by Ann Bakshis
The first mortar hits the entrance, the guards’ quarters, and the weapons storage. As the walls attached to the Cylinder pull away due to the collapse, I see prisoners who elected to stay, dangling from steel rods, trying to arrest their fall. Others run out from the main floor, but since there isn’t any vegetation they don’t have any cover, and are killed by ground forces that are flanking in from the west.
“We need to take out the soldiers on the ground so the vehicles can get away,” Braxton says from a speaker by my head.
“How far away are they? We can use a Quantum mortar,” I say, adjusting the scope so I can see the retreating carriages.
“They’re traveling at a pretty fast pace, but there are assault vehicles approaching from the south,” Tobin says. “They’ll overtake the carriages faster than the soldiers.”
“Maneuver us over them,” I say, unbuckling myself from my seat. “Lehen, meet me in the right hold.”
I feel the airship rise higher as it moves forward, getting into position. Lehen meets me at the base of the ladder.
“Trea,” Tobin says over my head, “you’ll need to secure a mortar to the drop line before opening the shaft underneath it. If it’s not tied on, it won’t activate when it’s released.”
I look around at the cages and see the line he’s talking about. Lehen reaches for it while I readjust the position of the mortar as it shifted. The top of the mortar is capped. I twist the cap off, exposing three rings inside that need to be secured to the drop line. It takes us a few seconds to secure each. We step back over by the entrance. Lehen lifts a panel on the wall, and presses the hatch button to open.
“Ready!” I shout over the sound of the turbines.
“On one!” Tobin shouts back. “Three…two…one!”
Lehen releases the device, the drop line pulls the rings out of the mortar, and the device is armed. He quickly closes the hatch as Tobin veers sharply right. The explosion from the air is not as massive as it is on the ground. I climb back up the ladder and watch as soldiers turn to dust. Those still alive begin retreating.
Vier fires his cannon at one of the airships, striking it in the center. He fires again, splitting the craft in two. It crashes some meters to our right, away from the complex. Tobin has to sharply veer us to the left to avoid a debris cloud rising swiftly into the sky. The other airship sees us and fires their cannon. Tobin dives and banks the craft left. The violent maneuver knocks me into the cannon, banging my head against the metal frame. Lehen moans below as he, too, was knocked off his feet.
“We need to engage that last craft,” I say. “Tobin, head south, away from the carriages.”
Our airship changes course, going south. I can’t see the other aerial unit. Above my head are two monitors, so I turn them on. One shows the ground beneath us, the other displays the craft behind us, gaining. Tobin shifts left, turning sharply as a cannon blast narrowly misses us.
“Tobin,” Lehen says beneath me, “fly us over the downed airship. If we drop a mortar, it could ignite the others it’s carrying, giving us some cover so we can approach the ship and fire upon it.”
“Let’s hope so,” Tobin responds.
I start climbing back down the ladder, but Lehen stops me. “Stay there. I can handle this. When Tobin places the craft in position, you’ll need to fire the cannon.”
I return to my seat, buckle myself back in, and look through the scope.
“Ready!” Lehen shouts a few moments later.
“Same count!” Tobin responds. “Three…two…one!”
The mortar is released.
Tobin climbs, getting us out of radar visual range of the aerial unit. The mortar hits its target, igniting the other weapons on board. The debris cloud is large. Tobin swings us so we’re approaching the other airship head on. I don’t wait for the dust to settle before firing. The small alcove I sit in is blindingly bright from the light from my stream. The Levin ball fired from the cannon shines like the sun, destroying the airship in one strike.
“What do we do about the people on the ground?” Piran asks as I retake my seat next to him.
“Vladim has sensors on all the aerial units that go off if they’ve been damaged. The army will regroup and advance again,” Tobin answers, flying us away from the Reformatory. “We need to get those carriages on better terrain. There’s a shuttle access ramp about five hours east of here. The rails will take the transport into the checkpoint station on the outskirts of the Acheron Factory Borough.”
“We need to figure out our best approach before we get there,” Lehen adds.
We locate the group of transports thirty minutes later after losing sight of them during our battle. We fly ahead of the group and land. The Regulators and prisoners stretch their legs and nibble on a little food that we provide from our Tartarus transport. The rest of us gather under the airship to discuss our strategy for getting into Acheron.
“If they see a shuttle coming down the rail, they’ll get suspicious since I doubt any have been running since Vladim took over,” Vier says.
“Is it wise to just attack from one area?” Bevan asks. “We could get annihilated before ever breaking through the fences.”
“How many soldiers do you think we’ll have to deal with?” Lehen inquires.
“It’s not just soldiers,” I say. “There are Hostem also. Plus the city is surrounded by detonators.”
“Well, the airship can get us over that.”
“There isn’t any place to land it,” Braxton states. “The only way to get close is either by water, or if they’ve reconstructed the rail line, by shuttle.”
“Say we do get into Acheron,” Draken says. “Then what?”
I look over at Tobin, wondering if he knows who’s in charge. He becomes uncomfortable at my staring, pulling his collar away from his neck as he begins to sweat.
“We find the new High Ruler,” I say. “I have a feeling I know who it is, and she won’t turn against Vladim.”
Tobin glances at me. I can tell by the look that he does know…and it is Kedua.
Maybe it’s wrong to go after Acheron. I’ve lost sight of why I really wanted to get into Sirain, kill Vladim and rescue Grainne.
Grainne. What could they have done to her by now? Is she still alive? Where is she?
I stand up and walk away from the group, my thoughts colliding in my mind. I climb into the transport, dig through my backpack, and retrieve the journal. Sitting on a bench, I flip through the pages, looking for any place I think Vladim might likely be holding her.
“What are you doing?” Braxton asks, sitting on the bench next to me.
“Thinking about Grainne. I got so caught up in what we were doing, that I’d forgotten why I really wanted to come back.”
“Is that what you would rather do than go to Acheron?”
“I don’t know what I want to do.” I lean my head on his shoulder.
“Well, no matter where Grainne is, it will be highly secured, so we would need a large force to go in and get her.”
“We have that.”
“Yes, but where could we safely go afterwards? We can’t get back into Tartarus, not like they’d take us back anyway. We would need the protection of Acheron, so I say that is where we go.”
I know he’s right, but I’m still anxious to help Grainne. I’m not willing to give up that idea. We rejoin the group, pass the journal around, and come up with a strategy. The first target will be the inspection post just outside the Factory Borough. Taking this will give us a line of communications to the other Boroughs, and possibly the Regulators in the city. We decide to leave after sunset, so we tell everyone to get as much rest as possible now. Braxton feels going in during the night will give us the advantage. As usual, my mind is too active to allow me to sleep. Instead, I sit on the floor of the transport thinking of all the ways this incursion can possibly fail.
An hour before we leave, everyone changes places to fit the strategy we’ve come up with. Vier, Lehen, and I will be
riding in the lead carriage. Everyone else, who had been in there, are redistributed to the other carriages, the Tartarus transport, and the airship. Draken gives Vier a brief lessen in driving the shuttle car. Once it’s engaged onto the rail, the self-navigation will take over, so it’s not a difficult thing to master. The remaining eleven vehicles will attach to the rail a half-hour after us. Bevan will drive the transport with Piran and as many prisoners that can fit inside. Braxton will keep an eye on us in the aerial unit, with Tobin and Draken.
I sit next to Vier in the front. Lehen takes a seat behind the partition, but I leave the door open so he can see through the windshield. As we move forward, I wait to see if the windows lining the carriage will change as they do when attached to the shuttle rail. As I suspected, the same false images fed to the residents of the cities to keep them ignorant of the truth, show up on the windows here as well. The burnt landscape we’re driving on changes into a soft field of grass, waving in winds that don’t exist.
CHAPTER 19
We arrive at the on-ramp just after midnight. Once secured to the rail, our speed picks up considerably, meaning we should reach the checkpoint in under two hours. Braxton is hoping that when the soldiers see the carriage approach, they’ll shut down the power. This will keep the other carriages from continuing their approach, which will be to our advantage. The normal amount of Regulators at the checkpoint is four, so we’re hoping that the army is using the same amount.
Vier turns off the interior lights when we’re twenty minutes away. I look out towards the east where the lake should be, but see only darkness, due to the overcast sky. I remember Thomas and Claire, wondering if their little village has been affected by the invasion, hoping they’re all right.
The carriage comes to a sudden stop five minutes from the checkpoint. Vier tries to switch to manual, but the electricity has stopped flowing down the rail.
“Now what?” Lehen asks.
“How far off the ground are we?” I ask Vier.
“One hundred feet.”
Spotlights shine down on us. We dive for cover as an aerial unit searches for life inside our vehicle. We stay low, under the seats, as the unit comes closer, almost bumping the side of the carriage with its nose. The airship backs up, but stays at our height, then the spotlights go off. I wave for Lehen to crawl along the floor towards us, because I anticipate what’s about to happen. Moments later, cannon fire rips open the back end of the carriage. Another series of blasts take out the middle section.
More cannon fire erupts overhead, but this time it’s coming from our airship. The other craft turns to pursue ours while Vier, Lehen, and I try to figure out how to get out of the damaged vehicle. The only way I can see us getting to the checkpoint is on foot, running atop the rail.
I apply pressure to the windshield, my body glowing as the stream rocks the glass back and forth, finally breaking it. Vier climbs out first, followed by Lehen, and I’m last. Our weapons drawn before we take a step forward.
The rail is two feet wide. We have to travel slowly at first, as the height, especially in the dark, is disorienting. Once we’re confident in our footing, we pick up the pace. The airships have moved west, and the sky is ablaze with Quantum fire. A bright ball of orange catches our attention, halting us. One of the airships has crashed to the ground. I’m hoping beyond anything, that it isn’t ours. Vier yells at us to keep moving. We run faster. The surviving airship turns right and begins its approach towards us, then veers to the left and fires at the carriage, destroying what remains. Its fragments fall from the rail onto the earth below.
The aircraft continues heading north, following the rail line, perhaps looking for other carriages. I try not to think about what might happen to the others once that airship sees them. I don’t think about Braxton, and keep my mind focused on the task at hand. It takes us a little over ten minutes to reach the security fencing blocking the rail into the checkpoint. The hum of the electricity running along the side of the rail is loud.
“The gate is electrified,” Vier says. “I can see the energy wrapping itself around the wire mesh.”
I look ahead to see the station platform just a few meters away, only a few lights are lit. Three soldiers are visible in the windows.
At least the number is low, like we’d hoped.
I take my Levin gun and shoot the gate. Sparks fly and the humming stops. Lehen cautiously opens the gate. We step past and jump onto the platform as soon as we’re close. An alarm is already ringing inside the station. The monitor outside the entrance to the building displays an approaching shuttle, our shuttle, consisting of eleven cars.
“Shit,” Lehen says.
We move quickly.
Lehen breaks down the door as Vier and I fire at the soldiers. I scramble to locate the alarm and disable it just as the shuttle pulls into the station. Vier steps outside and meets the Regulators as they step from the carriage.
“What happened?” one asks, entering the checkpoint.
Lehen gives a brief synopsis.
“Well, the aerial unit that went down was Tyrean. Braxton radioed us that he was moving on ahead with the transport to the south entrance of the Borough,” the Regulator informs us.
“Then why did they shoot the carriage?” Vier asks, joining us.
“To clear the tracks. Your carriage was the only one stopped. The rest would’ve collided with it when they approached.”
I wonder how he knew we were out of the vehicle. Did he even think about that before giving the order to fire?
I give the Regulator a quizzical look. “Braxton knew you three weren’t in the carriage,” he answers in response to the look. “Tobin saw you running along the rail.”
Another Regulator joins us, sits down at the controls, and begins trying various frequencies to raise someone in the city.
“Can you deactivate the detonators from here?” I ask.
“No. That can only be done from Superior Rhodes’ office in the security building in the city.”
“That’s if Superior Rhodes is still alive,” the other Regulator adds.
An hour later, and still no one will respond to our calls.
“Do you have anyone in the Underground?” I ask.
“What’s that?” Lehen asks.
“It’s where anyone immoral and depraved go for some medicinal relaxation, gambling, and whoring,” the Regulator at the controls answers.
“Please try it,” I insist.
“Substation Three, do you copy?” he speaks into the microphone on the console. “Substation Three, is anyone there?”
“Mack, is that you?” a quiet male voice answers.
“Yes, Ian, it’s me.”
“We thought rescue was never coming,” Ian says, sighing in obvious relief.
“What’s going on?”
“We’ve been trapped down here so long, I don’t even know what month it is.”
“Ian, what happened?”
“They’d been spending years recruiting others. We weren’t prepared.”
I place my hand over the microphone. “Get someone else.”
Mack nods, and clears his throat as I remove my hand. “Ian, is there anyone else down there with you?”
“Yes, the High Ruler is down here. He’s the reason we’re all still alive.”
“That’s not possible,” I blurt out. “He was killed a month ago.”
“Always underestimating me, aren’t you, Trea,” Artemis’ voice sings out over the speakers. “I told you, my Superior of Communications was very skilled at distorting the truth.”
“How?” I ask.
“I’ll tell you, but first get us out of here!” he shouts. “The transmission is probably being monitored, so I’m turning ours off.”
The line goes dead.
“Now what?” Mack asks.
“We need to get to the loading docks for the city. From there we can get into the Underground.”
“There are detonators all over the water. How do we get past
them?”
“Braxton told me earlier that you can navigate around them if you know the pattern.”
“Well that’s great, but the only problem is he’s off in the aerial unit.”
“So, call him from the shuttle. We need to know if he found a way into the Borough anyway.”
One Regulator leaves, returning several minutes later with news. “Braxton and the transport were able to locate a torn section of fencing up in the northern section. It’s just a few meters north of here. We’ll take the stairs down to the ground and walk.”
The Regulators go and collect everyone from the carriages. The staircase is located in the center of the security room of the platform, and Vier, Lehen, and I lead the way. Once at the bottom we go east till we’re near the fence, then make our way north. The transport is waiting for us at the large section of fencing that looks to have been chewed through.
“I wonder what happened here,” Lehen says.
We push on, the transport leading the way. The airship is several miles in from the fence line, sitting by a group of burned out cottages. My heart falls. I know this area.
Although, Braxton is only a few feet away from me, my rage and frustration make me scream at him. “Where are they?”
He comes up to me, a weird expression on his face. “Who?”
“This is the Bejaardes camp, correct? Where are the elders who live here?”
“Did you know someone?”
Yes! I scream in my head, but the words won’t come out.
I run past him, towards the ruins, specifically to Claire’s house. She and Thomas were kind to Quin and me when we were here. Only the shell of her house is left, but I smell it. The distinct odor of death. There are only pieces of bone scattered around. They must be of her, or the others who lived here.
Anger and sadness slam against each other in my head. I feel my body heat up, the stream awakening, but there is nothing to be done now. Frustration, and a new resolve to hold the guilty responsible burn inside me beside the Quantum Stream. I walk back to the group who are huddled together working on our plan to enter the main part of the Borough.
