the path ahead blocked by a mountain of debris and stopped. Too late to turn back, the inmates followed too close.
Cole considered the high mound of protruding crimson pipes, broken pieces of durancrete, ripped duranium cell doors, metal toilets, durancrete benches, bed bunks and other objects. All these items didn’t happen to stack up by chance. The inmates had carefully built that barricade. Cole realized with dismay that they’d fallen into a trap.
The pursuing convicts yelled just around the corner, their heavy steps pounding the durancrete. From Cole’s previous phaser burst, they had to know he and Rhonda carried arms, but they didn’t seem to care. They knew they had the numbers on their side. Another thought made Cole uneasy. He’d recognized one of the prisoners leading the attack, the most dangerous Monack ever incarcerated. Tomar!
Cole stopped and faced about, imitated by Rhonda. Pale, she held her phaser at the ready.
Cole did the same, waiting for the rioters to show themselves around the bend so he could aim. He attempted a smile. “Since you seem to have religion, kiddo, now would be a good time to pray for both of us.”
Chapter Four
Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone
Rhonda saw the prisoners surging from the bend of the corridor. They rushed toward her and the Captain. She heard the sizzle of Riggeur’s phaser and aimed, firing in rapid succession with perfect accuracy. Together they shot several prisoners, but many more came forth. They couldn’t kill them fast enough. Rhonda started climbing the mount of debris, still firing. If only she could get to the other side, maybe she could escape them.
The Captain understood her intent. “Go for it, kiddo, I’ll cover you.”
“Don’t stay there. Hurry up." Rhonda kept climbing while firing as best she could. Good thing the prisoners didn’t have guns.
The Captain kept firing, too. “Go ahead. I’m staying.”
“Are you crazy?" Rhonda couldn’t believe he wanted to stay.
“If they get me, they’ll leave you alone. If I follow you, they’ll pursue us both." He sounded serious.
Her natural agility fueled by fear, Rhonda kept climbing the difficult barrier. “But without you, I’m stuck on this level because of the lockdown. And they will get me sooner or later." As she reached the very top of the rubble pile, the Captain still showed no signs of following her. Perched on the top ridge, Rhonda set her phaser on explode and aimed for the group of attackers to give the Captain a chance to get away.
The explosion created chaos among the inmates.
“Captain, hurry!" Without waiting for his response, heart beating wildly, Rhonda crested the barrier and started to climb down the other side. She could hear phaser fire and the screams of the psychotic inmates. Fortunately, none of them waited for her on the backside of the barricade, where the corridor stood empty.
On her way down, she realized the Captain hadn’t even started to climb the barrier yet. She let herself slide, then her sleeve caught, and she hung, stuck. She had to get back up a notch and un-snag herself. When her feet finally touched the floor, she crouched, hiding behind the mound of metal and debris. Squinting through a small crack in the barricade, she watched anxiously.
A swarm of inmates had overwhelmed Riggeur and beat him with fists, knees and feet. Each hit made Rhonda sick to her stomach. The Captain still fought and struggled within their grip, but there were too many convicts. They took away his phaser and compad.
Some of the inmates holding him drooled, others barked incomprehensible words. In Rhonda’s medical opinion, these prisoners were quite psychotic and not in any condition to make rational decisions. Their sheer willingness to die to phaser fire indicated a total lack of judgment.
Why hadn’t the silly Captain followed her up the barricade? Did he really let himself get captured to give her a chance to escape? Rhonda couldn’t believe he would sacrifice himself to save her. It didn’t seem logical.
Did he think her life mattered more than his? What a stupid noble thing to do. He’d acted like some ancient knight of the Middle Ages in her Earth History books. She couldn’t help but admire his courage, but she found Cole Riggeur’s heroism misplaced. His sacrifice didn’t help her at all.
The inmates relented then brought the Captain in front of the man leading the prisoners. Suddenly the tall man’s appearance changed. His skin turned the color of gray stone, with uneven ridges on his hairless face and elongated skull. Pointed fangs grew out of his teeth, and long claws stretched his bony fingers.
The monster laughed, a dry cynical sound. “Captain Riggeur, we meet again." The expression of hatred in the Monack’s round eyes and his exulting tone made Rhonda think of personal vendetta.
From her hiding place behind the barricade, unseen and holding her breath, Rhonda watched with horror, as her Captain straightened up to face the Monack. But he said nothing. Could he even talk after such a beating?
The Monack gazed through the barricade as if he could see Rhonda.
Terrified, Rhonda didn’t dare breathe. Had he seen her?”
The Monack sniffed the air and laughed. Then he motioned his goons to bring the Captain along and walked away with his gang.
Paralyzed by fear, Rhonda still didn’t breathe as she watched the inmates pushing the Captain forward and dragging him behind their leader. Rhonda shivered, wondering what they would do to him. Insanely dangerous, that’s what these convicts were.
Fortunately, they hadn’t seen Rhonda. Either they’d forgotten about her in their state of withdrawal, or they seemed content enough to let her go, as long as they had their prize. The Captain had been right to believe that they would be satisfied with taking him. She wondered what kind of connection he had with the shape-shifter. Evidently the Monack hated him and would surely kill him.
But Rhonda knew she couldn’t just abandon Captain Riggeur to these derelicts. Besides, she could never make it to the surface on her own. She didn’t have the code and she needed another guard’s DNA to get through the locks. She had to find a way to rescue him.
She remained hidden until all the convicts and the Captain disappeared at the end of the corridor. Then she reluctantly turned away from the barricade and started in the opposite direction. Watching her compad, Rhonda fled toward a deserted block on the west side of Level Nineteen, all the while keeping track of the receding blue dot of Cole Riggeur on her device.
The Captain still traveled among the group of inmates, toward a populated section of the floor. Rhonda found an isolated cell in an empty section and dropped on the bunk bed.
The screen of her compad flickered. “Good God!" She had neglected to recharge the battery recently. This would never happen to the exemplary Captain Cole Riggeur. She’d bet her life that he charged his compad every night without fail, even though the charge could last two weeks.
The comimplant at her neck did not respond to her touch. Only static. Rhonda had no way of getting through to the control room. Hop
ing she still had enough juice in her compad to send out a distress message, she opened the channels to the rest of the Garrison, not knowing whether or not anyone could hear. She just had to try.
“Rhonda Alendresis, Level Nineteen, calling for help. Captain Cole Riggeur has been abducted by rioters. I escaped, but my compad is running out of battery. I’m hiding in the isolation cells on the west side of level Nineteen. If anyone can hear me, the Captain is in great danger and needs help."
Rhonda closed the compad to conserve the battery and leaned against the wall. She felt utterly alone. What was she doing here, marooned on a dying planet? And what could she do about Captain Cole Riggeur?
Certainly nothing in the manual had prepared her for that kind of situation. All the manual said in case of riots was lock down the affected floors. Nowhere did the safety of the guards prevail in the Duran manual. Only Captain Riggeur cared about his guards. Still, it hadn’t prevented him from sacrificing Rhonda’s life with his, in order to save the rest of the Garrison.
Anger rose in Rhonda’s throat as she remembered how the Captain had ignored her warnings. He had to go down those hellish levels and take the time to lock down his precious prisoners. If the stubborn man had listened to her in the first place, they would both be back on the surface right now, figuring out a way off this condemned planet. Now it looked like they’d lost their chance of getting away with their lives. If the prisoners didn’t kill them first, the planet would.
As if to answer her thoughts, a strong quake rattled the bars of the cell. Rhonda gripped the edge of the bolted bunk bed. On the high ceiling, pipes knocked and crashed down. A conflagration echoed nearby, probably a collapsing wall. Finally, the rumble receded and the empty block fell silent, except for the incessant humming of the machines.
Releasing the breath she had been holding, Rhonda dropped her head into her hands. Tears of frustration dripped through her fingers. How was she ever going to get her Captain back? Wiping the tears, she straightened her spine and assessed her situation. Bad as it was, she was whole and just had to collect her thoughts. She must come up with a rescue plan.
*****
The blow split Cole’s brow and pain exploded through his cranium, but he bit back a cynical comment. Tied with strips of cloth to a bolted bench inside an open cell, he felt in no position to anger the shape-shifter any further. Better to not react and remain calm and neutral.
Tomar’s leathery smile bared gray fangs as he loomed above Cole’s face like a gargoyle. Cold anger filled the Monack’s dark eyes. “Tell me what I want to know, Riggeur." The emergency lights flickered, making the cell look dingy. Dark shadows outlined the protruding ridges of the shape-shifter’s forehead.
A bitter smile cracked Cole’s swollen lips. “You might as well kill me now, Tomar. You know I’ll never give you the security code. You are locked down in this pit and will never see the light of day again.”
Tomar growled. “Too bad I can’t kill you... yet. I need your fresh DNA to get past the security locks. But as long as you live, I can make you suffer."
“How in hell did you get the cells open all the way up to Level Sixteen?" Cole knew the doors couldn’t have opened by themselves. The default security programs prevented it. To insure the safety of the Garrison, Cole needed to know where the facility’s weaknesses lay.
Tomar hovered close, too close, and the sweet sickening smell of the Monack filled Cole’s nostrils. Tomar applied a dagger-sharp claw to the microfiber kevlar shoulder of Cole’s uniform. “I’m the one asking the questions here." The Monack pushed down on his claws as if to puncture the jacket, which resisted. Tomar looked surprised. “You have made a few improvements to the uniform since the last time we met... Very clever.”
Cole remembered their last meeting with dreadful clarity and refrained from shuddering. He’d seen the extreme cruelty with which Tomar punished those who refused to obey him. Cole knew what the shape-shifter was capable of, and would gladly give his life to prevent future carnage. “Believe me, you won’t get past the lockdown. It’s foolproof.”
Tomar kicked the titanium bars and the metallic sound reverberated throughout the block. “Nothing is foolproof, Riggeur. Not when humans are involved. You are forgetting the human factor. And in this case, you are the weak link. I’ll guarantee you that I’ll make you talk.”
Cole thought Tomar could do little, besides torturing him until death. “Or what?”
The gargoyle grinned. “Or I will go after that woman guard and flay her skin bit by bit in front of you until you break.”
Damn! Cole hadn’t considered that possibility. He fiercely hoped Rhonda could elude Tomar’s goons with the help of her compad locator. “I couldn’t care less about the Alendresis bitch. She means nothing to me.”
“Really?" Tomar waved Cole’s compad in front of his face. “How do I find her with this?”
“You can’t." Cole knew Tomar wouldn’t believe his lie, but he could think of nothing smarter to say at the moment. His head felt like it might explode.
The shape-shifter screeched. Two inmates rushed into the open cell. “Take off his uniform,” Tomar ordered with a hint of eagerness.
The convicts opened the top front of Cole’s uniform and slid it as far back as they could without untying him, then they ripped open his undershirt.
Cole wondered how long he could hold off the rioters. Although willing to die for the safety of his crew, he knew he couldn’t possibly withstand a woman’s torture, more importantly a woman of the Garrison.
But who was he kidding? It was not just any guard, it was Rhonda the monster threatened to torment. Cole couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. Despite all their differences, he admired Rhonda and respected the way she stood up for her beliefs.
Tomar leaned over Cole and poised his spiked claws over the exposed flesh below his right shoulder. “Should I?”
“Knock yourself out." Cole knew he couldn’t stop the ruthless Monack.
Tomar dug deep and Cole felt the razor claws slice through his upper chest. Sharp pain shot through his right shoulder and he screamed. His long mournful cry pierced his ears, as if it had come from someone else’s throat.
Slowly, Tomar withdrew his clawed fingers from Cole’s wound and licked the blood dripping from them with relish. More blood poured out of the gaping punctures.
“If you tell me what I want to hear, I’ll let you and that bitch of yours live." Tomar dipped his claws in the oozing blood and licked them again. “But if you don’t, I’ll thoroughly enjoy the taste of your flesh and hers. Guards are exceptionally healthy, a true delicacy.”
As more blood pulsed out of his wound, Cole wondered how long he would survive this ordeal. Above all, he hoped Rhonda would stay safely away from these vicious criminals. The cell around him started to spin. Cole felt himself fall into a bottomless black hole then he lost consciousness.
*****
In the temporary safety of her isolated cell, Rhonda struggled to think. From her compad she knew where the rioters held Captain Riggeur and she must use that advantage. She would wait until she had a clear path and few inmates surrounded him.
Unfortunately, she had to conserve her battery charge and could only allow herself to check her compad every two hours or so. She hoped as the hours passed that the rioters would get tired and settle down to sleep, as much as the symptoms of Styx withdrawal would allow them.
Now Rhonda knew with certainty that she had to rescue the reckless foolish man. Unfortunately, she still had no idea how to do it, other than barging in with blazing phaser.
Since she’d checked her compad only an hour ago, Rhonda had to restrain herself from checking it again. She should get some rest, but her busy mind didn’t allow her that luxury. Instead, she ate a meal bar from her pants pockets. She’d always wondered why the rule forced the guards to carry meal bars at all times, but now she understood the reason behind it. At least, her strength would not wane.
“Miss Alendresis!" The
whispered voice sounded familiar. Could it be?
Rhonda picked up her phaser and was about to turn on her compad to check on the Captain’s position when he appeared smiling at the entrance of her open cell. “I escaped while they slept.”
Rhonda wondered at the formal address. The Captain usually called her by her first name. “Am I glad to see you! How did you get away?”
“I’ll explain later. We better get out of here. They will be looking for me soon.”
Relief washed over Rhonda, and she couldn’t help the wide smile hanging on her face. She holstered her phaser. “Captain, are you all right?" Bemused by his unruffled demeanor, freshly shaven face and impeccable hair, she didn’t comment on it. Even his bruises seemed to have faded in the dim light. Count on the Captain to use a cell facility to freshen up in times of crisis. Rhonda berated herself for not doing the same. “I was so worried about you.”
“Never worry about me, Miss Alendresis. I can take care of myself.”
“I guess you can." He’d called her Miss again. Had the shock of being abducted altered his mind?
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Right." Rhonda felt much better. “My compad is out of battery. We should use yours.”
“Good." He gave her the most congenial smile. “I’ll lead the way.”
Rhonda marveled at the fact that the Captain didn’t berate her about letting her battery go out. She was at fault and expected a sharp comment on her laxity with the rules, but she felt grateful for that unexpected leniency.
The Captain’s fingers seemed to fumble with the keys of his compad then he motioned for her to follow and started at a fast pace. What had happened to him? He seemed different somehow, surprisingly accommodating. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t used his patronizing tone or called her kiddo once since he came back.
As they walked quickly toward the closest stairwell, Rhonda gave in to curiosity. “How come the Monack knew your name?”
Alien Lockdown Page 6
