by Caleb Selby
“Will do,” answered Reesa.
“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon in front of the Capital Building,” Darion stated.
“I’ll be there...or dead in a ditch somewhere,” Reesa said, making light of the fact that their deaths were both very likely.
Half an hour later, they were both making good time toward their objectives in opposite directions. It wasn’t really good time, but considering the plethora of obstacles and hazards that stood in their way, it was the best they could have hoped for. It would have actually been only a five minute trip if either could have taken a pedestrian walkway or ridden a transport pod but those were transit luxuries only afforded to individuals whose capital cities were not occupied with an enemy army of carnivorous lizards. As it was, Darion and Reesa were forced to dart in and out of the shadows along the way, their watchful eyes painstakingly searching every crevice for sudden movement that would require a split second decision that could potentially save their lives.
It was eerie for Darion to be on the main street of the largest city on the planet and not hear a sound other than his own breathing and pounding heart. He couldn’t help but wonder if, had he heeded Kebbs’ advice sooner, if things would be different. He chose not to dwell on the subject.
He had traveled nearly three of the large Larep city blocks when he finally came to the main transportation terminal, his first objective in getting to the deep space transmitter at the Clear Skies Center. Hundreds upon hundreds of large tubes ran in and out of the enormous facility like the ever winding and crossing strands of a spider’s web. The tubes were noticeably absent from the normal steady stream of pods that sped along them shuttling people, freight, trash or anything else in the mega city from one location to the next.
At top speed, the Clear Skies Center was a four-day run from Kebbs’ apartment. It would take only an hour on one of the pods. Reesa and Darion had reasoned that the four days was a greater delay than they could afford if they were to contact Fedrin and get a copy of the program to reset the missile defense system in time. Of course, the deep space transmitter at the capital building would have been much more convenient to reach, but the odds of getting there alive, let alone actually being able to use the transmitter, were slim to none as it was likely overflowing with Krohn officers and soldiers, not to mention the new, and to this point unnamed, enemy that Darion had encountered.
Darion crept around the entire transport station, a task taking him nearly an hour to complete, in order to map out his plan of attack. The main entrance had a formidable contingent of Krohn troops, at least thirty strong, standing guard while the secondary entrances situated on the other sides and rear of the building were also under heavy guard; too heavy for one man to engage in an open firefight.
“Reesa, you there?” Darion finally asked when he realized he was going to need some help.
Reesa ducked into an alcove between two buildings and whispered into her link. “Yeah, I’m here. You ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just finished my lap of the transportation station. As we suspected, the main entrance is very well guarded.”
“And the side entrances?” asked Reesa as she pulled out the data pad from her pack.
“Hard to tell in this light, but they look pretty secure. Too secure for me to risk an open assault.”
“Ok, give me a second,” Reesa said as she navigated her way through the data pad to access one of their multiple contingency plans. “Still there, Darion?”
“Still here,” he answered as he carefully looked around. “Tell me what to do.”
“What side of the station are you on?” she asked as she scrolled through several building layouts.
“I think I’m on the east side,” Darion slowly said, after looking around to get his bearings. “Yes, it’s the east side.”
Reesa nodded her head. “Ok. I think we can work through this. It’s not going to be pretty though.”
“I don’t care. Just tell me what to do.”
“Ok, but just remember, you asked for it.”
“Hurry up,” Darion said. “I think there’s a patrol coming up.”
Reesa glanced around her own surroundings before turning back to her pad. She magnified a building on her screen and breathed in deeply. “Ok. Directly behind you is the First Federation Bank of Larep. Do you see it? It’s a grey building about ninety floors high.”
“They’re all grey!” Darion snapped back.
Reesa shook her head. “It should have a red and yellow FFBL logo at the top.”
“Umm, yeah I think I see that,” Darion answered, glancing behind and easily spotting the small, but dignified building.
“Ok. The first step is getting in there,” Reesa said. “Once you’re in, the fifty-eighth floor has a garbage collection pod still docked there. You can take that pod through the transport tube and right into the transport station itself. Once in the station, you can catch the pod you need to get to the Clear Skies Center.”
Darion looked at the transport station and then glanced back at the bank. “Sounds like a lousy plan,” he reluctantly said.
“Told you so,” Reesa said, shaking her head. “Oh, there’s one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s probable that the bank entrances are also guarded.”
“Isn’t that kind defeating the purpose of this little exercise?” he asked skeptically as he looked down the street just in time to see a reptilian form dart from one side to the other.
“Not at all,” answered Reesa. “I’m going to have you enter the building through a service passage situated across the street from the building.”
“That should be very near where I am hiding right now,” remarked Darion.
“Exactly,” Reesa answered. “Its right by an energy beacon on the other side of...oh let me see here…Compass Street...I think.”
“You think?” Darion asked.
“It is,” Reesa reaffirmed. “Its right across Compass Street.”
Darion looked up from the bushes where he was hiding. “Which beacon is it?”
Reesa counted the markers on her data pad. “Its the third one from the left.”
Darion nodded as he spotted his objective. “What do I do when I get there?”
Reesa pulled up a page of directions on the data pad. “It says here that at the base of the beacon is a control knob. You need to push it in and turn it forty-five degrees to the right, and then push it in further until you hear a click. This will cause the bench next to the beacon to move revealing the passageway beneath. It’s some sort of old service entrance or emergency fire exit or something. Anyhow, once in, you can make your way to the building itself underground and enter in the third sub-level of the basement. Then it’s easy. Just take a shuttle tube up to the fifty-eighth floor, and hop in the trash pod and you’re all set.”
Darion shook his head. “This is going to be a pain in the butt!”
“Do you need me to repeat anything?”
“No. I think I’m ok. I’m going to go for it now. I think someone is on to me.”
“Be careful, Darion,” Reesa said.
Darion scanned up, down, and across Compass Street with the scope of his rifle. He zoomed in at base of the bank and saw several Krohns casually standing around the main entrance giving a half-hearted attempt to guard the facility. He then brought the scope to the beacon. It was very bright, prompting Darion to dim the scope’s photosensitivity. He looked back at the Krohns, and then at the beacon.
“This is going to be tricky,” he said quietly.
“Want me to try and find something else?” Reesa asked.
“No. There isn’t time. I’ll be fine.”
“Ok,” Reesa said, more anxious now that she knew Darion was nervous too.
Darion returned his rifle to his back, yet again, and drew out his pistol.
He squeezed out of the bushes, staying as close to the shadows as possible. He crawled as far forward as he could until the only distance left between him and beacon was the open, lit street. He took one deep breath, stood up and darted across. Although it only took him a few strides to cross, he felt like he was in the open for an eternity. He reached the other side and fell against the bench, bringing his weapon up. He didn’t waste time as he was still in the open and now extremely vulnerable. He crawled the short distance to the beacon and looked for the knob. He looked all around the base but couldn’t find it. He began to panic.
“Reesa, I can’t find it!”
“Find what?” Reesa exclaimed.
“There’s no panel at the base of the beacon! What do I do?”
Reesa quickly opened the street schematic file to confirm what she had told Darion. “It’s all here Darion!” she exclaimed. “Are you at the right one?”
“Yes! I’m at the third one from the left and I...oh no,” Darion muttered.
“What is it?” Reesa pressed.
“One of the beacons to the left is blown out and I didn’t see it to count. I’m over one too many.”
“Get to the right one and hurry!” Reesa nervously said praying that Darion would make it.
As Darion scampered to the adjacent beacon he heard several blood chilling screeches coming from the direction of the bank. “They see me!” he said still running. “Reesa, they see me!”
Reesa didn’t know what to do. She wished she was there to help.
He was nearly to the beacon when the first laser blast impacted the ground right in front of him, blasting up chunks of the walkway into the air and throwing Darion to the ground. He quickly got up and fired several rounds in the general direction of the oncoming Krohns. Two more laser blasts hit around Darion has he dove toward the beacon, firing snap shots as he did. He landed on the ground with a thud and rolled behind the beacon to use for cover as he desperately looked for the knob. He found it and frantically pressed it in. It moved down an inch. He then turned it forty-five degrees to the right and then pushed it in again. As Reesa said it would, the bench directly to his right moved back and the ground under it, moved inward forming a narrow doorway.
Three more laser blasts landed near Darion while one struck the beacon itself, sending sparks flying into the air. He rolled from behind the beacon firing several more shots as he did. Out of sheer luck one of his rounds hit a Krohn in his shoulder causing the reptile to let off a horrible roar and fall to the ground in pain prompting dozens of more Krohns to pick up their pace.
Darion rolled to the uncovered doorway, laser blasts narrowly missing him all the way. He finally reached the entrance and crawled into the narrow shaft but not before a Krohn had began to descend into the tunnel after him. Darion saw the Krohn’s profile start to come into the tunnel and began firing his weapon as fast as he could pull the trigger. He hit the Krohn’s mid section multiple times before finally getting lucky and striking the creature in the neck. The Krohn’s dead body fell into a heap at the bottom of the doorway just as the tunnel door closed with a loud rumbling “clunk.”
Darion closed his eyes and sat back against the tunnel wall gasping for breath. “Reesa, I made it. I’m ok.”
Silence followed his transmission.
“Reesa, are you there? I made it. I’m inside the tunnel.”
There was no reply. Darion reached for his transmitter. There was nothing there. He quickly felt around the ground to see if it had fallen beside him. There was nothing. He was all alone now.
The narrow tunnel was pitch black prompting Darion to fumble about with the only source of light he could think of. With some difficulty he managed to once more secure his lydeg adapter to his pistol before reluctantly aiming down the tunnel and pulling the trigger. He was instantly so overwhelmed by the intensity of the light emitting from the muzzle that he removed his finger from the trigger and caught his breath. As his overwhelmed senses recovered from the barrage of light, he once again pointed the weapon down the passageway and again slowly pulled the trigger, this time keeping his eyes tightly squinted. A quick single flash lit up the tunnel allowing Darion to take several confident steps before having to repeat the process. Traveling in this manner made progress slow but at least he could see. He was only about half way through when he heard the distinct drone of a Krohn hover craft right above. The vibrations from the engines caused dirt and small stones to shake lose from the places in the crudely fashioned tunnel and rain down. The Krohns were preparing to break in.
He finally reached the end of the tunnel and noticed a blue-lit button near a reinforced metal door lined with rusty bolts. Quick as he could, Darion took his lydeg rifle off his back, primed it and with the muzzle and pressed on the button.
The heavy door slowly rolled to one side revealing nothing but a large empty room. The air was musty and heavy, obviously not a commonly frequented room. Small emergency lights running on fading battery power flickered along the walls. They cast an eerie array of shadows on the floor that played tricks on Darion’s imagination.
He stood there with his weapon held tightly, slowly studying the room before deciding that there were no Krohns waiting to ambush him. He jumped out of the tunnel and still gripping his rifle fiercely, made his way deeper into the room. He had hardly stepped out of the tunnel when the door behind him began to roll back into place until it locked securely. There was no going back now.
Darion turned from the door and looked for his exit. The dim lights barely illuminated a small service elevator fixed in the center of the room. He held his breath when he opened the elevator, half expecting the unit to be off. He was relieved when he discovered the lift had a back up power supply for emergencies, and had ample energy to take him to his destination.
The elevator slowly inched toward the fifty-eighth floor, its rate greatly reduced by the lack of normal flowing power throughout the building. So slow was the lumbering lift that more than once Darion contemplated getting out and trudging the sets of stairs on foot. The thought of running into Krohns on the levels while he was tired and panting made him rethink the idea and he settled in for the ride. As the elevator finally approached his destination, Darion brought his weapon snuggly up to his shoulder once more and stood off to one side of the double doors.
“Welcome to the Fifty-Eighth Floor,” a computerized woman’s voice spoke out as the elevator came to a stop. “This floor is intended only for authorized maintenance and waste management employees. If this is not the floor you intended to reach, please consult one of the indexing terminals near you. Thank you.”
The doors opened without incident and Darion walked out, still cautious but not as on edge as he had been. He lowered his lydeg and took inventory of his surroundings.
The fifty-eighth floor wasn’t subdivided into offices, suites and hallways like all the other floors of the building. Rather, it was one very large room with a vast pipe network system in place all over the ceiling and floor that met in the center and fed into a large rubbish-condensing vat. The pipe works had receptacle points all over the building that collected the trash and waste and brought it to the condenser to be melted down into a greenish glop that took up less space and was ‘environmentally friendly.’ After the condenser reached capacity, it would dump into a specially designed transport pod that would go to the main transport tube station where it would then be redirected to one of several processing sights outside the city to be recycled.
Darion cringed at the pungent odor given off by the slop on the floor as he made his way to the center of the room. When the invasion began, the trash pods stopped making trips, but the building’s condenser had never stopped running. So once the pod had filled with the condensed trash, it began to seep out everywhere.
“Disgusting,” he muttered as he approached the condenser and adjacent pod. The closer he got, the deeper the muck became. The deeper the mu
ck became, the harder it got to walk until Darion was literally pulling with all his might against the suction of the slime with each step until he finally reached the pod.
He rested one hand on the condenser and peered down into the loading platform where the pod was docked beneath the condenser shoot. He shook his head and muttered a small string of obscenities at the sight of the pod completely full of the horrid stuff. Of course he had already accepted the fact that he would have to ride in the pod with some of the residual slop, but this? This was too much. The thought of clearing the pod of the condensed semi-liquid rubbish a handful at a time was enough to make him sick.
He looked up from the sight and glanced around the huge room and spotted a rack of assorted cleaning tools against one of the near walls and walked over to it. Of course a shovel was not an item usually located on the janitor’s rack, and thus having no other options, Darion was going to have to improvise. He picked off a long handled broom and was about to turn back to the pod when something out the nearby window caught his eye. He walked over and peered out.
Far below he could see a large number of figures moving around fervently like an overturned hive of insects. Krohn troops, at least eighty strong were busy operating all manners of heavy equipment in what appeared to Darion as an excavating project near the entrance that Darion had used to access the service tunnel. Krohn light generators had been set up all around the area making it appear like midday.
Darion felt more than anxious watching the Krohns dig up the ground looking for him.
A lone Krohn strike fighter suddenly flew past the window startling Darion so much, that he fell to the floor, covering his backside with the condensed trash glop. He didn’t move. He just lay there in the sticky gelatin mess wishing that this was all just a bad dream and would go away, if he could but muster enough will power to wake up.
CHAPTER 5
Buried Alive
“What was that?” Etana asked as she and Fedrin rounded a corner on their way back to the landing pads.
