by Celeste Raye
They sat in silence for the rest of the trip. Eventually, the hovercraft set them down in front of a massive building with a crumbling limestone and granite façade. They exited the hovercraft and Talon expected that they would go into the building, but instead, Jessica headed down the street without a word.
Talon fell into step behind her and then caught up. He opened his mouth to ask her where they were going but before he could her elbow brushed gently against his arm and she sent a pointed gaze in his direction. Then her eyes drifted upward just a bit to the right.
He let his eyes make a casual sweep of the terrain, and he quickly spotted the surveillance nodules located along the street. She waited until several large and noisy crafts were going over to lean into his body, “We must take the grates. I am warning you that this is very dangerous and to have your weapons drawn as soon as we enter.”
He whispered back, “You did not have to tell me that.”
Every instinct in his body and brain was telling him that there was danger lurking very near. He could practically smell it.
They stepped into a building that bore a vast and colorful awning bearing the words Hotelier Honnist Toronto. Talon did not have time to register anything about the place because just as quickly as they had stepped into it, Jessica had him by the hand and stepping out of a small side door, one so hidden by a large plant that it was barely even noticeable.
They stood in a filthy alley. Garbage piled into the neatly marked receptacles sent a terrific and foul odor into the air. Jessica tilted her head right and left and then sighed, “They have not yet put surveillance nodules here. They’re too afraid if they do the good citizens of above will see what is right below them in the tunnels and then they will have to explain why they let such wealthy and privileged people live above such danger.”
He asked, “How do they not smell it?”
Her smile was bitter. “Oh, they live in the rarefied air, don’t you know? Besides, the terra rats are allergic to sunlight, and the houses don’t dump their trash here. Their trash goes out through a system of compo flushes that don’t have pipes that come down here. Instead, it lands on the trash crawlers, and it is dumped down here daily.”
Talon’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “So you are saying that they just built this place to be a dump site? Why do they not reuse their trash?”
Jessica gave him a steely smile. “That has never been something this planet has ever given a damn about.”
That annoyed him for some reason. Most planets had a system of reusing waste, using it to power their fuel stations, which in turn provided energy to ship and to dwellings and the like. Or they ground the organic and reused it in the ground, or they flash fired it into small chunks that could be then crushed and used as a base for other things, including dwelling building.
To just leave so much garbage lying around like this? It was not only disgusting, it was wasteful. He found himself wondering if Old Earth was even worth saving at all. It looked like a place where the Gorlites would feel right at home.
His gut tightened, and he paused as that thought hit home.
The Gorlites would feel right at home among all that trash and in those tunnels and…and had whoever had worked to give them that Planet known that all along? Had the Gorlites taking over Old Earth always been the end game?
It was highly possible, and not just possible either: it was probable.
Talon’s hands went to the weapons he had secreted away. Jessica also drew weapons. His eyes scanned the alley again. On one side it led back to the street; on the other, it led to a tall, smooth concrete wall, the kind of stone that had been outlawed on other planets many centuries ago due to its toxic properties.
Jessica moved toward a rusted grate that covered much of the ground by the concrete wall. His eyes went upward, assessing the sides of the building. The sides were also smooth and blank; no windows were present there.
He had a feeling that Jessica knew this place very well and had chosen it specifically because there were no windows that anyone could look down from and see them, and because the mass of people walking on the street just beyond didn’t seem to notice the crooked and narrow little alley long enough to bother looking down it.
Jessica went to the grate. She drew it upward, and it loosened a rusty screech that made his eyes go back to the street again, but the pedestrians still moved onward, oblivious to the two in the alley.
Jessica said, “Stay with me, Talon. Stay on the ropes. If you fall, I will lay down cover until you can get back on the ropes, and I hope you do the same for me.”
His shoulders tensed. What could possibly be down there? Whatever it was, the stench was unbearable! He could smell it wafting upward from the hole.
Jessica went in, and he followed her, one hand clapping to his nose and mouth to fight off a wave of sickness as the smell hit him full on. Jessica, her eyes streaming and her hand waving in front of her face, said, “I know. It is terrible. I wish there was another way, but this is the way we must go.”
Talon found his humor. “Whatever lies on the other side of this, Jessica, it better be good.”
She gave him a slanted smile. “It is. I promise.”
They stood on a shivering rope bridge. Talon’s eyes took a quick scan of the bridge, and his heart sank a little bit more. There was danger, and then there was stupidity. They were on a bridge made of rope that was clearly rotting away, and they were standing on that bridge in what looked to be an endless and vast cavern filled with mountains of refuse.
“What the hell is this place?”
“Hell about sums it up,” Jessica returned. “Come on. The faster we move, the faster we’ll be done here.”
She moved ahead of him, and he followed her. He was watching her, paying attention to every place she put her foot and steeling himself for the moment that he would have to reach out a hand and grab her as the rope bridge broke beneath her feet. He was so sure that bridge was going to break that he found himself plotting which mountain of garbage he could land the most softly in order not to fall to the floor so far below that was not littered with trash and would probably cause every bone in his body to break.
Time stood still again. Talon had been through a great deal of things in his lifetime: too many things. But nothing could have prepared him for that walk through garbage and waste.
And nothing absolutely nothing could have prepared him for the terra-rats.
“They only attack you if they smell your fear. So I would suggest that you don’t be afraid of them.”
Talon’s eyebrows went up. He shot the feral, hissing and repulsive creatures scurrying up the mounds of garbage a black look. “Can they smell disgusted? I’m not afraid of them, but I sure am disgusted.”
Jessica walked faster. “I don’t know, but I do know that if you are the tiniest bit afraid of them, they will swarm you. All those that you see down there, those dozens, they’re just a small percentage of the ones that are here. Once several swarm, they all swarm. They eat their prey.”
Talon said, “Now I’m really disgusted.”
Jessica said, “I’ve learned to hold in my fear but only for so long. I hate them. I hate them so much, and I fear them too. I am terrified of them in fact, and if we don’t move faster and get away from them, I may give them cause to attack us.”
Talon’s eyes went from the rats to Jessica’s back. Her shoulders were up high, and her arms held close to her sides. Her weapons were clutched tightly in her hands, and she walked so fast that the bridge swung sickeningly below their feet.
Why was she so frightened of them? He understood that they could kill. But he had seen her face down far worse enemies without flinching.
They reached a tall steel ladder. Jessica went up it, climbing with agility and speed, and he followed her easily.
Jessica said, “I need some help opening this.”
The door was a sealed solid metal with old-fashioned spokes that had to be turned in order for the door to open
. It was heavy, and the spokes were thick with rust that flaked off and dripped orange dust down onto their boots and the legs of their trousers.
Below them, the rats began to fight each other. The sounds of their snarling, bloodied battle sent shivers working up Jessica’s spine. Talon saw those shivers, saw the small quaking in her flesh, and he reached a hand out and laid it on her shoulders. “Take a deep breath. It’s fine.”
She looked at him and whispered, “I don’t want to breathe this air anymore.”
With those words, the door finally came open, revealing a long and wide tunnel that was thankfully clean and very well lit. It took both of them to close the door again and to turn the locking mechanism that would hold it shut against the rats and whatever else might be lurking down there in that garbage.
Their footsteps echoed on the heavy metal floor. That tunnel branched into a large open space from which ran a series of other tunnels. Jessica took one to the right, and he moved alongside her, his entire body on high alert.
They came to yet another door. There was a vast screen and monitor system beside it. Jessica pressed her palm into an identification bay and the door slid open with a pneumatic whine.
The handsome black-haired, blue-eyed man sitting behind a simple wooden desk that had nothing on it gave them a friendly smile, but there was nothing friendly about the mega blaster that he had leveled in their direction.
He spoke one word. “Jessica?”
Jessica cried out, “Yori! They didn’t find you after all!”
Yori stood. His body was impressively fit and strong below his plain coveralls. The blaster stayed level. “It seems the one that they tortured to try to find out who ran this operation never spoke on that subject. I owe you one for that, Jessica.”
Talon looked from him to Jessica. They obviously knew each other had been allies at one time, but had they been something more? The smile on Jessica’s face was beautiful.
Her next words made a small spiral of jealousy work its way through Talon’s body. “How could I ever betray you, of all people? You are the only one that I actually owed any loyalty at all to. I kept my silence even when some of the names that I should and could have named had already named me. Our palace, the one you and I built, they could never breach it.”
Palace? Talon surveyed the other man carefully. He had a palace? And one that he had built with Jessica? The jealousy grew, coalescing as he realized that she might have brought him to meet the human man who could not only aid them, but who might very well be the reason why she didn't care about him.
Yori said, “You came through the garbage tunnels.”
Jessica said, “You are still watching then.”
He nodded. “Of course I am. They are still sending those who live below to their deaths in those tunnels. I know firsthand how deadly those tunnels are, not that anyone will ever let me speak on the subject in a public forum.”
Talon said, “We need some assistance.”
He knew he was butting in and improbably breaking some kind of protocol, but the time was short. If the Gorlites truly were being given Old Earth and were on their way there now, they had to act fast.
Yori’s cold blue eyes turned to Talon’s face. “Why else would you be here? Nobody would brave those tunnels unless they truly needed me.”
Jessica said, “We have intel that leads us to believe that there are those within the Federation working to overthrow it. I personally could not care less about the Federation, but that same intel also claims that Old Earth is to be given over to the Gorlites, and fast.”
Talon expected the other man to show surprise or anger. He expected him to be shocked or startled. Instead, Yori startled both him and Jessica by saying, “Yes. It is true. The Gorlites will be arriving in a matter of two days.”
Chapter 9:
Jessica stepped backward. Her mouth hung open. “How could you know that?”
Yori said, “I know everything. I’m the one who gave you that information, Jessica. Perhaps you don’t remember that. Maybe, when I built that memory palace in your mind, I forgot to include myself within it.”
Talon asked, “Memory palace?”
Yori said, in an absent tone, “It is an old-world memory trick. Listen, Jessica. I have already begun to do my best to clear those from below that need my help the most. I have run of ships that are already smuggling out hundreds of people every day, but even I can only do so much.”
Jessica said, “Yori, sending a few hundred people off a planet at a time is not going to save this planet or its people. We have to do more!”
He finally set the blaster down, but within a very easy reach. His eyes went from Jessica to Talon, and his lips thinned. “What do you mean we? I have been right here, fighting to help those below since the day I met you, Jessica. I have risked everything to help topple the system and to save lives, and you are standing there telling me that we have to do more? As I recall, you are the one who has been gone.”
“Not through any fault of my own!” Her voice rose again. “Goddammit, Yori, they are turning this planet over to the Gorlites and we—”
“We can’t save everyone.” Yori’s tone was flat. His eyes went to Talon. “I am so sorry. It seems we have not been formally introduced. I’m Yori. Leader of whatever resistance is left, which is not much since the Capos broke the back of the network.”
Talon heard Jessica’s indrawn breath. His eyes turned to her just in time to see her go deathly pale. She staggered forward, one hand flattening on the top of the desk. Her voice was a croak. “What do you mean?”
Yori stared at her. “You don’t know?”
Her head shook side to side. Talon wanted to reach out a hand and steady her, but he still was not sure if there was a personal relationship between her and Yori and if there was he did not want to intrude upon it.
Jessica swallowed hard. “Tell me what happened.”
Yori sighed. “They found most of our best and put them to death. Quietly of course. They interrogated many, but since none had a chance to escape once captured, I don’t know what was given up. I do know that the lower tunnels were searched thoroughly so someone must have spoken on that part of it. They did find the door to this place, but naturally, when they arrived they found nothing but empty rooms.”
“Because you were watching,” Jessica muttered.
“I am always watching.” Yori’s fingers went to his temples. “I only came here today because someone spotted you at the hub. I knew you would come here and I had to either warn you to get out or kill you if you were a traitor now.”
Talon held his breath. His eyes went from one to the other. Jessica straightened. Her voice was a rasp. “We need an army, Yori.”
“You won’t find one here. Those from below won’t fight for the most part, and those that will are too few. The above grounders will be too busy fighting for space on the Federation ships, and they will want to make damn sure to carry as much of their wealth with them as they can too. There will not be room for those below so…so they will die at the hands of the Gorlites, or be sold off to whatever slaver ships want them while the war wages. The only thing we can do is take as many off as possible as fast as possible before the above grounders know what is about to happen.”
Jessica’s voice was bitter. “You know most already do.”
He nodded. “I do. Still, there is no way they are going to warn the below grounders.”
Talon asked, “Then why don’t we warn them?”
Yori slid his eyes to Talon. Talon locked his gaze onto Yori’s and didn’t blink or look away. Yori’s icy eyes were equally steady, and the tension drew out. Talon knew part of it was his jealousy. He wanted Jessica for himself, and she might already belong to this charismatic human. The other part of it went deeper.
Talon spoke. “I am from Revant. My planet was murdered by the Federation, and my family was killed by Gorlites. But before any of that happened, there were good and wise rulers who argued against taking action, w
ho argued the do the best we can, and hope for the best tactic. That was a wrong move. Most of my race is dead now, and those that remain have either become citizens on other planets or, if they were truly lucky, they are on the private planet my siblings and I purchased for a new homeland.
“My siblings and I were sold by the Gorlites, and right to the Federation. We slaved for decades in the mines. I watched my people die from hunger and thirst and overwork, from the poison dust and the burning crust of the mining planet. I know you want to save your people, I do. I also know you’re facing the decision of how many it is possible to save versus fighting a war that would kill a huge number of your people, many of whom may be reluctant to fight, especially against the Gorlites.
“I am willing to fight them. I have been doing my best to kill that whole race off for years, and I will fight with you. But I need an army, Yori. We need an army and the best way to get an army is not to hide the truth of what is about to happen, but to tell the population so those who would face death bravely may fight for those who can or will not.”
He fell silent. Yori’s fingers stroked along the butt of the blaster, and his eyes dropped.
Jessica said, “Yori, there has to be a way to make people know. You have all the tech available and all the information. We had a plan to use the system to take the system down once, remember?”
Talon’s ears perked up. “You mean like a telecasting system? A system the population can tap into? Even those below ground?”
Yori said, “Yes but there’s a problem. We don’t have the tech anymore. The ones who could have patched into it and used the tech to beam that transmission are all dead or imprisoned.”
Talon looked at Jessica. His forehead creased. “How many of yours are in prison, Yori?”
“Three dozen. The rest, about sixty, are dead.”
