Suddenly someone grabbed his wrist and twisted, causing Manning to lose his weapon. In the next moment, he was pulled through the opening, sliding head-first into the hangar. He heard a mumbled voice, saying, “Door close. Ebb shield the window.”
The door closed and Manning heard the gray ebb armor slide down the upper glass pane of the door, cutting any view off into the hangar, and any view Payson's men could have of Sphere 1.
Manning looked up at four men in black gas masks staring down at him; only one had a gun in hand. White dust was hanging everywhere like a slowly descending fog.
A guy in a black mask took a few steps forward. “That was a dumb move. You guys took out some of our containers. I don't like that.”
It had to be Payson.
“And you...” Payson said, pointing a finger behind Manning, “are absolutely annoying.”
Who is he talking to? wondered Manning. He twisted around and saw, to his amazement, that Louise was hanging onto his boots.
She stood up, covering her mouth from all the dust and coughed. “Please don't do this. Leave us all alone, Payson. You have some humanity in you.” She coughed again.
“Why does it matter to you? This poison will kill you soon. It's already in your lungs. It will be fun watching you die. I've never seen this toxin's effects. They say it's painful. Very painful,” said Payson.
Manning scrambled to his feet, placing himself between Louise and the monsters in front of him. He pleaded with his hands and words, “Payson, you'll kill everyone. Change your mind. Please. We've never harmed you in any way.”
Payson nodded. “Sorry, but it's my job.” He gestured over to one of his men. “Hook up the blowers.”
The man took out a large mechanical box with a hole on one side and a fan on the other.
“Wait,” said Manning, backing up, causing Louise to back up with him. He caught a whiff of the dust, then bent over and hacked a few times. “Just wait!” Everyone stopped, except Manning who continued to back up. “What can we give you for you to stop this?”
Payson rubbed the bottom of his gas mask, acting as if it were his chin. “Let me think. Um...nothing!” He turned, asking one of his cronies to take out another blower.
Louise pushed Manning aside and leapt at Payson.
“Stop,” yelled Manning, reaching for Louise, but he was too slow. Two shots fired out and Louise buckled over, clutching her stomach and chest. She fell to the floor, lifeless. Manning wanted to run to her, but he knew their fates had sealed the moment they entered hangar 27. She was dead and he was next. He started backing up again.
“You having fun back there?” asked Payson, looking at Manning pressing his body against the wall. “I'm just going to wait until the toxin kicks in and starts taking your life.” He laughed. “I gotta see this!”
Manning didn't speak. He slid against the wall, heading toward the space-side airlock, his eyes watching every move Payson made.
“Lift him up,” said Payson, talking to one of his men.
One man held a blower in his hand, hose attached to it while the other end of the hose was in a container. Another man lifted him to a vent in the side of the hangar wall. With one hand, the man holding the blower pulled the vent out of the wall as if it was a toy, then tossed it to the side. It clanged loudly as it hit the ebb floor. He placed the blower inside the vent, then asked for another one.
Manning coughed, feeling the dust settling deeper into his lungs. Then he felt nauseated. The toxin was coming on fast and his muscles started shaking. He glanced at his destination, seeing that he was only a few yards away. He hoped he could make it before he collapsed.
“Where do you think you're going?” asked Payson. He started toward Manning as he saw what Manning was attempting to do. He broke into a run. “Oh, no you don't!”
Manning nodded, smiling. “Yes, I do,” he said softly, knowing Payson wouldn't be able to hear him. He was close now, sliding across the wall as quickly as he could, asking his body keep going.
“Shoot him!” screamed Payson.
A shot fired and Manning felt hot ice hit squarely into his chest and through his back. It was a laser impulse. He clutched his chest, then leaned to the side and fell, his other arm stretched outward, managing to grab a red lever. As the gravity of his fall and body weight pulled him down, he squeezed his fingers around the lever as hard as he could, allowing it to rotate in the direction he was heading. As he hit the ground, a cool wind sprayed around him and a loud whoosh engulfed his eardrums, like a waterfall into a river. A vacuum sucked him face-first into the blackness of space, dotted by the many shining stars billions of miles away. He uncontrollably spun in a circle as his body became frigid. As he made a full 360-degree turn, he spotted containers being sucked out of the airlock, twirling rapidly in his direction.
His eyes and body swelled, his vision narrowed, but he continued to rotate in a circle and on his second pass, he saw Payson and his men pouring out of the airlock, followed by Louise's already dead body.
War is empty, he thought. A moment later Manning blacked out, being sucked further into space and away from his home, away from Starbase Matrona.
Episode 14
Exposed
The only place to sit in the small cell was on a block of cold ebb rock. The flicker of a torch in the hallway cast shadows from the cell bars, which striped Crystal’s face and body as she contemplated her predicament. Leaning forward she touched one of the bars, pulling hard on it to test its strength. It felt immovable. And since the Dwarves were experts working with ebb rock, Crystal figured it was unlikely that even her sword would be able to free her.
Confined to a jail under the mountain and in a city she now wished she had never found, Crystal was stuck. But now she wasn’t sure if she wanted to actually get out.
She felt the fabric of her baldric tied upon her back, wondering why they would take the time to fashion something for her and then lock her up.
It wasn't even my fault, she thought. Tranquil flew. I didn't.
King Bilrak and his warriors, along with his constantly pissed-off son Harak, brought her here. She did everything in her power to keep her sword sheathed during their escort, gritted teeth and all. She knew she was outnumbered—and when was the last time she won a sword fight? When was the last time she was ever in a sword fight? In fact, fighting in such manner didn't exist on Starbase Matrona. Until the first attack on her people, fighting in a war just wasn't a thought; it simply never occurred.
She scratched her thigh, then picked up a rock from the ground and rubbed it between her palms. There wasn't much to do in the cell and the few hours that she'd been here there had been no visitors.
She sighed, thinking about the painful truth Tranquil had spoken when he told her that people tolerated her, rather than respected her. Maybe Jerrod likes me. Maybe he'll visit.
She stood and did a few jumping jacks, feeling the weight of Soul’s Eye on her back and the rock in her fist. Then she jogged in place.
She stopped when she heard commotion echoing from the hall.
“Get your hands off me!” said a female's voice that sounded like Daf.
Crystal grabbed the bars and strained her neck to peer down the hallway, but could only see shadows approaching.
“You let me go...you...small man!”
“Daf?” called Crystal. “What —”
Before Crystal could finish her sentence, Daf appeared with a Dwarf on each side of her, both easily tugging her along. One of them kicked the bars and Crystal jumped back. Unlocking the cell door, the Dwarves opened it and pushed Daf inside, where she fell to the floor on her hands and knees. The door slammed and clicked. The Dwarves spun around, laughing as they stumbled half-drunkenly away from the cell.
Crystal went to help Daf up, but was pushed backwards by Daf's foot.
“Get away!” yelled Daf, huffing and puffing, her hair strung chaotically over her face. She blew strands away from her mouth and jumped to her feet, putting her hands up in a fist, rea
dy for whatever was coming. “I'm not scared of you guys. I —” She dropped her guard when she saw it was Crystal, then slumped to the ground. “Thank Guild it's you. I'm exhausted.” She leaned back on the cold rock then yelped as she sat straight up. “Feels like ice!”
“What did you do, Daf?” asked Crystal, hands on her hips.
“What do you mean, what did I do?” With a straight face she mimicked Crystal and planted her hands on her hips. “I didn't do anything. They just grabbed me and told me to come with them. What did you do is the question.”
“They didn't like that I flew Starship Tranquil out of the Mountain and to Starship Sirona.”
Daf's jaw dropped. “You're kidding me!”
“Why else would I be in here?”
Daf sat back down on the rock, then bolted up again. She kicked it. “Freezing rock? What is that thing?” She moved over to the wall and slid down it, sitting uncomfortably on her butt. “Knowing you, Crystal, you'd be in here for a hundred reasons, but the last reason I'd think up would be taking the starship on a joy ride.”
“His name is Starship Tranquil, and no, I didn't take it for a joy ride. It took me.”
“Uh huh.” Daf looked off in the distance. “So, you're telling me that the starship can navigate itself?” She dramatically left her mouth open and glowered, giving Crystal a hard time without using words.
“Yes, and if you're going to keep looking at me like that, then I'm not going to explain how.”
Daf closed her mouth, keeping her eyes dead-panned on Crystal.
“It is a sentient Being, Daf. It can fly on its own and it can chat with me. It can even shoot enemies out of the sky...”
“Okay, stop. You shot enemies out of the sky?”
“I didn't shoot anything. Starship Tranquil shot the Drags.”
“That's why you're in here. You not only stole the thing, you fired its weapons.”
“It flies on its own. Just...just believe me, please?”
Daf shrugged, pushing her hair out of her face. “So, where are Shan Ru and Thun? They didn’t come to your rescue?”
“They seemed helpless after I came back into the mountain and landed. They didn't lift a finger to help me.”
“So what’s our plan now, Miss Knights Templar?”
Crystal tossed the rock at Daf, purposely missing. “Don't call me that.” She couldn't help but grin. All of this was so ridiculous and stranger than any fairy tale she had ever read.
“Can that sword of yours break through these bars?”
“I don't know,” replied Crystal. “I don’t think so, but I'm not going to try.”
“Of course not. The usual Crystal, making things difficult for herself, which makes it difficult for everyone else.”
“Use your head, Daf. If I break the bars or slice them to pieces, or whatever, then they'll know I'm just a vigilante here to make trouble. I'm not going to do that, because I'm not here to stir things up or make trouble.”
Daf took some slow breaths, trying to calm her body and mind. “How long have you been in here?”
“A couple hours, maybe.”
“Are we going to have to sleep in here?”
“How would I know? I might be Miss Knights Templar, but you are definitely Miss Twenty Questions.”
Daf didn't reply and for several minutes there was an unpleasant silence between them. Crystal was very happy for the peace because she had a lot of thinking to do about how to explain herself to the Dwarves and hopefully get out of this predicament. She wished Shan Ru would come and at least talk to her, give her some inspiring words, or better yet, let her out of this jail cell.
“Thun is older than his brother, right?”
Crystal grumbled. “Three minutes of quiet? That's all you're giving me?” She blew out of her mouth. “Just...let me think, Daf.”
Daf had a rebuttal, but decided it was best to be silent again. She lay down, trying to make herself comfortable which seemed quite impossible, so she made a lot of huffing and puffing noises as she adjusted her body.
“Enough, please,” complained Crystal.
Daf gave up and sat up again, leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes. “Roger, Chief.”
“You know what, Daf?” mumbled Crystal.
Thinking she was about to get verbally run over, Daf braced herself. “I said I'd be quiet.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
What an odd question, thought Daf. “Yeah. One sister, two brothers. Why?”
“I don't have any siblings,” said Crystal. She thought for a moment. “I assume you have parents and they raised you well?”
“And...” Daf paused, “Why these questions?”
Crystal's demeanor became innocent, like that of a child wanting to know everything about the world. “I don't have any siblings. All I really have is my mother and we’re not close. My dad wasn't around much when I was growing up, and when he was, he and my mom fought a lot. Fighting was their best activity, almost like their national pastime. At least he didn't hit her. I don't think. I think my mom took her terrible marriage out on me, though. She was a demon sometimes, but I know she cared. I could see it in her eyes. I could see her pain too. When Dad was dishonorably discharged from Star Guild he drifted away and became a transient. I have know idea where he is now.”
Surprised that Crystal was opening up to her, Daf asked, “Why was your dad dishonorably discharged?”
“I got his temper and mine is mild compared to his. He was a drunk, which I think fueled his fire.”
“You're not that temperamental, Crystal.”
“Yeah, not since this entire invasion occurred, which scares me. You didn't know me before this...well, not very much. It's like I'm more calm in the midst of this shit—this chaos—like I'm built to thrive in chaos, and the funny thing is, there is a part of me that finds comfort in this drama. It's comfortable and yet heart-wrenching all at the same time.” She looked down, shaking her head. “I don't know...”
Daf didn't know what to say. She had been doing her best to keep her emotions at arms length, and if she opened up to Crystal she feared they would stream out in a bucket of tears. Not knowing if her parents or siblings were alive had been slowly killing her with each passing day.
Daf patted her hand on the ground next to her, inviting Crystal to come and sit. Maybe a hug or someone to lean against would be helpful for her Chief. At least, she knew it would be helpful for her.
Crystal understood the gesture but declined, gently rebuking, “I'm not a dog, Daf.” She chuckled for a moment, but even in the low light of the cell she saw disappointment on Daf's face. “Are you doing okay, Daf?” In spite of her reluctance, Crystal went and sat next to her.
Daf didn’t trust herself to speak, so she simply shrugged and looked away. Then she bit her lip, holding back the tears that were so close to the surface.
Oh, great, thought Crystal. Now I'm going to have to console her.
Crystal leaned against her friend, laying her cheek on Daf's shoulder. She patted Daf's arm, softly saying, “There, there.”
Daf stiffened, then started laughing. The longer Daf laughed the harder it was to stop. Tears flowed down her face as fits of uncontrollable hilarity let loose.
Crystal lifted her head, screwing up her face. “What's so funny?”
Getting hold of herself, Daf sputtered, “You!” She patted Crystal, making a pouty face. “There, there?” She cracked up again, rolling her eyes. “That’s the best you can do?”
Crystal wanted to flee. She wasn't so much embarrassed, but more flustered with what she did wrong.
Daf felt her discomfort and wrapped her arms around Crystal whispering, “Thank you.”
Crystal squeezed back, realizing this may be the first real hug she had ever had. They held each other in silence until they heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway. Then they separated and stood up, hopeful someone was coming to release them.
The footsteps stopped at their cell. A
man with a robe, hands in his sleeves with arms crossed, stood before them with a Dwarf by his side.
“Shan Ru?” wondered Crystal.
“I'm sorry for all of this, Crystal. I'm sorry, Daf.”
“Can we get out of here?” asked Daf.
“Not yet, but we're working on it.” Shan nodded his head toward Thun.
“My father wasn't happy that you took Tranquil out of Mount Gabriel,” said Thun. “He wants you punished for thievery and negligence.” Thun held a hammer over his shoulder then dropped it to his side, pounding it against the ebb ground. “Why did you take it, Crystal? I trusted you and my father knew I trusted you. I've been shamed on your account. My brother, however, couldn't be happier that you disappointed us.” His face reddened.
“I didn't steal him or take him anywhere. He took me. Starship Tranquil took me for a test run, so I could get used to him. We didn't stop at Starship Sirona to pick up my friends, so —”
“What would the punishment be?” Daf interrupted.
Thun rubbed the back of his neck in thought. “I don't know. We don't have thievery down here. Negligence, on the other hand, we do have some of that.” He eyed Crystal. “Maybe we cut off your legs?”
Crystal unsheathed her sword. “Over my dead body.”
Thun's eyes widened, not expecting such a reaction. “Okay, maybe just a foot? Just put down Soul's Eye. A foot's not much.”
Shan gently nudged Thun away and stepped in front of the Dwarf. “Forgive him. He doesn't have the answer.” He then turned, flashing an angry look at Thun. “Would you really cut off her legs? How would you like it if I cut off your legs?”
Thun looked away. “I'm just thinking of my brother. He can be cruel sometimes and I could just imagine him telling my father to do something like that.”
“I see,” replied Shan. “And has your father cut off anyone's legs for punishment or otherwise?”
“No,” responded Thun.
Shan turned back toward the cell. “I wouldn't allow them to harm you, Crystal.” He placed his hand on Thun's shoulder. “Nor would Thun, which is why we are here. We plan on getting you out, one way or another.”
Star Guild Episodes 10 - 18 (Star Guild Saga) Page 17
