by Mark Oliver
Charlie straightened, letting out a long sigh.
Tim could see the dilemma behind his friend's eyes. He was steadily convincing him. "Come on, let's go back to the clubhouse. Two more pints and you'll forget all about this craziness."
Tim backed towards the rugby club.
Charlie took three steps forward and then stopped.
"Charlie, come on. We're getting wet."
"No," his friend said. "No. I promised."
"It isn't worth dying over some promise."
Charlie looked at Tim, his eyes bright through the falling rain. "I'm their only hope. I can't let them down."
"But what about-"
"See you again, Tim." And then Charlie was gone.
Tim, his eyes dancing with green light, stared at the empty patch of grass on front of him. "I hope so, mate."
Chapter 27
Awani bloomed full in Charlie's mind, and yet the Divide did not bring him to her. Something obscured her, keeping her hidden from view.
Charlie tingled with worry. This was not how it should be. Something was wrong.
He calmed himself. Stressing would get him nowhere. If he could not find Awani, maybe he could find Bei. They would surely be together.
The blue man's face came to Charlie with ease. A moment later he saw his friend, sleeping in a cloud of mist. Charlie looked closer. Even through the haze it was clear Bei had taken a brutal beating. A cold shiver shook Charlie's glowing form.
He knelt down, and slid through the rift.
Blood covered the floor. His friend lay unconscious, great slashes across his chest, and what looked like shark bites on his arms and legs.
Charlie stared down at the bloody mess. A sob caught in his throat. He fought it back. This is not the time, he told himself.
He leaned over his friend, lowering an ear to the man's lips. To his relief he felt a weak breath against his skin.
Charlie pulled his head back. "Bei." His voice was tight. He gripped the man's hand. "Bei, wake up."
His friend remained locked inside a cage of unconsciousness.
With a voice born of the Divide Charlie called out, "Get up Bei Lowaiki. Get up right now. Your friend needs you."
Still nothing.
"Wake up, goddamn you. Wake up, you useless, good for nothing smuggler."
First the left eye opened and then the right. The two amber orbs focused and a smile broke out on the battered face. "You came back."
"What happened? Where's Awani?"
Bei lifted a bloodied hand, and touched Charlie's glowing face. Charlie sensed the life force draining out of his friend. He reached down, and placed an arm under the man's head.
Bei looked up. "Bodyguard was traitor . . . Ambush in the tunnels . . . so many killed . . . Awani taken . . . left alive . . . message for you."
Bei's head dropped back. It hung like a dead weight over Charlie's arm. With his eyes still closed, Bei reached into his pocket and fished out a small cube. He placed it Charlie's hand, and flicked a switch, activating the holo message inside.
Executive Ko stared malignantly out of the blue light. "Yet again you seemed to have eluded us, Mr Scott. But this time I believe we've got something to bargain with."
The face vanished. Awani's face, pale with fear, flashed into view. Then it was gone, replaced by Ko's terrible visage.
"The choice is simple," she said. "You help us, and we let your girlfriend live. You don't and I start chopping off pieces of her. Actually, I've already started my collection." Her hand appeared in the light. Two white cubes lay in it. "Don't worry, only molars. Your girlfriend’s still got her looks. For now."
Charlie gritted his teeth.
"She impressed me. Most people talk after the first tooth. Interesting plan. Her and the smuggler get themselves captured again. We bring them on board the destroyer and you use them to cross over. Then you destroy our rift engine and seize Doctor Sree. Simple.
"Well, I'm afraid we've got a new plan. In this one you teleport, or whatever you call it, up to the ship. And instead of ruining our operation, you assist it. By activating the device in your hand, you've already informed us of your return to the tunnels. Also, don't worry about finding your girlfriend. We'll make sure you can see her. You have two minutes. Then I'll start collecting pink digits."
The cube switched off, the plastic face vanishing.
"Go," Bei said. "Go now."
"What about you? You're dying."
The smuggler laughed, and then stopped, the pain too much. "I've lived through worse. Go get her, kid."
Charlie nodded, and in an explosion of light stepped into the Divide.
Chapter 28
The girl spat. The spittle, tinted red with blood, arced between the cell bars and landed with a plop on the silver woman's face. The head of the anti-terror department scowled. Doctor Sree struggled to stifle a smile.
"I really do hope," Ko said, wiping a sleeve against her cheek, "that your alien boyfriend fails to show. I once tortured a traitor for two weeks. Every hour on the dot, I removed one part of him, until in the end you could barely call him turen. I'd love to have a go at beating that record."
"You two are the traitors." The girl had difficulty pronouncing the words. Blood trickled out of the side of her mouth. She looked in considerable pain. But the scientist could hear the pride and anger in her voice. "The people don't want you. You're parasites. Without your technology, you're nothing."
Executive Ko's jaw shuddered. Both the prisoner and the scientist winced at the clicking the bones made. "But we do have the weapons. And we're more than happy to use them on stupid bitches like you. Without us, Seenthee would fall back to dark ages in weeks. You surely know that, don't you?"
The imprisoned girl shook her head. "You actually believe the crap those holo shows spout?"
Executive Ko turned her back to the prisoner and walked towards Doctor Sree. "Give her something to shut her up. I'm growing tired off this bitch's ranting." Then she marched towards a corner of the laboratory, and began speaking into the communication device on her wrist.
No doubt keeping the old man up to date, Doctor Sree thought. Lade was directly above them, dishing out orders on the destroyer's bridge. He had ordered the scientist to have the new laboratory installed beneath him, so he could keep an eye on events.
From the lab's medical cabinet, Doctor Sree pulled out a syringe and a vial of anaesthetic. He withdrew a large dose, walked towards the cell, and grabbed a shackled hand. "You shouldn't provoke her," he said under his breath. "She's got a temper."
"I don't need your advice arsehole." Her eyes were on the syringe.
The doctor shook his head sadly, and brought the syringe closer.
She writhed about but his grip was firm. "What's in all this for you?"
"Knowledge and power." He placed the end of the needle into the crease of her elbow.
She laughed a spiteful laugh. "They'll never treat you like one of their own. Once they've used you, they'll send you back to whatever hole you crawled out of."
The doctor shook his head, and snapped, "Stupid girl. You know nothing."
"Don't I?"
Her smug look infuriated him. He pulled the syringe back, the anaesthetic still inside.
"Do you see this?" he said, holding up his arm. The white light glistened inside the metal sleeve. "This device gives me the power to control your boyfriend. Me. Not her or the Chief. So you see the Corporation needs me and I intend to keep it that way."
The pink girl shook her head. "Pathetic."
"Hey," Executive Ko shouted from across the room. "What are you talking about over there?"
Before he could answer, an alarm in the lab's computer system began blaring.
The scientist looked at the flashing light and then at Ko. "He's activated the holo cube. He'll be with us any minute."
"Make the necessary preparations."
The scientist stepped away from the cell, placing the syringe on a nearby operating table. He w
alked over to a keyboard built into the lab wall and tapped out a sequence. A holographic double of himself flickered into being. It stood with its back to the girl, arms crossed, staring out at the lab.
A minute later, a blazing white light cut through the centre of the room. The dazzling form of a man raced through it.
The girl screamed but it was too late. The alien man was already swinging at the hologram. His fist passed straight through it, his body performing a neat pirouette.
As the alien spun, Doctor Sree flicked a switch on the device on his arm. The alien returned to his physical form. His handsome face contorted in puzzlement.
As he faltered, Executive Ko stepped forward, the electric rod sparkling in her hand.
Charlie burst through the rift into a brightly lit laboratory. Awani, battered and bruised, stood inside a cell in the centre of the room, chained to its bars. In front of her, a short, weasel-faced man kept guard.
Charlie charged forward. Speed and surprise were everything right now. In the same instant, he heard Awani call, "It's a trap."
His fist cut through the air, flying towards the man's face. It should have landed dead on his nose. Instead it passed through one side of the face and out the other.
Charlie spun off balance. At the same moment, inexplicably, he switched back to physical form.
What the hell? he thought, twisting through the air.
Something hot and cold connected with the back of his neck. The smell of burnt fingernails filled his nostrils and his mind caught fire. The light exploded behind his eyes and then everything fell into darkness.
Doctor Sree watched the alien fall to the floor, his powers neutralised. The scientist smiled at a job well done. His device had worked. The alien was his now.
He looked over towards Executive Ko, and with a hint of triumph in his voice said, "I told you it would work."
She grunted and lifted her wrist to her mouth. "We have him, Sir."
Charlie woke up on his knees, his forehead resting against the cold metal bars. His head pounded and his tongue felt too large in his mouth. He opened his eyes and the pain grew stronger. He tried to cover his eyes, but found his wrists shackled and chained to the cell bars in front of him.
Then he remembered where he was. "Awani."
The pink girl knelt beside him chained to the same bars as him. The lower half of her face was badly swollen, and bruises, black, blue and yellow, discoloured much of her face.
"I'm so sorry." She mumbled the words, wincing with pain. "I led you into a trap."
Charlie smiled. "I would've come even if I had known."
A hint of a smile passed across her eyes.
"Welcome to the Corporation, Mr Scott." The voice floated to Charlie on a sheet of silk. "I'm Chief Lade. You work for me now."
Charlie turned towards it. An old, but still handsome, silver man stood smiling at him as if he were Charlie's long lost grandfather. He wore a suit of the type Coldbones had worn. Except this one fitted to tailored perfection.
To the man's right lurked Executive Ko. Satisfaction glinted in her eyes. To his left was the small man he had taken a swing at. He had cunning fox eyes and a monobrow that stretched across his forehead like a hairy slug. Something told Charlie this was Doctor Sree.
Charlie pulled himself to his feet. "I'm afraid my days of taking orders from grey men in suits are long gone. "
The man smiled, and said, "I'm afraid not, Mr Scott."
Charlie shook the cobwebs from his head. He tried to change to key form. Something was stopping him, keeping him solid. He could sense the restriction all around him, pushing into him like a wetsuit two sizes too small.
His heart faltered in his chest. They had found some way to control him.
He scanned the room. There had to be another way out. He found none. Fringed soldiers guarded the door and the restraints on his arms were thick metal. I did not look good.
"Yes," the Chief called Lade said, "as you can see, there's no way out for you or your little friend, here. Unless you choose to help us, of course"
"How are you stopping me from shifting form?"
"That was the good scientist's work," he said, nodding towards the monobrowed man watching Charlie with eager eyes. "You'll find it impossible to shift while you're on board, so there's no point trying. We need you Mr Scott and we can't very well have you vanishing on us whenever you choose, can we?"
"What makes you think I'll help you?"
The old man laughed. "The look on your face the moment you saw the girl. You'll do whatever it takes to stop Executive Ko from going to work on her."
The plastic-faced woman hovered beside the old man like a vengeful angel.
"What do you want from me?" Charlie said.
"Well, for now we'd be happy if you held the rift open long enough for us to charge the rift engine. We'll talk about your next job later, once we've destroyed the robundee."
"Why do you have to kill them?"
"Oh. We won't kill all of them, just half of them. The rest will work for us. We'll also need some for interrogation. They can tell us all about their turen contacts in the resistance. We'll keep the pathfinders alive too, for a while. You see, I've always wanted to know how those red bastards do it. You know, communicate with the rollers. And now I'll have my chance."
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to help you murder millions of innocent people."
Chief Lade shook his head and said, "Executive Ko, I believe the young gentleman requires a demonstration. If you would be so kind."
The woman's faced remained expressionless. But the green eyes darkened. Beneath them the jaw flickered open and closed. She walked towards them, her muscles flexing under her skin-tight uniform.
She stopped in front of Awani. Lodged in the silver woman's belt, between an energy stick and handgun, protruded a metal needle. She pulled it out and waved it backwards and forwards in front of Awani. The pink girl's eyes bulged with fear, and she backed away as far as her chains could let her.
Charlie looked over her the Ko's shoulder to the old man. "Okay. Okay. Mr Lade. I get the message. Look. I'll do whatever you want."
The old man ignored him. "Executive, proceed."
Charlie shook the cell bars. "No. Please. Don't do it."
Executive Ko grabbed Awani's left wrist. Awani tried to resist but the shackles held her locked in place. She gripped a pink hand with one hand, and stretched out an index finger. With the other she held the needle. Its tip hung a few centimetres from the exposed finger. The woman's jaw jerked up and down in excitement, her teeth banging together in a terrible rattle.
Charlie stared at the swaying tip. Blood pounded in his ears. Beyond the thud came Awani's whimpering. The silver woman held the tip. Waiting. Savouring the moment. And then in one smooth motion she rammed the needle underneath the fingernail, driving it all the way down the finger, past the knuckle, and up to the wrist.
Awani's wail sent a needle sharp chill up Charlie's spine.
He watched in horror as blood squirted down the needle, covering the silver hand. But Awani's torture did not stop there. The plastic-faced woman, her grip firm, rotated the needle. Again and again she turned the needle, each rotation ramping up the intensity of the poor girl's suffering.
"Stop," Charlie shouted. "Please stop. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do anything you ask."
Doctor Sree's heart fluttered with excitement. Soon he would activate his rift engine and send the destroyer racing through the galaxy at light speed. He will have done what no turen had done before.
Across the lab Ko walking towards the cell. She took the needle from her belt and seize the pink girl's hand. The girl had the look of an animal about to be slaughtered. The boy seemed to have finally realised the seriousness of his situation.
The executive's removal of the girl's teeth back in the tunnels had been the scientist's first glimpse of the woman's use of traditional torture. She had pointedly rejected his suggestion to use the pain juice, claiming
to have had enough of the new techniques. The old ways were for her, gruesome, brutal, tried and tested.
The scientist looked at the poised needle. He was not sure his stomach could take a second viewing. The moment she pushed the needle in, he turned his eyes away, fixing them on a spot in the corner of the lab. He kept them there, until the screaming ended.
When it was done, Executive Ko placed the bloody needle on a table, and returned to her place behind the chief. Her face was as blank as ever.
Inside the cell, the alien boy was kneeling beside the girl. She lay on her side, unconscious, all colour drained from her face. He was whispering something into her ear.
When he looked up at the three of them, his eyes were hot stones of hatred. Despite the scientist's confidence in the device on his arm, he felt his bowels tighten.
"Awani . . . Awani . . . Are you okay?" Charlie leaned as close as he could to the pink girl. She had passed out from the pain and a thin stream of saliva was dripping from the side of her mouth. He was shaking with rage. "They'll suffer for this. I promise."
He looked up. All three of them were watching him. Executive Ko stared at him blankly but the one called Lade was smiling smugly. Doctor Sree was stroking his chin, studying Charlie as if he were some exotic insect. Charlie's whole body shook. He wanted to rip their heads off their shoulders with his bare hands.
"So it appears you will help us, Mr Scott." The old man's silky voice held a smirk in it. "Marvellous."
Charlie ground his teeth, saying nothing.
Chief Lade stared hard at him. "Do exactly what Doctor Sree tells you and you have my word as Chief that the girl suffers no more. Resist and," he looked at the broken girl. "Well you know the rest."
Despite his best efforts to stay calm, Charlie's lip curled and his fists tightened.
To his surprise, he felt a stirring beneath the surface of his right hand, a separating of the skin. He looked down. The edge of the Robundee blade, long forgotten about, peeked out from his flesh.
