After rising, Vyx used every excuse imaginable to visit the different areas of the compound. His ID badge limited him to areas requiring only the lowest security clearance, but being on the inside allowed him to gain knowledge that he would use later.
On the fourth day, Vyx returned to the shuttle. The other team had arrived and parked alongside. Vyx found all four agents inside the second shuttle.
"God, you look terrible," Brenda said as he entered the small ship.
"Then my look matches the way I feel. This beard is starting to drive me wild. The damn thing itches like crazy."
"Have you checked it for lice?" Byers said. "Mine's not that uncomfortable."
"You don't have to wear a respirator mask seven hours a day."
"Yeah, that could have something to do with it."
"What's going on?" Nelligen asked. "Have you learned if this is what we've been searching for?"
"Not yet. So far, I can only descend in shafts one and four. I have to find a way to get into two or three. I have noticed that workers exiting two and three are never dirty and many of them aren't even wearing mining gear. The suits never come down one or four."
"That should be enough by itself," Kathryn said. "What else could it be except a base?"
"It could be just a few dozen workers in an underground ore processing operation. Ore buckets bring the ore up to a processing level about fifty meters below the surface and load it onto a conveyor that passes through a horizontal shaft. I don't know how much they refine the final output from the mines so the heavy security could simply exist because of the value of the platinum and palladium."
"Can you get onto the conveyer?"
"Yeah," he said, grinning. "But I'm not going to. First, there are security cameras all over the place on that level and they'd definitely notice someone climbing onto the conveyor, or trying to ride it through the shaft. And two, what if it just feeds everything into a rock crushing machine on the other side without any way to get off."
"Ouch!" Byers said.
"You ain't kidding," Nelligen said in agreement.
"After the processing is complete, the waste is fed to a conveyor that runs it out to the edge of the plateau and drops it into the canyon. They can run this mine for a hundred years and never worry about filling that canyon. There's no way of getting in that way unless the conveyor stops, and there's no way of predicting when the thing will break down or be taken down for maintenance."
"So how do you get in then?" Kathryn asked.
"All I can think of is to get an ID that will get me past the security check. We— meaning you guys— will find someone who is close to me in appearance, height, and weight, and get him back here on some pretext or other."
"Hi, Pretext," Kathryn said to Brenda.
"Hi, Other," Brenda said back to her, smiling.
"Whatever works," Vyx said. "Grab him just after the second shift starts so we know he won't be missed for at least eight hours. Make sure you don't grab any supervisors or leaders everyone would know. A nice, low-level laborer would be nice. Then I come here, change clothes with him, try to make myself look like him, and see if I can get into the ore processing area without getting my head blown off."
"What if they require handprint or retinal scan?" Byers asked.
"If they require that, it's after you get down below, because they only require a proper ID badge to get onto the shaft car. I'll try to get back out if they require physical identification. If you don't hear from me within six hours of going in, get out of here and back to Stewart."
"We're not going to just leave you here!" Brenda said vehemently.
"You don't have a choice. If they catch me, they're going to start looking around for accomplices and whoever's ID I have. You can't save me so just save yourself. That's an order. Got it?"
Vyx looked around, not taking his eyes off each of the agents until they nodded or conveyed their understanding verbally.
Vyx rose before the end of the first shift the next day and walked to where the shuttles were parked. Both were locked, so he opened the one he and Byers had arrived in and sat down to relax while he waited. He didn't have to wait long.
Brenda and Kathryn, dressed in clothes that barely covered their delectable anatomical attributes, appeared less than thirty minutes after the first shift ended. A mine employee wearing the tan coveralls of ore-processing personnel accompanied each. Vyx watched on the shuttle's monitors as Brenda unlocked the second shuttle and the group disappeared inside. Vyx gave them a few minutes, then walked to the vehicle and opened the hatch. As he stepped inside, he saw both men lying on the deck, sleeping off the effects of the sedative administered as soon as they were inside and the hatch was closed.
"Why the second one? He doesn't look anything like me."
"The first one wouldn't go without his friend and he was too close in appearance to pass up. With that beard covering his face, he looks like he could be your brother."
"He is a good match," Vyx said, nodding. "It's getting dark already and they'll probably never realize I'm not him; they're usually more concerned with scanning the badges for proper security clearance."
Byers and Nelligen showed up a few minutes later.
"No one followed you," Byers said. "We're clear."
While Nelligen stripped the coveralls off the one that was closest to Vyx's size, Brenda went to work trimming Vyx's beard and hair to match the ID picture. A little dye made Vyx's hair color a better match, and a sweater wrapped around his middle under the tan coveralls gave him a paunch matching that of the sleeping worker. The last step was to put on the dark blue overalls he wore as a miner."
"Why the extra coveralls?" Kathryn asked.
"They check much more closely when you're trying to get into the compound, so I'll go in as myself. Then I'll take off the outer coveralls and see if I can get into Shaft Two with the other ID. Give me six hours from now. Either way, we're lifting off at midnight so get the ships ready. We'll dump these two sleeping beauties outside without their clothes just before we leave. They'll think they had a wild night when they wake up and may not even report the incident, having no recollection of events." Smiling, he added, "Maybe they'll even lie to each other about the wonderful time they had."
Vyx made it into the compound without raising any suspicions, as he knew he would. Although his hair was now darker than it was in his picture, the guard at the gate either never noticed or didn't say anything because the facial features were an exact match.
Lights on poles illuminated the areas around the mineshaft entrances, but there were plenty of dark shadows near the outbuildings. Stepping behind a maintenance shed for a minute to cast off his outer skin, he jammed the blue coveralls into a waste barrel. He then patted at the hidden sweater to smooth it before re-emerging to walk toward the Shaft Two entrance.
As he passed the booth, the guard held up his hand and said, "Your badge indicates shift one. Why are you going down now?"
"I left my medication down there. If I don't get it, I'm going to have a pounding headache and won't be able to sleep all night. I'll only be ten minutes."
The guard scowled. "Okay, go ahead. But get it and get back out. You know the company doesn't like employees loitering around inside the plant."
"I'll be out before you know it."
Vyx stepped into the shaft car, pulling the gate closed as the guard started it down. Initially moving downward at thirty degrees, the angle quickly steepened to forty-five, but the car adjusted to keep the occupant compartment perfectly level. As the car arrived at the bottom of the shaft, Vyx stepped out into a corridor that led in only one direction. The sounds of powerful machinery in full operation cascaded towards him. He eventually emerged onto an enclosed, elevated walkway that circled an enormous cavern filled with ore processing equipment. Separated from the equipment and much of the noise by a wall of glass, he had an unobstructed view of the process. Vyx saw nothing to make him believe it was anything other than an ore processing p
lant. At first glance, the equipment far below seemed to be unattended. However, upon closer scrutiny, he observed a number of small control rooms situated at points around the cavern where operators were busy monitoring various pieces of equipment or observing processes.
Walking with purpose so as not to draw attention, Vyx completed a counter-clockwise half circle of the cavern without spotting anything unusual. He was on his way back, trying to come up with an excuse for descending into Shaft Three, when a set of doors he had assumed to be an elevator when he passed them earlier, opened immediately ahead of him on the wall to his left. A technician in a white lab coat drove out on an 'oh-gee' standup scooter and turned left, moving away from Vyx without seeing him. Noticing that the doorway opened into a passageway that required a handprint for entry, Vyx stepped in quickly as they started to close.
The corridor extended a hundred meters before branching and he paused momentarily before following the branch to the left. Walking for what seemed like a half-kilometer brought him to another enormous cavern, this one filled with cargo containers. Workers in red coveralls were busy performing warehouse operations with cargo loaders. He was confused until he spotted an enormous freight elevator capable of lifting a cargo container to the planet's surface.
"It must come up inside one of the hangers at the spaceport," he muttered to himself.
Retracing his steps back to where the corridor split, he took the other branch, again walking almost half a kilometer before reaching the end. He found himself in a labyrinth of corridors with no idea which way to go and no idea if it was even worthwhile to proceed. He had already determined that there was far more to this underground complex than anyone above could imagine, but his curiosity got the better of him and he began following the corridor to his left. He walked past dozens of doorways, most requiring either a handprint or retinal scan for entry. Their only identification was a number.
Deciding that he was wasting his time, he retraced his steps back to the corridor, intending to leave the underground complex. However, as he reached the corridor, a security guard exited on a scooter. Vyx tried to appear nonchalant, and stepped aside to allow the scooter to pass, but the guard positioned the scooter to confront him.
"What are you doing in this area," the guard asked in an authoritative and challenging voice. "Tans aren't permitted in here."
Remembering one of the numbers on a door, he replied, "I was told to report to room C9516, but no one answered when I knocked."
Looking at his ID badge, the guard said, "This isn't even your shift."
"I know. I was in the dorm when I was given a message to report here."
"Where's your escort?"
"I was sent down alone."
The guard was reaching for his stun baton when Vyx hit him in the face with all the force he could muster. The blow stunned the guard and he fell backward off the floating scooter. Vyx was on him immediately, pummeling him with blows. The guard never had a chance after being dizzied by the first blow and sank into unconsciousness, his face bloody and bruised. Vyx lifted him up and, using the guard's hand for the handprint scanner, opened the nearest door.
After dropping the guard unceremoniously to the floor of the storage room, Vyx took his stun baton. He verified that it was on the highest setting and touched it against the guard's head to ensure he'd have hours before the guard awoke. He dropped the baton next to the sleeping guard, then straightened his clothes, left the room, and climbed onto the guard's scooter.
The oh-gee vehicle got Vyx back to the Shaft Two tunnel in minutes and he wasted no time getting into the car and signaling the guard to bring him up.
"That was a hell of a lot longer than ten minutes," the guard complained.
"You know how it is. One of the new operators was having a problem with the slag scraper and he asked me to help. It took a while to get it straightened out. I just gave the company an hour of free labor so I'm sure they aren't going to complain."
"They better not or I'll find you and take it out of your hide. Now get out of here, fast."
"Sure thing, pal. I'm gone."
Years of practice had given Vyx the ability to appear totally calm on the surface and he strolled casually towards the compound's exit, whistling as he walked, as if he hadn't a care in the world. No one who saw him would ever guess that ten minutes ago he had fought with a guard in what was probably a life-or-death situation.
Badges weren't checked when workers were leaving the compound, so Vyx just walked nonchalantly past the guard booth and into town. Twenty minutes later, he was at the shuttles.
"How did it go?" Brenda asked anxiously as Vyx stripped off the tan coveralls.
"There's a hell of a lot more going on down there than ore processing. Let's get out of here and we can talk later. I had a fight with a guard and I want to be long gone before he's missed or found."
They moved the bodies of the two sleeping workers out of the shuttle and were lifting off in minutes. The other agents had performed the preflight of the two small ships while he was gone and Nelligen was already in the pilot's chair of the second craft just waiting for the word to leave. Vyx didn't even take time to get dressed; he just hopped into the pilot's seat in his underwear and started the liftoff sequence after the hatch was sealed.
When they arrived back at Weislik, hours later, Vyx pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt before calling for a spaceport visitor carrier to take him to the office. The driver-less vehicle arrived in a few minutes and while Vyx was settling the bill for pad rent, Nelligen and Brenda stowed the small shuttles aboard the Scorpion. When he returned, the Scorpion was ready to go because Byers and Kathryn had completed the preflight of the freighter. Vyx sat in the pilot's chair and started the sequence to lift-off, breathing a sigh of relief that there hadn't been any pursuit.
Achieving a position in orbit was as nerve wracking as always when leaving Scruscotto. Vyx breathed a double sigh of relief as they left the planet behind. A few billion kilometers out, he set the auto controls and headed for the bathroom in the quarters that he shared with Brenda. As the last of the beard fell from his face, he felt like a new man and he stepped into the shower to further wipe away the memory of the weeks spent in the filthy disguise of a miner. Brenda slipped into the shower as he rinsed off soap for the first time. There wasn't any sense wasting an entire shower on just one body.
* * *
Chapter Fourteen
~ February 24th, 2280 ~
The horn on the North Pass wall sounded around noon. Most of the camp was just sitting down to lunch. There was no mistaking the message blown; it was the alarm for extreme danger. The mess hall emptied quickly and everyone grabbed at weapons stacked neatly outside the building before heading for the North Pass. According to plan, some raced to saddle gelks, while others quickly hitched gelks to wagons, but the majority of the camp simply took off on foot. The mounted riders would naturally be the first to arrive, with half a dozen wagons containing the best marksmen and fighters not far behind. These crewmembers formed the first line of defense and would already be manning the wall when the rest of the camp arrived after sprinting the more than three-kilometer distance. Only the guards at the South Pass would remain at their posts, alert for an attack at the rear.
Those first to arrive on the wall got a frightening view of several large dinosaurs stopped in the pass just twenty meters from the wall. They were apparently perplexed, and sniffed at the strange object before bellowing, either to convey a warning to the object blocking their path or to convey a message to the others behind them. The sudden appearance of numerous small animals on top of the strange object seemed to embolden the dinosaurs and they advanced cautiously. As they did, the narrow pass behind them began to fill with more dinosaurs.
Captain Lindahl had been in the first group to arrive and he ordered the newly arriving riflemen to hold their fire as the dinosaurs approached. When the first Alioramus reached a point just ten meters from the wall, Lindahl told everyone with flintl
ock rifles to open fire. They directed the first volley solely at the three lead dinosaurs. Lead projectiles immediately opened gaping wounds in heads and necks. About the size of large marbles, the heavy lead bullets were capable of shattering bone and pulverizing flesh at this distance. Although the rifle barrels were smoothbore, because they didn't yet have the ability to cut the internal spiral grooves known as rifling, accuracy at fifty meters was excellent. The length of the barrels and standardization of bullet size and powder charges was no doubt responsible for the high degree of accuracy achieved by the practiced riflemen.
Two of the dinosaurs dropped almost immediately. The third trumpeted loudly for half a minute before succumbing to its wounds and falling to the ground. Its legs continued to thrash for at least another fifteen seconds. The herd halted its forward progress as a thick cloud of black powder smoke was sucked up and away by the updrafts in the pass. This was without doubt the first time the herd had ever experienced the roar of firearms, and the still reverberating noise had been deafening within the narrow pass. The dinosaurs began to bellow as if in defiant response to the invisible force that had dropped three of their leaders.
While half of the fighting force on the wall dropped back to reload their weapons, the other picked up waiting crossbows and took aim at the herd. As the dinosaurs again began to advance, Lindahl gave the order to fire and a volley of arrows sailed silently forth. Where the bullets had dropped the dinosaurs, the arrows just seemed to make them angry. It was with distinct relief that Lindahl was able to order the riflemen with freshly loaded rifles back to the forefront while the others fell back to reload rifles for a second volley. The dinosaur herd was beginning to climb over the carcasses of the first three reptiles when Lindahl gave the order to fire. Again, the lead dinosaurs fell, but the herd didn't halt this time as they pressed forward towards the wall.
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