“Done!" Tomar laughed. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Thank you, Fierce Leader." Gramps zipped up his overalls.
“No time to waste. Let’s go after those guards before they leave this level and slip away. We’ll rally whatever gang we can find as we go and extract their chips.”
The old man rolled his shoulders under the overalls, as if the cut bothered him. “How are we going to find the guards?”
“Leave that to me." Tomar sniffed the stale stench, turning his head slowly. “This way." He pointed in the direction where he could discern the distinctive scent of Riggeur and Alendresis. Still, he didn’t like the idea that the two other guards with them had snake blood.
*****
Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone
Cole struggled to get one leg in front of the other, grateful for the support of Rhonda and Javel. He couldn’t believe Rhonda had found a way to contact the others and get him away from Tomar and his gang.
Xerna led the way, cool as ice as usual, navigating the corridors without her compad. Nothing seemed to faze that part-Karatzin girl, although Cole felt tension between her and Javel. To think of it, Javel had snake-blood, too, at an even greater degree. Must be handy to sense what’s coming through every shift of the air and have quick reflexes and natural defenses.
Smooth rescue. Rhonda had grit. And her medical preparedness had probably saved Cole’s life. He turned to her. “What happened to Tomar? I didn’t see him during the struggle.”
Rhonda readjusted her shoulder under his arm, which brought an onslaught of agony. When Cole grimaced, she smiled in apology, so close to his face. “Tomar won’t bother us anymore.”
“You killed him?" Each step lanced painful shafts into Cole’s upper chest, but he had to chuckle. He started to really like the woman. She wasn’t just a beautiful, smart, undisciplined wild thing after all. She had other qualities as well. Dispatching that shape-shifter more than made up for her flaws. Right now, he could kiss her for giving him another chance at life.
*****
Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone
When Cole stumbled, Rhonda stiffened to prevent his fall and support the extra weight. Her head pounded and she felt tempted to ask Xerna to support Cole in her place, but she thought better of it. Xerna knew the way and could sense danger ahead.
Rhonda feared the Captain wouldn’t last very long at this rate. His eyes didn’t focus very well, and he hadn’t talked in a while. What had possessed him to play hero? Now he slowed their progress along the corridor. “How far is that mineshaft?”
Xerna forged ahead and didn’t look back. “Only a kilometer or so."
Noticing Xerna didn’t use her compad, Rhonda asked, “Aren’t you concerned about meeting a horde of convicts on the loose?”
“Nah! I can feel them coming. Besides, few would dare attack armed guards.”
“Maybe in a normal situation." Rhonda feared the phasers may not suffice to repel an eventual attack. “The withdrawal from the Styx impairs their judgment. They have no fear. Some think they are invincible."
As Rhonda attempted to pull out the compad from her pocket to check for inmates in the vicinity, the Captain faltered and she had to compensate and regain her balance again.
“Inmates coming to the left,” Xerna announced without slowing down.
Rhonda finally pulled out her compad and awkwardly punched the locator mode with her thumb. “I see them in the next corridor. Intersection ten meters away.”
“They stink." Xerna didn’t seem to mind. “How many?”
“Ten or so. A close group.”
“No sweat. I got it." Xerna pulled out her phaser and set it on explode. She ran ahead and stopped just short of the intersection. Kneeling, she looked around the corner, aimed and fired. The conflagration must have collapsed a wall, because it sent a cloud of dust that showered their corridor.
Xerna rose and brushed herself as she motioned Rhonda and Javel forward. “Hurry. They ran away like rabbits.”
Holding her compad in one hand and supporting Cole with the other arm, Rhonda hastened as best she could. “Captain?”
The muffled response at least indicated that he hadn’t lost consciousness. A good sign, considering. But he looked in a lot of pain, and Rhonda could see a dark shiny stain seeping through under his partly open uniform. “The bandage is saturated. He shouldn’t be moving. He’s losing too much blood.”
On the other side of the Captain who dragged his feet, Javel rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, Riggeur can take it. He wouldn’t want us to slow down on his account.”
Infuriated by Javel’s lack of concern, Rhonda blurted. “I don’t care how tough he is. He could die anytime if we don’t stop, at least for a while. I need to check his bandage.”
“Not now." Xerna spoke with calm authority. “When we reach a safer place. We’re almost there.”
Despite her reservations, Rhonda did not insist. She understood all their lives were at stake. They reached a closed titanium door. Xerna applied her hand to the screen and it opened with only her DNA. Javel and Rhonda dragged the Captain across the threshold into a small dark area. A flight of stairs went up to what looked like a wide landing.
“Maintenance area,” Xerna explained as she secured the door behind them.
“Up there?" Rhonda asked.
Xerna nodded.
Rhonda and Javel carried the Captain up the steps toward the landing.
When they reached the landing, Xerna seemed to relax. “Now that we are safe, you can take a few minutes to see to the Captain.”
By the dim light, Rhonda saw they’d ventured upon a vast platform. Along the walls, perfectly aligned red robots stood in their cradles. All clean and shiny, they obviously serviced the crimson floor. A number of modular devices, tubular units, and various parts adorned the walls, lined up like in a factory. At the center of the platform, a console emitted electronic sounds. Several screens displayed the progress of the robots at work on the ceiling conduits.
“Some robots are programmed to attempt repairs automatically in case of emergency,” Xerna explained. “I guess the tremors gave them plenty to do.”
Rhonda noticed a bare patch of wall under an electronic panel and pointed Javel in that direction. “There. Help me lean the Captain against that wall.”
Javel gently turned in synch with Rhonda, and they eased the Captain to a sitting position, with the wall supporting his back. Riggeur groaned as they let go of him. Not a good sign.
“Thanks, Javel. Give me some room.”
Javel stepped back.
Opening the top part of Cole’s uniform, Rhonda realized the flow of blood had soaked and loosened the pad. “I don’t like the looks of this. I wonder how much blood he’s lost already." She changed the dressing in silence.
When Rhonda glanced back, she saw Javel trying to grab Xerna by the neck. When Xerna twisted out of his grasp, Javel looked peeved.
Rhonda pretended not to notice. “I don’t know if he can make it all the way to the Garrison in his condition. He’s unresponsive again.”
Javel squinted at the Captain. “If he can’t travel, I’m afraid we’ll have to leave him behind.”
“No." Xerna said with unexpected force. “He is our Captain. We have to take him with us. What do you think, Rhonda?”
Rhonda hesitated, pondering what would be best for her charge. It seemed that the Captain didn’t stand a better chance, whether they left him behind or carried him with them. “He can’t go on much longer. The only thing that could save him at this point would be a blood transfusion and microsurgery to close the blood vessels. I’d need a fully stocked infirmary for that.”
“That’s right, you’re a doc." Xerna looked stern. “Well, there is an infirmary on each level.”
“But I need one with complete surgical equipment." Rhonda punched her compad. “The closest surgical facility is on Level Sixteen, the Yellow Zone, all the way on the east side of the complex.”
<
br /> The frown on Xerna’s face faded and her expression brightened. “If we take the mineshaft, there is a connecting tunnel to the maintenance platform of Level Sixteen." She bit her lips in concentration. “But I haven’t seen it lately. It could be blocked, or damaged. It could become a death trap. I wouldn’t recommend it."
Javel eyed the ceiling like a bored teenager. “Okay. We take him along. Let’s take the mineshaft. We’ll see how things look when we reach that tunnel to Level Sixteen." He crouched to pick up the Captain and motioned to Rhonda. “Ready?" He winked. “It will be fine.”
Javel’s irresponsible confidence irritated Rhonda further. She feared Captain Riggeur wouldn’t last long enough to reach that tunnel, much less cross Level Sixteen and make it to the surgical ward. The thought made her wail inside. She had to save him. She couldn’t let him die, no matter the cost.
Rhonda wedged her shoulder under the Captain’s arm and lifted. He seemed heavier than before, like dead weight.
“This way." Xerna led them to a red cylindrical hole in the wall, about three meters in diameter. “That’s a tunnel for the maintenance robots to get to the ceiling pipes for repairs. The shafts and the tunnels are totally dark since the robots don’t need to see. We’ll need our floodlights.”
Darn. Rhonda hated dark confined spaces. And here she was, almost two hundred meters below the surface, ready to enter a dark tunnel. As she fumbled to turn on the floodlight at her belt, Rhonda heard a mechanical noise coming from the gaping black hole. “What’s that?”
As if he’d sensed danger ahead, Javel already pulled away to the side. “Robots!"
Rhonda matched his move to carry the Captain out of the way.
“Oops! Forgot to tell you." Xerna chuckled. Did she really find that funny? Was she testing Javel? Getting back at him? “Got to watch for the little guys.”
Javel didn’t seem to like the joke at all and Rhonda didn’t get it.
Xerna’s mirth subsided. “They’ll trample whatever stands in their way. No one is supposed to be here and they are not programmed to avoid people. They go straight through, no matter what.”
The meter-tall robot exited the tunnel on his rubber caterpillar treads, carrying a broken tubular elbow. The machine turned, and as it approached a large bin the lid opened. The robot dropped the broken module into it then parked itself in a cradle on the wall.
Rhonda stared at it. “Can’t we use one of those things to carry the Captain?”
Javel shook his head. “Not where we’re going. The mineshaft is too rough. They only stick to smooth surfaces. Besides, it would take too much time to dismantle and rig up one of those things.”
Rhonda wondered how he knew so much about the robots and the mineshaft but didn’t ask. Out of patience, she turned to Xerna. “Anything else you forgot to tell us about the dangers of the tunnels?" Rhonda immediately regretted the edge in her voice.
But Xerna didn’t seem to take offense. “I’ll let you know if I think of anything. Let’s go.”
*****
Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone
Tomar sniffed the air and stopped in front of the titanium door. “They’ve gone through here not long ago." He turned to Gramps. “Can you open that door?”
Gramps walked up to the door and scrutinized the wall around the digital scanner. Behind Tomar, three members of his original team, a young Juzzaar with dark glasses, a bald and burly human, and a hairy madman who had rejoined their leader, watched intensely. All of them bled through the rough fabric of the red overalls from small wounds on the back of the left shoulder.
Gramps scratched his receding forehead. “You have anymore of Riggeur’s DNA?”
“No, it’s all dried up.”
“Try it anyway.”
Tomar applied his hand to the scanner. The device beeped and flashed a red refusal. Enraged, Tomar punched the scanner with its fist. The glass shattered, uncovering a network of printed circuits and wires.
Gramps gave him a broad smile. “Good work, Fierce Leader! You just simplified my job.”
“Then hurry up." Tomar wouldn’t let his prey escape. He could smell Riggeur’s blood and Alendresis’ sweat. He could feel them very close, and that proximity gave him pleasure. He wanted to follow them close.
Chapter Seven
Maintenance conduit - Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone.
Sweat dripped down Rhonda’s forehead, and she wiped it off with her sleeve. The temperature had risen gradually, as if the breath of some hellish dragon heated the large duct from the outside.
Despite Javel’s help, the weight of the Captain, who wandered in and out of consciousness, took its toll on Rhonda’s endurance. Her calves felt like wood, her back ached, and her arm and shoulder supporting the Captain shot pain through her at every step. But she suffered in silence and forced herself to go on.
Slowly, by the illumination of the floodlights clipped to their belts, the four guards progressed along the red maintenance tunnels that circled the facility for kilometers. Xerna led them through innumerable turns and connecting passages. Rhonda felt disoriented but grateful for the woman’s knowledge of this maintenance network.
As Rhonda checked her compad to make sure no one followed, another tremor shook the tubular structure which rattled and moaned, a distressing sound. Rhonda almost lost her balance and tightened her grip on the Captain’s waist and arm to keep him upright.
When the aftershock unbalanced them again, Rhonda reached out to the wall to regain her equilibrium. The burning sensation made her pull back her hand. “Are we inside the facility or outside the walls?" She wondered with increasing dread what overheated the conduit.
Xerna, in front of them, glanced over her shoulder. “This duct runs outside the durancrete walls. How did you guess?”
“You could cook on that surface." Should Rhonda tell them what she feared? Yes, these brave guards had risked their lives to save the Captain and they deserved the truth. “Normally these conduits are surrounded by ice. It should be freezing in here."
“I’ll take the heat over the cold anytime." Javel laughed. “Sorry. It’s the Karatzin in me. We rock-huggers enjoy warm surfaces." He motioned toward Xerna. “She likes the heat, too, but she won’t admit it. She doesn’t like to acknowledge her snake-blood.”
Xerna shot him a fierce glance. “Unlike you, I do embrace my human heritage. I don’t understand why you insist on worshiping your reptilian ancestry. I suspect you would sooner have scales than skin.”
They both seemed completely human to Rhonda, but as a medic she knew their physiology presented subtle differences. For one thing, neither Xerna nor Javel sweated at all while she was drenched from the heat. The Captain looked pale with an unhealthy sheen to his face. He shivered, probably from loss of blood.
Rhonda wished she still had her scarf to make a bandana. “It feels like there might be a lava flow running close to our tunnel. I know the wall material is tough, but I’m not sure how long it’ll last without melting. Magma melts even stone." There, she’d said it.
Xerna glanced back but didn’t slow down. “We have to hurry, then. We are not too far from the mineshaft. We’ll be safer there.”
When the Captain moaned, Rhonda looked up at his face. His feverish eyes opened and he gave her a strained smile. The fact that he was still conscious eased her mind a little.
As Rhonda walked faster, trying not to jolt the Captain, she wondered at the safety of the mineshaft. It sounded to her like an ideal pipeline for a river of hot magma forcing its way to the surface. Should she share her dread with the others?
What would he do in her place? Rhonda remembered one of his speeches about positive attitude and keeping hope and morale high. All right. They would find out soon enough, and Rhonda desperately hoped the facts would prove her wrong.
*****
Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone
While Gramps fiddled with the wiring of the door panel, Tomar paced impatiently. “How much longer?”
&nbs
p; “Soon, Fierce Leader. Damn!" Gramps’ suddenly pulled back his bony fingers from inside the panel and shook his hand. “I hate electric jolts. Without the proper DNA it takes time. I have to bypass the sensors without triggering a security lockdown. It’s tricky.”
Tomar feared the scent of the four guards would soon dissipate. Already, other overpowering smells rose from the many convicts and wafted down from the damaged ceiling pipes that seeped food and refuse. Cole Riggeur and his bitch had passed through that door less than an hour ago and Tomar wondered what lay beyond. It wasn’t a stair door, so what was it?
When the door finally slid open, Tomar rejoiced. Beyond the door, the scent of the four guards still hung strong. Tomar slapped the grizzled engineer on the back. “Good job, Gramps.”
Gramps recoiled from the slap and massaged his bony shoulder, still bleeding from the locator chip extraction. “Should I close the door now?”
“No. Leave it open. It will invite more of our comrades to join our little expedition." Any kind of chaos Tomar could manage to create, the more opportunities for him and his friends to escape.
Gramps winked. “As you wish, Fierce Leader.”
Climbing a set of metallic stairs leading to a large landing, Tomar realized he’d walked onto a utility platform, a robotic maintenance area. He couldn’t help but grin. “The Gods of the Old Ways are with us!”
“The Gods be blessed indeed!" Gramps’ beady eyes opened wide with glee.
“Tools! Lots of tools!" Tomar laughed and addressed the three other recruits. “Tools make the best weapons." Tomar inspected the arm of a robot sitting in its cradle in perfect alignment with many others. The titanium fingers, equipped with soldering torches, circular saws, and a number of power tools, would boost his men’s confidence and give them an edge against the guards in close quarters.
The other convicts now seemed to understand his excitement and foraged for weapons of choice among the titanium devices attached to the robotic arms. They started dismantling a few robots in a salvaging rampage, strapping power packs to their backs and plugging and testing various blades and torches, like children discovering new toys.
Alien Lockdown Page 9
