by J. J. Green
How they would convince the spaceport officials to allow them to take the Paths aboard the shuttle was another unanswered question. They would have to cross both those bridges when they came to them, Jas concluded as she strapped herself into her shuttle seat, ready to make the descent to the Valles Marineris Spaceport. Things were going to get worse, not better, for the Paths. This would be the best chance they had to rescue them. They had to take it.
Flahive was a concern. Jas had thought that, coming from a high-g planet, he would be fast and strong in Mars’ low gravity, but his awkward method of locomotion made him slow. She wondered if his species was aquatic and so walking on land was unnatural to him. His presence was essential, however, if they were to reassure the Paths that they meant them no harm and if they were to avoid the potentially deadly consequences of scaring them.
She was pleased to have Sayen along. Her super speed, strength, and imperviousness to heat and cold made her a valuable team member in any raid. Carl would remain with the shuttle in case they needed to make a quick getaway. They had button comm links to stay in touch.
With Sparks, they had four people to bring the Paths to the spaceport. They should be able to manage it, Jas guessed. If she recalled correctly, the creatures were waist high and half as wide, but they were hollow and light to carry. She hoped the emotions they would emanate as they were being taken away would be positive ones.
“Touchdown in five,” came Carl’s Australian drawl over the cabin speaker. Jas wished she’d had more time to talk to him since visiting VM5. Delving into her past on Mars had been less painful and more cathartic than she’d imagined. She felt she’d gathered a little courage, maybe enough to acknowledge her feelings about him.
The shuttle landed, and fifteen minutes later they were through all the checks and on their way to the research facility. Sparks met them at the door, his manner very calm and professional. Jas marveled at his acting ability. He had to be nervous and worried, but he didn’t show it. Then she recalled how Sayen would rave about his skills as a physician. The man had had long years of practice exuding an aura of confidence.
“Thank you so much for reconsidering your decision,” Sparks said as he ushered them in. When a security guard approached, frowning suspiciously, he told the man, “You remember our guests from yesterday? They’re paying us a return visit. No cause for alarm.”
Ignoring the guard’s unconvinced look, he swept them over to the unstaffed reception desk. “We have to go through the formalities, of course. Let me check you in.” He tapped at a screen and handed them temporary security passes. They went through the secure inner entrance.
So far, so good, thought Jas.
“As soon as I’m within range, I’ll explain to the Paths why we’re here,” Flahive said. “They should be fully prepared for our appearance and not alarmed.”
“Great,” Jas said, scanning the surroundings for signs of activity. The place seemed to be as Sparks had predicted it would be: utterly deserted. She couldn’t hear anything but the sounds of their footfalls and Flahive’s soft bump, thump, bump, thump.
In a few minutes they were back where they’d been the previous day, at the junction that led to the Paths’ confinement chamber. Sparks’ scientist colleagues had gone home, however, and the corridor was dim and silent. The doctor approached a wide door with a security panel at eye height to one side of it. He looked into the panel and pressed a button. An almost inaudible click signaled the opening of the lock.
Inside, looking exactly as they had when Jas had first seen them in the Shadow trap, were the Paths. Their odd, inverted bag shapes were just as incongruous as they had been then. She became aware of a sense of great calm and happiness. The Paths were radiating their emotions. Flahive must have done a good job of explaining what they were going to do.
Lifting the Paths was like picking up elongated, suede balloons, though they weren’t rigid. The creatures were soft, velvety, and light. They partially collapsed wherever they were held, which was fortunate. It meant that they could carry all of them without too much difficulty.
Their arms full of Paths, they made their way down the corridor toward the exit. Everything had gone smoothly up until then, but that was the easy part. The hard part was going to be getting the Paths past security and then onto the shuttle.
“Do you know what we can say to the guards?” Jas asked Sparks.
“I’ve no idea,” he replied. “I’ve wracked my brains, but I can’t think of a single reason that would justify myself and three strangers removing experimental organisms from the facility. I was hoping you might think of something.”
“Krat,” Jas said. “We can’t fight them. We don’t have any weapons, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. But if they see what we’re doing of course they’ll try to stop us. We’ll have to distract them. Is there something you can do to set off an alarm? If they aren’t well-trained, they’ll both leave their posts to investigate.”
“Hmm, good idea,” Sparks said. “I think I might be able to manage something.”
“Hurry up,” Jas said. “We’re nearly at the entrance.”
Sparks was glancing around as if looking for something. He said to Flahive, “Could you ask the Paths if one of them would mind if I used them as a water receptacle? Just for a short time.”
Flahive was silent for a moment, then replied, “They say that wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Excellent,” Sparks said and disappeared with his Path into a restroom. The sound of running water came from the room, and Sparks reappeared, carrying an inverted Path that was now heavy and round with water. “Could one of you open that, please?” he asked, nodding toward a door on the opposite side of the corridor.
Sayen pushed the door open. Inside the room were ranks of interface screens. It was some kind of classroom or study room. Sparks took a few quick steps and upended the Path over the screens, sending a torrent of water over the electronic equipment. It did the trick. A whooping alarm sounded, and the corridor lights flashed.
“In here,” called Sparks, carrying his now-deflated, soggy Path into another empty room.
When they were all inside, Jas held the door open a tiny crack. They waited. After a few moments, a security guard ran past and into the room Sparks had flooded. Just one security guard. Krat. The other one must have stayed at his post at the entrance. She had one more ace in the hole. She would have to play it. “Run for the entrance, everyone,” she said quietly. “Sayen, don’t get too far ahead of us. When we’re in sight of the guard, let me go first.”
They sprinted the final few tens of meters to the lobby and burst through the door. Sayen stepped to one side and let Jas go past. One guard stood at the entrance. As they appeared, he turned and gaped. Jas screamed like a banshee and bore down on him.
The sight and sound of the tall, shrieking Martian carrying a weird alien and flying toward him made the guard’s eyes grow round and his mouth gape. His hand went to his weapon, but he fumbled it. In the second of extra time it took for him to get over his surprise, Jas was on him. A quick, well-placed punch knocked him out cold. A moment later, they were past the unconscious guard and out in the street.
“Run,” shouted Jas.
Chapter Sixteen
Flahive’s bump thump, bump thump was growing fainter. Jas turned and saw the alien was falling behind. He was too slow. The tunnel they were running down was long and straight, and the guard Jas had knocked out would be coming around within a few seconds. They had to get out of his line of fire.
Telling the others not to wait, and that they would meet them outside the spaceport, she dropped back.
“Please, take my Path and continue without me,” Flahive said. His translator didn’t convey the strenuous effort he was making, but his leaps were growing shorter and his legs were wobbling.
“No,” Jas said. “You can make it. Let me help you.” She wrapped an arm awkwardly around his wide frame under his three upper limbs.
“Here,”
said Flahive, trying to pass her the alien he was carrying.
“I’m not taking it,” exclaimed Jas. “You can do it. Come on.” She pulled him along another few steps.
“It is too late,” said Flahive. He slid from her grip and collapsed.
Jas hadn’t heard the laser shot, but as Flahive hit the ground, she saw the damage. A hole had been burned in the back of the empath’s pressure suit. A white, wet mass was bulging from the hole, which grew rapidly wider.
“No,” yelled Jas.
With the last of his strength, as his body forced its way out of his splitting suit, Flahive lifted the Path he was carrying, holding it up for Jas to take from him. Something fizzed passed her ear. She was being shot at. In the distance, two guards were leaving the open entrance to the research facility. The unconscious guard had woken up and the other had returned from investigating Sparks’ distraction. Both were firing at them.
She grabbed the Path from Flahive. A low groan came from the alien’s translator. His suit split from top to bottom down the back, and a jelly-like, partially translucent mound erupted like foam from a shaken bottle of soda.
“I have asked...them...to help,” were Flahive’s dying words.
Holding Paths under each arm, Jas fled, shielded from the guards’ sight by Flahive’s remains.
***
Sayen and Sparks were waiting for her just outside the spaceport. Their alien baggage was attracting considerable attention from passersby.
“Where’s Flahive?” Sayen asked.
Jas couldn’t answer. She could only shake her head. She didn’t only have her own grief to deal with. The Paths she was carrying were radiating sadness. She swallowed and said, “We have to get to the shuttle immediately. We have only moments until the guards at the research facility raise the alarm and they close the spaceport.”
“How the heck are we going to explain the Paths?” Sayen asked.
“I’m all out of ideas,” Jas said. “We’ll have to try to bluff our way through.”
“I don’t like this,” Sparks muttered. “I don’t like this at all. I tried to leave once and they wouldn’t let me. My name’s known to them. I was hoping you’d thought of another way.”
“Krat, Sparks,” Jas said angrily. “We’re doing our best. A friend just died. We can’t perform miracles.”
“It will be a miracle if we don’t get stopped and arrested,” Sayen said.
“Let’s just try, okay?” said Jas. She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t shake the image of Flahive’s terrible death from her mind.
They were inside the spaceport and making their way to the security gate. Though they were receiving many curious glances and outright stares, none of the spaceport staff seemed to be aware that they were wanted for stealing highly sensitive potential weapons—yet.
Jas’ heart seemed about to thump its way out of her chest as they neared the gate. The clerk’s face was a picture as she watched them approach. What could they say to her to convince her to let them through? Should they force their way in and make a run for it? It was a couple of hundred meters at least from the security gate to the hangar where Carl was waiting in the shuttle. Carl. She’d forgotten to contact him.
Jas lifted her comm button to her lips. “Carl, we’re in the spaceport. Just outside security. We’ve got the Paths.”
“How’re you gonna get them to let you through?” he replied.
“Krat knows.”
“You can do it, Jas. I’ll bring out the shuttle. I’ll be waiting for you.”
The people in front of them in the line passed through security. As Jas, Sayen, and Sparks stepped up, the clerk put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows.
“And what, might I ask, are those?” she asked, staring at the soft, brown aliens they carried.
“Er...they’re...” Jas said. Her mind was absolutely blank. She looked at Sayen.
“They’re...they’re...ornaments,” Sayen said. “Souvenirs of our visit.”
“Really? Where’d you get them? What are they?” The clerk looked glum as she spoke. The Paths’ emotions were affecting her. Jas cursed inwardly. If the clerk was feeling bad, she’d be even less likely to let them into the departure area. When no one seemed able to answer her, she said, “You’ll have to take those to the screening office.”
“Damnit,” Sparks said. “I knew this would happen. I’ll never be able to—”
Before he could finish, the clerk’s eyes suddenly rolled back in her head, and she fell down in a dead faint. Gasps and exclamations came from the line behind them. For a moment, neither Jas, Sayen, nor Sparks moved. Then Sayen blurted, “It’s the Paths. The Paths’ve put her in a coma.”
Hope leaping up within her, Jas shouted, “Let’s go,” and sped past the unconscious clerk.
Spaceport staff came running up on the other side of security, attracted by the commotion of the crowd. The ones that ventured near the Paths fell like ninepins, creating more confusion.
“Carl,” Jas yelled into her comm button, “we’re on our way.”
Within moments, they were racing down the tunnel that led to the landing pad. Had Carl gotten permission to take off?
“Jas,” came his voice from her button, “I can’t get permission to take off. It’s pandemonium in the control room. No one will talk to me. Don’t go down the embarkation tunnel. There’s another shuttle at the end of it. ”
“What? No,” exclaimed Jas. “We’re nearly there. We’ve nearly made it. There has to be a way.”
“There is,” Carl said. “But you’ve got to go outside.”
“We can’t. We’ll freeze, and we won’t be able to breathe. There aren’t any atmosphere suits in here.”
“It’ll be safe. It’s only a short distance to the landing pad, and as long as I’m on it, the other shuttle can’t take off. You can hold your breath while you run. There’ll be an emergency airlock in there somewhere. Go through it, and run to me. I’ll have the door open.”
“The airlock’s here,” cried Sayen, who had overheard Carl’s words. She was doubling back. “We just ran past it.”
Jas reversed, and Sparks was hot on her heels. They skidded to a halt next to Sayen. She was reading the instructions to open the airlock.
“Just smash the emergency button,” Jas yelled.
Sayen cracked the glass over the emergency panel and pressed the button. With the harsh, metallic clank of long-unused parts, the airlock opened. They stepped inside, and the door closed, sealing them in. In another moment, Sayen located the button to open the outer door, which would lead them out into Mars’ frigid, thin atmosphere.
“Ready?” Sayen asked.
“No,” Sparks replied. “I think we should—”
“Hold your breath,” said Sayen as she punched the button. The outer door slid back. Jas fought not to gasp as the icy cold atmosphere swept inside. A short distance away was the familiar sight of the Bricoleur’s shuttle. Less than a one-minute run, Jas estimated. She and Sayen could do it. She wasn’t so sure about Sparks.
She pointed, and they ran.
Sayen reached the shuttle way ahead of Jas and Sparks. She disappeared into the dark space of the entrance. A moment later, she reappeared without the Paths she’d been carrying and came back to them.
Jas’ lungs were screaming at her to breathe. Darkness was blurring the edge of her vision. A thud came from beside her. Sparks had fallen.
But Sayen was there. She picked up the doctor and hoisted him over her shoulder. Jas groped for the dropped Paths. She had them. There were only meters to go. Sayen was already carrying Sparks into the shuttle, her petite frame comically dwarfed by her impossibly large burden.
With the last of her strength, Jas forced her legs to move. In a daze, she took her final steps into the shuttle and crumpled to the floor.
Chapter Seventeen
Warmth and feeling returned to Jas’ extremities as she sat in the passenger cabin and caught her breath. Gradually, the ache i
n her lungs and throat eased. She was dimly aware of the movement of the shuttle as they went up through the Martian atmosphere and pressure forced her down into her seat. She hadn’t even fastened her safety belt.
Carl was flying to the Bricoleur faster than he had on the other trips. Were the Martian authorities already on their tail? Jas tried to ease her mind. There wasn’t much she could do if that were the case. Their escape was now in Carl’s and Phelan’s hands.
Sparks sat across the aisle. He was white and trembling. The Paths were immobile, as always, lying where they’d been put, on seats and on the floor. The g-force of the flight was compressing their soft forms. Jas wondered what they were thinking.
Sayen caught her eye and gave her a thumbs up. She smiled back. They couldn’t have made it without her. Jas was glad her friend had been able to move on a little from her terrible grief and depression.
After what seemed a long time, the g-force eased. They had to be approaching the Bricoleur. The shuttle’s vibration calmed, and Jas’ stomach pushed against her diaphragm as their motion abruptly slowed. They came to a stop. The clank of the access hatch joining the ship echoed through the cabin.
As the hatch scraped open, Sparks scrambled from his seat. Ignoring the Paths, he ran through the opening and into the Bricoleur.
“I’ll take these, then?” Sayen asked his departing back. She gathered together as many Paths as she could carry. “Can you bring the rest, Jas?” she asked before she left too.
Jas got up and began to collect the remaining Paths. Carl came in from the pilot’s cabin.
“What happened to Flahive?” he asked.
“He got shot by a guard. The burn pierced his suit.” Her chin trembled.
Carl looked downcast. “When I saw he wasn’t with you, I knew something bad had happened. I thought, I’ll have to go without him.”
“You did the right thing.”
Jas continued to pick up Paths. With Flahive’s help, they’d done what they’d set out to do. They’d saved the Paths from experimentation, and now they might be able to use them to defeat the Shadows, though Jas wasn’t sure how, now that they had no way to talk to them. She was physically and emotionally exhausted after her brief time on Mars. Yet she was glad they’d gone there.
