Suddenly, a hollow clang echoed from the distance. They both looked down the long corridor only now to hear the rapid patter of footsteps.
“Declan!” her voice called from somewhere distant.
“Get in here,” Oscar whispered, tugging Declan into the dark room before closing the door, “That sounds like the ensign.”
“She’s looking for me,” he whispered.
“She was calling for a Declan.”
“Yeah, that’s my real name. She’s the one who’s been helping me.”
“Ensign Rowe? She’s evil,” Oscar sputtered, “You’re trying to tell me that she’s the one who told you all this stuff?”
Declan held up as his hand, though he doubted Oscar could see it in the pitch darkness. He pressed his ear to the door hoping to discern if she moved onward down the passageway.
“Yeah, but she’s not the real Ensign Rowe,” he replied in a whisper, “It’s a long story, so trust me on this.”
Suddenly the door opened, leaving Declan standing boldly in the spotlight from the hall.
“Declan and Oscar, you can come out now,” she said, “I’m not going to zap you two. It’s me, Taz.”
Declan turned to her, catching a view of the ensign standing with her arms crossed in the hallway. The dispassionate expression on her face in that moment disarmed him.
“How did you know we were in here?” Oscar asked, eying the woman suspiciously.
“I told you before, we know everything at all times,” she said, “Now get out here and follow me so we can talk somewhere more appropriate.”
Oscar seemed a little more reluctant than Declan to trust the ensign. Declan gestured Oscar to follow once he joined her in the corridor.
“Seriously Oscar, I knew her in the 21st century – at least I knew the woman who’s inside Ensign Rowe’s body. She knows too much to actually be anyone else,” Declan said.
Oscar followed at a distance while Declan explained everything that happened in the shuttle bay to Ensign Rowe. Even though she didn’t reply to anything, her expression betrayed her disapproval of their actions.
“Can you somehow rescue Tango and Golf back from wherever they took them?” Declan asked, following her back to the storage room.
“Hey, why are we coming back here?” Oscar asked.
“We’re coming back here because these halls are going to be swarming with guards in about ten minutes. I need you two to go back because if they ever realize you can come over to this side, we will lose all hope of achieving anything. Right now, you two did nothing more than run from the training session. You ran because you were best friends with Golf and Tango and it upset you too much – understandably so. This is the story you need to stick to,” she said, “Now get out of here while you still can. I’ll meet you back here tonight after dinner and we can talk about the rest of this.”
“What about Golf and Tango?” Oscar asked.
“You watched them die in the shuttle bay,” she explained.
“Die? I thought they were knocked unconscious,” Declan stated.
She shook her head, pushing them suggestively toward the corner of the storeroom where the hole was hidden.
“They exploded their shock implants, killing them immediately,” she said, “I’m sorry. I thought you realized that.”
Oscar and Declan stared at her. She waved them urgently toward the hole.
“Go now, we’ll talk later tonight,” she said.
. . .
Captain Ross ordered all the Indentures to meet in the recreation room shortly after Oscar and Declan turned themselves in. The room wasn’t really made to accommodate all the Indentures at the same time and it definitely wasn’t made as a room to conduct meetings, so the Indentures found themselves leaning on equipment or seated on tables or the floor.
Ensign Rowe stood near the captain while Declan and Oscar hovered near the door. The room was filled with a lot of hushed conversation which came to an abrupt halt the moment the captain cleared his throat.
“We have been faced with a precarious situation here and while it’s not really unexpected, it’s definitely not something that typically brings us all to a meeting,” the captain stated, “What I’m trying to say is this. We don’t tolerate insubordination of any kind. We don’t tolerate loose cannons, to use a quote from your era. Oscar and Foxtrot should not even be standing here in the same room as us right now, but maybe this was an unusual situation,
“Ensign Rowe informed me that Oscar, Foxtrot, and the two gentlemen who left us today had already developed a close friendship. Although their reactions to the events of earlier today were still uncalled for, they realized the error of their ways and turned themselves in. I believe perhaps that their request for mercy should be granted and therefore, I am changing their punishment from one of termination, to permanent banishment from the recreation room.”
The captain turned to Oscar and Declan, perhaps to gage their reactions. Although neither cared about the banishment, they quickly realized it would be in their best interest to feign disappointment.
“Banishment?” Declan asked, “But you’ve given us nothing else to occupy our time except what’s in this room.”
Oscar suppressed a grin, quickly lowering his head in a repentant manner.
“This room will emit an electric shock to you if you ever try to enter it again,” the captain stated, then turned back toward the remainder of the Indentures, “But I’m going to warn you that actions of the sort you’ve all witnessed today will not be tolerated any longer. We need a group of trustworthy people to establish the first colony on Hydrus. If you would like to be part of this history-making endeavor, then you need to get your act together.”
The captain turned abruptly and started out of the room. Then he paused a moment and turned to Declan who was still standing by the doorway.
“You have one minute to get out of here before you discover what it’s like to be fried from the inside out,” he snarled.
Declan maintained eye contact with the old man, wishing for a moment that he could snap his neck without risking anyone else’s lives in the process. He knew however that they would take out their anger on the others and somehow they’d be made to suffer. When Declan was ready, he was going to have to take on the whole crew or none at all.
. . .
“Ellie, how have you been doing?” Declan asked, taking the open seat next to her in the cafeteria.
Lima and Sierra were also sitting at the table eating their lunch while Juliet, or Ellie as he now knew her, took tiny nibbles of a slice of bread. Declan had selected the same two burritos as he had yesterday. He was already opening the burrito package before she acknowledged him in any way.
“I’m doing better,” she replied, “Can’t say I haven’t thought about shooting a bolt through our non-holographic leader’s chest.”
He snickered at that one, nodding a greeting to the two other women. He still hadn’t told Sierra who he really was and he wasn’t really sure he wanted to at the moment. For now, she was safe among a group of people who were just moving with the flow and that suited him just fine. If she joined him in his endeavors to fight the system, her life could be put in jeopardy.
“I know exactly what you’re saying. I’m surprised no one has killed the captain yet,” he replied.
“There’s a reason for that,” Sierra said, “Did you notice what happened after Tango shot Robin Hood? Our holographic instructor pretended to shrug it off, then made sure that the rest of the guys fired their crossbows – leaving all the weapons empty. Then he reprimanded him.”
“Good call!” Declan said, realizing why she might have been a good agent all along, “I didn’t catch that, but they might have been a little reckless when they subdued Alpha. He could have yanked the sword from the ground.”
“I doubt he believed he was dispensable,” Sierra said, “He acted like he was the ultimate drill sergeant. You know, the kind that even officers bow down to because they’re frigh
tened of that commanding voice.”
“True,” Declan said, taking a bite of his burrito, “I guess the lesson here is, we’re all dispensable and we should never let our guards down.”
“And we should keep an eye on everyone,” Ellie added, reaching over and taking Declan’s other burrito, “Where did you find this? I didn’t see it in the machine.”
“I don’t think there’s any system or method to how they load those machines. It’s mixed in with the snack crackers,” he said, “Take it. You need to start eating more than just bread. And when the time comes, I need some help fighting these guys when the real battle takes place.”
She laughed, “Oh, so you come sit with the women because we’re the ones you want fighting at your side instead of those men?”
“Actually, you’d be surprised,” he replied with a fleeting glance toward Sierra, “I used to be a martial arts instructor in my previous life and I’ve worked with some dangerous women.”
Sierra paused a moment, then gave Declan a questioning stare. He nodded. She mouthed the word “Stringfellow” and he replied by mouthing the word “Taz.” She smiled and in the back of his mind, he hoped that would be where it ended. More than anything, he didn’t want to get her involved this time.
. . .
Declan discovered that afternoon that he could probably find nothing more boring than “fishing training.” Without the use of fish or water, they spent two hours going over different ways to catch different kinds of fish. They taught everyone how to bait a hook and how to trail a fishing lure through the imaginary water so that it looks like a small fish.
All through the training, Declan made every attempt to avoid any contact with Sierra. As much as he’d like to get her involved, he also didn’t want to get her hurt. She, on the other hand, made even more attempts to contact him. He found himself trapped by the time they got to the video about how to gut a fish and cook it.
“I imagine you don’t remember, but we became friends that weekend while the cops guarded your bedside,” she whispered, sitting on the floor next to him while the video droned on, “I’m guessing it was my MRI that condemned you to this place.”
“Yeah,” he replied with a chuckle, “You’re the one who let me into the gates of hell.”
“I had no idea I held such power at my fingertips back then. All joking aside, I wonder how many others I condemned to this existence,” she said.
“All joking aside, it wasn’t you. You were doing a medical scan to help doctors diagnose people. The ‘bad guys’ are the ones who stole this information and used it in an ungodly fashion,” he said, “You don’t want to befriend me here though. I’ve got plans that aren’t… they aren’t good.”
She laughed a little too loud, causing the holographic Captain Ahab to turn and cock and eyebrow at her.
“I’m getting tired of our instructor changing his identity to corny characters from the past,” she whispered, “And to reply to your idiot comment, do you actually think I believed you had any plans that were good? You’re the crazy vigilante of Richland! Let me decide for myself.”
“No, I’ve got you into enough trouble as it is. There’s a lot you don’t even know,” he replied.
“I’m your stalker, Declan Stringfellow. I admire you more than you’ll ever know. I pulled your medical file when you showed up at the hospital that night because I worshipped you! Heck, we have the exact same birthday except ten years apart. You were meant to have me as a sidekick,” she said.
“March 10th?” he asked, peering over at her.
“Yep, except you’re old and I’m not.”
“Hey, we’re both twenty now,” he snickered.
“Exactly,” she replied as though she made her point.
9
After dinner, most of the Indentures either chose to spend their evening in the recreation room or to return to the shuttle bay. Declan and Oscar met in the shuttle bay where they chose to plug some crossbow projectiles into the sixty-five meter target.
Declan loaded a bolt into his crossbow while Oscar took his shot. They both watched his bolt sink nicely into the red target. Oscar knelt down to load another bolt.
“In all your times over there,” Oscar said, referring to the crew’s portion of the ship, “Have you ever seen anyone? I mean besides Captain Ross or Ensign Rowe?”
Declan took his shot, his bolt sinking into the corner of the square target.
“Just one other guy – the one who made these amulets,” Declan replied.
“Don’t you find that a bit odd? I can count the non-indentures on one hand and so can you. We’ve been there during the day and you’ve been there at night,” he said, “I think there’s a lot that Rowe isn’t telling you.”
Declan knelt down next to Oscar and placed his bow on the floor.
“I agree. You know what really bothers me? She said that they know where we are at all times, yet here we are sneaking through a hole in my wall into a restricted portion of the ship. If she knows where to find us, then so does the captain and that security team who keeps killing our people. They know where we’ve been and no one seems to care,” he said.
Oscar drew his amulet from his shirt and examined the little scroll. He lifted the chain over his head and held it out to Declan.
“What if this is protecting us from being seen by the captain or the rest of the crew. Maybe only Rowe can see us,” he said.
“A good theory, but there’s one problem. I went through the hole and wandered all over that portion of the ship without this on that first night,” Declan added, “If she can somehow find me at all times, then so can that whole crew. I wonder why they don’t care where I’ve been going and what I’ve been doing.”
“I’m willing to sacrifice my amulet to see what’s inside this piece of tin,” Oscar said, spinning the thing before him.
“I have two more in my pocket,” Declan said, patting the side of his pants, “If they really are a necessity, I could give you another.”
Oscar grinned, then got up and took one of the practice swords from the crate. He placed the amulet on top of one of the other crates and raised the sword above his head.
“What if it’s an explosive?” Declan asked.
Oscar paused a moment, “We have that explosive shocker in our bodies already, so an external explosive would be useless.”
He brought the sword down onto the amulet, caving the cylinder in completely. Declan picked it up and examined it, then set it back onto the crate, this time rotating it ninety degrees so the dented in portion faced the wall.
“Try again. You crushed whatever electronics it had inside anyway, but I want to see inside,” Declan said.
Oscar chopped it again, this time defying its integrity and sending a portion sailing to the floor several feet away. Declan grabbed the chain from the crate, expecting to see something fall from the amulet. Nothing did, however.
“Explosives inside?” Oscar asked, watching Declan lift the amulet.
“No, it’s a hollow tube,” he replied, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What about the other piece? Where did it land?”
Oscar located it a few feet away. He picked it up discovering that it too was empty.
“So, what does this mean?” Oscar asked, carelessly tossing the trinket over his shoulder.
“I think it means we’ve been played like a couple of stupid puppets,” Declan replied, spinning the chain on his finger, “And I think it’s time to get to the bottom of this.”
. . .
If Charlie and Delta had any reservations about Oscar and Foxtrot rushing through their bedroom and into the bathroom together, they never vocalized them. Even as Declan flung the spare rolls of toilet paper from beneath the sink, they heard no commotion coming from the bedroom.
“What happens if your roommates see this?” Oscar asked.
“I don’t really think it matters anymore,” Declan replied, removing the back panel.
They both shimmied through the hole.
No one showed up to hinder their progress through the storage room. The passageway outside the storage room remained as silent and untraveled as it had previously in the day.
“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Oscar asked, keeping pace with Declan.
“I’m betting all the important places are upstairs,” he replied, “She brought me up two flights of stairs the last time, but unfortunately, I didn’t leave a trail of breadcrumbs in this crazy maze.”
They raced through the corridors, searching for stairwells. After traversing nearly a half-dozen passageways, they discovered a stairwell that appeared to ascend several levels. Declan paused, raising his hand in a gesture requesting silence. Oscar halted his progress, listening at the base of the stairwell.
“I thought I heard something,” Declan whispered, then turned quickly to Oscar, “What’s your real name?”
Still staring up the flight of stairs, Oscar grinned, “Brodie Walters. Why are you asking?”
“I’m Declan Stringfellow,” he said, reaching out to shake his hand, “If things get bad, I’d rather know the real person. It’s nice to meet you, Brodie.”
They shook hands, “Nice to meet you too, Declan. Now, let’s find out what’s going on here before they kill us.”
Declan replied with a nod before sprinting up the stairs. They raced up six flights of stairs before a door sounded in the distance. They stopped suddenly. The echo of footsteps on the stairs followed.
“Is it above or below?” Oscar whispered.
Declan was about to reply when the familiar voice came from above them, “Guys, I said we’d meet tonight.”
The ensign picked up her pace, the echoes drawing closer from above. Declan shrugged to answer Oscar’s questioning glance.
“Security is on its way and I don’t have authority over them. I can’t protect you,” she hollered, turning at the landing above them.
The Mystic Saga Omnibus (Books 1 - 5) Page 7
