“Jinx always used to do this to me too and looks like he’s going to be the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“She would always run off and get herself hurt or near death and come running back. Sometimes we could save her body, sometimes we had to wait for her core to recharge. She always would have a comeback though, like you should see the other. Such spirt my sister had that I now see in my brother.”
Kat looks over to Mark with his expression unchanged and she reaches into her pocket rubbing his coin. Pulling it out she holds it up and looks at Tia. Tia's eyes go from it to her and Kat feels she’s about to say something but starts to walk to Mark before she has the chance. Mark stares past Kat as she stands next to him as if she isn’t blocking his vision.
“Mark I need to give this back to you. I know this isn’t the best time or place but I don’t think there will ever been a good one.” Reaching down she takes his hand and flips it palm up, placing the coin there. “I want to thank you for saving me and for all of the talks we’ve had over the last year. You’ve been a true friend but I shouldn’t keep you tied to me like this.”
Mark blinks and its like he didn’t hear a word of what she said. He looks up to her and down to the coin in his palm. “You’re welcome. That is how you humans would say it right?”
“Yes it is.”
Mark nods.
“Are you alright?”
“No. It has nothing to do with my coin though.”
“Are you—“
Ice cracks and shatters as Graven takes in a few deep gasping breaths. Kat runs to his side, wanting to jump into his arms but settles for squeezing him instead. He looks at her and she can see the light back in his face and eyes. There are still black circles around them but nothing like what they were a few moments ago.
“You’re going to be alright aren’t you. You have to be ok, do you understand.” She says stroking his face, feeling the rough hairs of his beard beneath her fingers.
“I will be.”
Kat kisses him deeply and his lips are as cold as ice.
“What is that for?”
“What else you doofus, I love you. All of you, both of you, the whole you that you are. I want to be with you and grow old with you.”
“And Mark’s coin?”
Kat points over toward Mark, “Just gave it back before you came too.”
Graven turns to where Mark is who holds up his coin and back to Kat. “You know I was here the whole time right? I would never have gone anywhere because I love you Katrice and I made a vow to you not just when we got married but also back on Etchten as Jinx. We made that vow with you, together before we knew what was going to happen.”
“I love you Graven and from here on out I promise to love the you that you are here and now.”
“And I you Katrice. There isn’t anyone else in this universe I want to be with more.”
Kat leans in for another kiss and they embrace each other tight. The coldness she once felt from is replaced with warmth. He’s ok and now they are ok.
Hanna says, “I’m sure you two want to go reconnect in your room but we still have to get out of here first.”
Kat looks back to see Hanna on a pair of crutches looking down the ramp at her. Her leg wrapped up but blood is still covering all of her clothes.
Graven asks, “How’s Jack?”
“He’s getting worked on right now. Whisper says the medi-gel saved his life but he’s going to lose feeling in his arm. Not all of it but a lot of it.”
Kat hangs her head. She knows what its like to lose limbs, the loss of feeling. Rubbing at the place there used to be metal on her leg that is now covered with synthetic skin.
Kat asks, “How are you?”
“I’ll live. We need to get out of here. There are some seriously power people here and they aren’t even the ones leading it.”
Tia says, “The cores that are here will make them stronger than that if we leave now.”
“Then what are we going to do?”
Kat says, “Just calm down you two. Hanna we already started an engine meltdown, which should lead to an evacuation. Tia we aren’t leaving here without the cores. If that golden armor is anything they made from a core or researching a core we can’t let them go any farther.”
Tia nods, “Agreed.”
“What about you Hanna, you ok with that?”
“I’m fine with that.”
“Now all we need to do is get to the engine room.”
Fury says, “I have a layout of the ship. There is a staircase near the elevators that will take you two floors down. From there its one hyper lift ride straight there.”
“That sounds way too easy.”
Graven agrees, “Yeah way too easy, what aren’t you telling us.”
“You just asked how to get there, not whats on the way. That is three security stops. One at the staircase, the hyper lift and before you get into the engine room.”
Alarms sound off in throughout the whole dock as a female VI appears near every ship repeating the same message. There is a problem with the ships engines and it is at this time that all nonessential personal are asked to evacuate the ship. When the problem is solved the ship will resume normal functions. Thank you for your patience.
Kat helps Graven off the ground. “Looks like that’s our cue. Are you good enough to come with?” She asks not really wanting him to go but not wanting to have him leave her side either.
“I’m good now. I’ll sleep for a month or two after all of this but only once we’re safe.”
“I guess you’re coming with us Tia?”
“I am. We may need more than just the three of us. You’ve used a lot of energy and Graven won’t be able to use his magic for awhile. So that just leaves me as the heavy hitter. If there are more of those golden armors even I might have trouble.”
Mark stands up and says, “I’m going. If my brother has anything to do with this place I need to find out and stop him.”
“You’re brother?” Kat asks confused.
“He was here in the lab that was really a docked Foremid ship. He is working with the Conglomerate. It’s the only way he could have gotten access to everything he has gotten his hands on.”
“So that’s what happened.”
“I didn’t know until we got here. I swear. If I would have only known I would have come here sooner. He and my father are now working together. He said so himself. A war is coming and if they are inside of your defenses, it will end before it starts.”
“He’s telling the truth, I was there with him.” Terra says, “And I’m coming too.”
Hanna says, “No you aren’t. You’re too young for something like this.”
“Thank you for saying that but you know better. I was one of the first along side Tia with the Creator. I was there when the harvest happened and have multiple memories of the event. The humans who did that are evil but the Foremid can be worse.”
Mark looks away. His golden eyes fill with sadness. “It’s true. That’s why I want to change all of that.”
Hanna says, “That doesn’t make it ok for you to go to battle. I can’t protect you there.”
Terra hugs Hanna. “It’s alright. I promise to take care of this body. You take care of Jack, he needs you more than I do right now.”
Kat adds, “And the ship. Knox and Gale will need you.”
Hanna sighs, “Fine just hurry back so we can get out of here. I’ve already broken enough bones for my lifetime.”
35
The group is lead away from the ship by Kat as the female VI follows. The entire way to the stairs telling them to stop and please evacuate the ship. With her being a holographic projection it is easy enough to ignore. Mark’s brooding is not.
His face had turned into a constant scowl since shortly after handing back his coin. That is the absolute last thing that she needs is Mark going off the reservation. Kat watches everyone else go into the stairwell and follows behind Mark at the bac
k of the line. He didn’t even give her a second look let alone a first one as he stayed laser focused on whatever he is brooding about.
Trying to keep her voice low she asks. “Mark are you ok?”
He grunts. Which she isn’t sure if that is just a universal male trait or if he is mimicking human behavior.
“Are you angry about me giving back your coin.”
Mark stops and turns on a step saying loud enough for everyone to hear, “You don’t need to worry about me and this isn’t about my damn coin. You humans always think its about you. You’re worse than the Eydulans, you know that. Now if you could please stop hovering. Its very distracting and I need time to think.”
Kat pushes past Mark and heads to the front of the line. Tia smirks on her way past. Kat would have stopped and gave her a few choice words but time isn’t really something they have a lot of. The engine room will start to overheat causing a chain reaction and make the ship explode. At least that is how Wrath explained it. She isn’t so sure that its going to happen that way having seen a few engine meltdowns before.
On the wall is a painted sign that tells her the way to the engine room, recreation, and cafeteria. There should be guards waiting just on the other side of the door. With the stairwell open to the dock they need to be placed at each exit to prevent unwanted visitors from entering where they shouldn’t. Which is exactly what she would have advised be done. If Kat’s lucky its just a single guard post and checkpoint, if she isn’t there will be a full workup there with detectors, monitors, and a handful of guards.
The group files in close to the door on either side. Pulling the handle slowly she presses the door open only a crack. So far so good with an empty hallway. Getting behind the door she cracks it open just enough for her to stick her head through and quickly peaks around the corner. Crap.
She must have been the one to help set this place up while she was still with Ryker and he made her forget about it. The security isn’t just a station its a walk through with guards. A conveyer belt for any and all electronics to get x-rayed and inspected if it looks suspicious and an electromagnetic walk way to wipe anything that might have been stolen. Not to mention the door for the security guys is on the other side.
Kat pulls herself back in and closes the door lightly. “Alright. I have good news and bad.”
Mark says, “Just get on with it.”
“Fine. There are only three guards, each with white suits. The bad news, there is a tiny hole for any electronics to be scanned and an emp field we have to walk through to get the other side.”
Tia pushes through the group and to the door. “This isn’t a problem. I’ll get us past because we don’t have much time to dawdle.”
She swings open the door as her features change as they had before from soft and round to hard and sharp. Flame leaves her lips once again. The equipment melts and Kat can hear the guards screaming on the other side. More from the shock than getting melted from what she can tell. Sparks and molten metal fill the tunnel as the sprinkler system kicks on.
Kat asks, “Hey Fury, can you stop those sprinklers?”
“Give me just a second.”
The sprinklers stop above their heads which is nice but that still left her soaked. Grabbing Graven’s hand she gives it a squeeze. He smiles back and wipes the matted hair out of her face.
Tia lets out an exasperated breath. “I’m though. That was a lot—“
Tia is flung back into the stairwell. The once yelling guards now each holding force sticks. Kat watches the group of three twirling their tonfa like sticks in each hand. Getting hit with one of them is like getting hit by a ship engine taking off inside of a dock.
Kat says, “Everyone watch out for those. The more they twirl them the strong their shots are.”
Terra takes a few steps toward the guards slowly with one hand behind her back holding a small black ball with a purple glow. Her other is held in the air like she is trying to ask a question.
“Hey there mister guards. Do you think you can help me out. This group of people behind me are trying to kidnap—“
They fire off a force round. Terra fires off her orb. They collide in the center of the newly made hole. The force being absorbed by the orb as it grows larger. Blue sparks light up Terra’s hand as the orb connects with the three guards. Pulling them onto it. Releasing the sparks from her hand they fly straight to the orb causing an explosion.
Kat knows they didn’t give them a choice but she hates when they have to kill people. It just feels horrible when you know they just do it for credits. Tia walks back out of the stairwell. Her softer features had returned but her scowl is worse than anything Mark had produced.
As they pass through the hole they notice the guards were blown into pieces. Pieces of metal. Not human or cyborg, but robots. Kat sighs with relief, but that means guards all over the place because why evacuate robots.
The pink projection of the female VI appears next to Kat again, telling her that she needs to evacuate and there is a problem with the ships engines. All of which she knows, and is now getting annoying.
Kat asks, “Fury disable the VI and give us some peace. Please.”
As the pink projections fades Fury says, “Kat the core power just jumped from 150% to 300%. It’s going up too fast.”
“Then that means we need to hurry up. How much farther?”
“Just up ahead. Another hundred yards on the right.”
“If you shut it down now, what would happen?”
“Everyone would flood back into the ship, making it harder for us to get away. Not to mention the containment crews would be sent into all the sections, placing them on a lockdown until checked.”
“Ok I get it, looks like we’re going to get some exercise.”
Kat picks up her pace from a fast walk into a run. The whole hallway had been one long corridor sparsely filled with more robot guards. Knowing that she was able to let loose a bit and everyone blew past them.
The corridor opens up to a city like view. It reminds her a lot of Knox’s house. The ceiling flickers in and out with a projection of the daytime sky one might see on a planet along side sparks and flames. Behind the projection is a white surface just like the walls. Some buildings reach up to the ceiling, but they are all as smooth and clean looking as everything else. In the center of the road is a large square door that looks like an airlock. One which Kat wants to stay away from. She’s already risked her life once in one and doesn’t plan on repeating it.
On the ground are emergency lights that all converge around the airlock. The larges of these leading further back into the city. She gets a feeling that these will lead her right to where she wants to go. Which Fury confirms that the engine room is in that direction. A few minutes pass of jogging down the empty streets, all the lights and advertisements flicker on and off as power surges blow projectors. The roads and sidewalks are filled with bags, food, clothing, and other things just left on the ground.
As they approach the engine room it appears more like a power plant than a room. The Conglomerate must have gone to extra ordinary lengths to get this place to look like a city that is on a planet rather that just another space ship.
The gate that leads in is open. Kat slows before entering. If there are any guards, she’s going to guess they are near the entrance. Her hunch was right again, just making her realize more and more that her hunches are probably more than just hunches. Its her brains way of bringing back memories of when she was the Conglomerate’s head of security and still under the effects of Ryker’s compel drug.
Guards and turrets, the safest way to not let any human life have to be lost. Parts are cheap, paying for life insurance and hazard pay are not. Which sounds just as cold to her now as it did the first time she heard Ryker say those words. Always trying to make or save a credit. Even if the cost seemed crazy up front.
Kat asks “Fury can you turn off the turrets.”
“Sorry Kat, the defense system here runs on a separate
isolated grid.”
She sighs, of course it's on a separate control grid. “It’s what I would do but I had to check.”
Graven asks, “Why do you keep saying it’s what you would do? You didn’t build this place.”
“I think I did.”
“How?”
“A place this size would have had to go through Ryker. Knowing him he just let me take care of it all and setup whatever defense that I deemed necessary. But with how secret this place is and how he didn’t really trust my personal life he probably told me to forget about this place.”
“Then you didn’t expect to be attacked by Eydulans then huh?”
“Or a cyborg version of myself, no. But hey I did set it up pretty damn well if I do have to say so. It’s given us enough trouble.”
“So what are we going to do about the turrets? Those could shred us into cheese before we get to the door.”
“Terra how good are you at lighting spells?”
“Not Hanna good but good.”
“Then gather the largest spell you can and hit the turret with it. Doing that should short out the whole defense grid inside. Giving us just enough time to get in and out. I wouldn’t have planned for any lightning if this thing was heading to space. Electrical shock, sure, someone trying to cause a meltdown, sure. An over- juiced magical lightning bolt, no.”
Terra takes a few steps out in the open still outside of the gate. The second sparks of blue dance across her fingertips the two turrets to either side of the entrance perk up and focus down on her.
36
Kat almost jumps in front of Terra but Graven places his hand on her shoulder. Looking back to his face Kat sees his eyes glued on the guns. Both are mini-guns and the barrels aren’t spinning. Which Kat believes is the reason Graven is holding her back.
Terra releases two blue balls of of lighting at the turrets. The instant they cross the threshold of the gate their barrels spin, spewing bullets. Terra jumps back as the bullets aren’t pointed at her but better safe than bullet filled.
Bullets pass through the spheres, not slowing or deterring their path. Each hit at roughly the same time. Bright blue sparks arc between the turrets, roof and ground. The turrets start firing erratically in all directions.
Starship Magic 4: Extraction Page 15
