“I don’t know. I’ve been asking myself the same thing. I’m thinking now he was waiting to see if I could transport myself.” Yana rubbed his temples with both hands as he went over and over the situation again and again in his mind, hoping he hadn’t misread things.
“Are you sure Sean was capable of transporting?”
Aaron asked.
“He was. I mean, he knew how. He passed all the conditional stress tests or they never would have let him go on a mission.”
“So you’re thinking someone took him? Isn’t it possible he just couldn’t transport for some reason and he’s waiting there for you to come back for him?” Aaron’s voice had a strain of hope in it.
“I suppose that’s possible, but this race has been kidnapping humans for years.”
“So even if he is all right, unharmed, he’s in great danger. And we have no other information on this race as to why they take humans?” Aaron asked.
Yana sighed deeply. “This group is humanoid and they take humans because theirs is a dying race. Their population is very small and there have been no natural births for decades. They kidnap human men and women, harvest eggs and sperm and create babies in their labs.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Aaron said.
“Except that after they harvest all they can, they dispose of the victim.”
“Hmmmmm,” Aaron mused. “That doesn’t make much sense. If they kept the human alive they could continue harvesting.”
“The victims are given something to massively increase their output and once that’s done, it can’t be repeated. Then they become ‘organ donors’.” Yana’s stomach knotted.
A long stretch of silence followed, neither saying their trip could be for naught. Sean could already be dead.
Yana struggled with that grim possibility.
“It’s going to be at least another six hours before we reach our destination. I’m going to try and sleep some.”
Yana lowered the back of his seat to a reclining position.
“Do you really think we can find him?” Aaron asked.
“I won’t quit until I do,” Yana said before he closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.
The shuttle docked and Aaron jerked awake. He looked around, seeing several other crafts of various shapes and sizes parked in their general vicinity. “Where are we?”
he whispered.
“Spaceport Alpha,” Yana answered, his fingertips running over the instrument panel before he stood up to leave while everything shut down.
Yana filled him in. “I know you’ve never been in this sector, but it’s not so different from the others. This is a neutral port by designation, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a dangerous place. Nobody asks any questions and everyone pretty much comes and goes as they please. If you get in any trouble here, there will likely as not, be no one to help.”
They made their way through the busy port and Aaron watched many different species make their way to and from the different crafts, nobody paying any particular attention to anyone else.
“Where’re we headed?” Aaron asked when they descended a long ramp that took them down many levels.
“Information,” Yana said as they entered an elevator that took them down even lower at an amazing rate of speed.
“How deep are we? I almost lost my dinner there.”
“Don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Down this way.”
Yana led the way, following a long corridor filled with doors along each side. Stopping in front of one, Yana knocked.
“How do you know this is the right door? They all look alike to me and I don’t see any numbers or markings of any kind. How do you know which door is which?”
“How do I know? I can smell him! This is Hastings’s room all right,” Yana answered and knocked the second time.
The door slid open and they entered a small sitting room. In moments they were joined by Hastings. Barely humanoid in appearance and shape but with an elongated face covered with brown hair and two pointed ears sitting atop his head. Aaron’s mouth dropped open.
“Is he still there?” Yana asked him.
“He is,” Hastings replied.
“Any further word?” Yana asked.
“None,” Hastings answered, eyeing Aaron suspiciously.
Yana turned to leave and had to nudge Aaron.
“Come on,” he urged and left the room.
“That’s it?”
“Uh huh. Hastings doesn’t talk much and he doesn’t like strangers.”
“I could tell. It looked like he was trying to decide whether to slug me or bite my leg,” Aaron answered as they headed back for the elevator.
“His information is always reliable.”
“And how do you repay him? Toss him a bone or scratch him behind the ears?”
“He is supplied with enough food, clothing, and jewels to support his twenty-three wives,” Yana explained with a little grin.
“And they all live down there in that place?” Aaron asked as they got off the elevator in the main corridor.
“No. That’s just his office. He has a huge estate over on Sigma asteroid. C’mon. We need to get to the transporter room. It’s the next level up.”
The top of the ramp opened into a corridor with several smaller rooms off each side. Most of the doors were open and the interior spaces looked the same, a small panel against one wall and a round platform in the middle of the area. A few doors were closed and ‘OCCUPIED’ had been clearly marked on the outside in several different languages.
They went into one of the rooms and Yana ran his hand over the panel then stepped up on the platform beside Aaron. In seconds, they were standing in a darkened alleyway between buildings. Yana pulled him back into the shadows.
“So we’re here, what’s the plan?” Aaron squatted down beside him when a light came on across the alley.
Two men carried a large barrel out of a door, set it down and went back inside.
“I don’t have a plan. See that pile of rubble over there?” Yana pointed towards the end of the alley. “That’s the building that exploded.”
Aaron eyed the rubble and swallowed hard. His imagination filled in the blanks about what would have happened if Sean and Yana had been inside when it blew.
“So you think they’re holding Sean someplace nearby?”
“Exactly. That place didn’t look like a lab and I doubt they would have rigged one of their own facilities to explode. It was probably just a holding place, easily expendable if anyone got too close.”
“Okay, where do we start?”
“It’s been my experience that most labs don’t have windows. All these buildings here seem to have a lot of them. Let’s try down at the other end.”
They made their way in the darkness to the end of the alley then over to the next block of buildings. Four buildings down, they came to one with no windows.
“This looks like it could be the place,” Yana whispered.
“How do you plan on getting in if there are no windows?”
“We’ll find a way,” Yana answered as he scanned the building.
“Let’s go up then,” Aaron suggested, eyeing the side of the building for footholds.
“That’s just what I was thinking. With no windows, a place has to have a ventilation system of some kind and those are usually on the roof,” Yana agreed.
“If we had something to stand on we could reach that ledge.” Aaron pointed up.
Yana pulled a length of cord out of his small tool kit strapped to his belt and connected it to a grappling hook.
He let out a bit of slack and tossed it towards the roof, gave it a yank as it tightened and he started to climb. Aaron followed quickly behind.
Yana struggled with the cover and it finally took the two of them to loosen it, but once it was removed, Yana crawled in first and Aaron followed. Yana made his way on hands and knees through the cold metallic space. He came to an interior vent with light shining through a grid.
Movement could be heard below and he peered down to see three men standing in the room below, conversing in a low murmuring tone.
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Aaron whispered.
“No. They seem to have no words as we know them. Just those mumbling sounds they make,” Yana answered, and continued on his way until he came to a cross section that branched off.
He followed it a ways, reaching a larger vent that opened into a darkened hallway below and decided it would make the ideal entrance point. Using his small tool kit, he removed the screws holding the vent in place, lifted it up and dropped down into the hallway. With his back up against the wall, Yana crept silently along; Aaron following in his footsteps just as quietly.
Peering out into the larger hallway, Yana saw several doors and one larger double door at the end. Yana pointed to it and Aaron nodded in agreement.
The murmuring began again and this time came towards them. Yana tried the knob on the door they were stopped in front of and it opened silently allowing them to slip inside the darkened room. The sounds passed their doorway and went on by until they were out of range. Yana eased the door open and they entered the hallway once again. They came to the room where the three men were conversing. Yana peeked inside and saw all three of them were looking at a diagram of a human body hanging on the back wall. One pointed out something and the others mumbled. Yana quickly stepped past the doorway and after a fast peek, Aaron followed him.
Outside the double door, Yana gestured downward pointing out the fact that no light shone from under the bottom edge. Aaron nodded and they pushed the door slowly open far enough for them to ease on in. Once inside, they heard the low humming of machinery working. There were several beds along either side; half of which were occupied. Yana crept silently and stopped when he heard the noise; a quiet sobbing from the far end of the room. A sinking feeling balled in the pit of his stomach. It looked like an operating table with someone strapped down on it.
He heard words then, real words he could understand.
“Yana, please find me, please find me. I need you, Yana. Please, please find me.” The words were soft and whispered as if a prayer.
Yana rushed over to the table with Aaron close behind.
“Sean, Sean, I’m here, I’m here.” Yana pulled desperately at the straps, loosening the one across Sean’s forehead first.
Sean stared straight ahead and whispered, “Yana, please find me, I need you.”
Aaron worked at the other straps, then came to the contraption covering Sean’s groin. “Yana! What is this?
How do I remove it?”
Yana snapped out of his shock at seeing Sean totally unresponsive and went into action. He quickly scanned the machine then followed its tubing that ran to connections in the wall. He yanked them loose. The slight humming from the machine stopped. They found the latches, prying them open, removing the machine from in and on Sean.
He kept whispering his prayer, “Please find me; I need you.”
Yana pulled him up to a sitting position and slapped his cheeks a few times. “Sean, I’m here. We’re leaving this place. I’m taking you home.” But it did no good. Sean didn’t hear him.
“Come on, Aaron. We need to get him out of here.”
He got one arm around Sean’s back and pulled him to the floor. Sean’s legs were like rubber and refused to hold him.
Aaron had him on the other side and they headed for the door.
Out in the hall once again, they stopped before the lit doorway of the room containing the three men still murmuring over their diagram on the wall. Yana peeked in and shook his head. They couldn’t go yet.
Sean started his mantra again. “Please; someone help me…”
Yana clapped his hand over Sean’s mouth and took another look to see if he’d been heard. No one seemed to notice.
He watched for another few minutes then whispered, “Now!”
They scooted across the open doorway, Yana dragging Sean quickly past, Aaron creeping behind them.
Once they got into the side hallway and into the darker area Yana breathed somewhat easier; but the toughest challenge lay ahead of them; how to get Sean up into that vent. Yana decided to rig up a sling and hoist him.
Aaron disappeared into one of the darkened side rooms; first one then another. Soon he came back with a lab coat and worked it onto Sean’s naked body and closed it around him.
“I wondered where you went,” Yana said with relief.
“He’ll be a lot easier to move along that vent if he has something on.” Aaron said as they fastened the sling around Sean’s body.
“Bend over. I’ll need to stand on your back to reach.” Yana pocketed his equipment.
Aaron knelt down on all fours and Yana hopped up on him and pulled himself up into the vent. He took a few minutes to anchor the hoist then lowered down two lines.
The straight line would hook to the sling; the knotted line Aaron would use to climb once Sean was hauled up.
Between the two of them, they got Sean raised up to the ceiling. Aaron scaled the knotted line and helped get Sean through the opening, then followed as Yana led the way; pulling Sean along behind while Aaron replaced the vent.
All went well until they were near the lighted vent above the conference room and Sean started again,
“Someone, please find me. Please find me.”
The confined space made it impossible for Yana to reach back to quiet him and those below heard the noise.
A scramble ensued and Yana quickened their pace.
“Yana!” Aaron called as he followed along on his hands and knees; pushing Sean ahead of him as Yana pulled.
“What?”
“Transport out of here,” Aaron called when the sirens went off.
“No! I’m not leaving you!”
“Get Sean out of here. Then come back for me,”
Aaron suggested.
“Wait ‘til we make it to the roof,” Yana said as he tugged.
“We might not make it,” Aaron said and lights came on everywhere and feet were running beneath them.
Sweating profusely, they reached the up vent and Yana called back, “Stop! We’re there.” He peered out onto the roof and found it dark and deserted.
He hopped out and called down to Aaron, “Push!”
Yana pulled and with Aaron’s assistance from below, managed to get Sean through the vent and out on the roof.
“Go! Do it!” Aaron shouted above the din of the sirens. “I’ll hide. Come back as soon as you can.” He took off and hid behind some machinery located on the far end of the roof.
Yana held Sean in his arms and closed his eyes.
When he opened them he was back in the transporter room in Space Port Alpha. He tugged Sean over against the wall then programmed the panel and stood back on the platform again. In an instant he found himself back on the roof, but this time light bathed the location. He hurried over to where Aaron had been hiding and discovered him gone.
“Damn!” He whispered then decided he had nothing to lose and called out at the top of his lungs, “Aaron!
Aaron!”
He heard a whistle and saw arms waving in the alley below. The vent opened behind him and Yana hurried over the side of the building. He’d have to remember to thank Aaron later for leaving the rope in place.
The Voles came running after him from both ends of the alley as he ran to Aaron’s location, crouched behind some boxes, and grabbed his arm. An instant later, they were in the transporter room climbing down from the pad and looking after Sean.
“So what do we do now?” Aaron asked. “We’re just going to walk him out of here?”
“That’s the plan. Nobody’s going to question us.
Anything goes here.”
He worked the sling off Sean and stuffed it into his pocket then had Aaron help hoist Sean to his feet. Yana and Aaron tucked Sean between them and maneuvered him out of the room. Every now and then Sean managed a step,
but his semi-conscious state kept bare feet and legs dragging.
“It’s a long way to the dock. Can’t we find a cart or a chair or something to move him in?” Aaron asked when they headed down the first ramp.
“We could, but it would take a lot more time. We have no way of knowing if we’re being followed or not.”
“You mean those goons could pop out of one of those transporter rooms right behind us?”
“Exactly,” Yana answered. “It would be easy enough to trace where we transported to.” He got a good grip on Sean and continued onward.
Aaron glanced back and quickened his pace. It took some time and they had to stop twice to catch their breath and adjust their grip but they finally made it back to their shuttle craft. Half dragging a semi-conscious man through the area had created little or no interest at all. Once inside, Aaron fastened Sean into a seat and Yana sat down and backed the shuttle out of dock. He’d just reversed positions on the panel when red lights began flashing all over the station.
“Another ten seconds and we’d be stuck back there.”
Aaron watched the station grow smaller and smaller as they headed out for home.
Yana got up from his seat then and went to Sean.
He opened his water bottle and poured small amounts between Sean’s dried and cracked lips.
“Sean, it’s me. It’s Yana. Can you hear me?”
Not a sound came from Sean. His eyes alternated between being closed or frozen in a stare straight ahead.
Tears occasionally leaked out the sides and rolled down his cheeks. Completely out of it, Sean’s condition had Yana nearly frantic.
Yana reached over and pushed a lever, allowing Sean’s seat to recline.
“Aaron, there’s a blanket in the overhead compartment.”
Aaron reached up, got it out, and opened it up over Sean. He got a good look at Yana.
“Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
Yana stumbled and Aaron grabbed and steadied him.
“I need to rest.” Yana sat down in the seat opposite Sean’s. “Just need to rest a bit.”
Aaron pressed the lever and reclined Yana’s seat.
He reached into the overhead compartment, brought down another blanket, and covered Yana. Aaron sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and gazed out at the stars passing. The light under the com button came on and a voice came through.
The Missions Page 6
