Now I had to swim to that chamber, several levels down and halfway across Grambala from where I was, before the guards had a chance to recover or someone spotted them and sounded an alarm.
I was never a particularly strong swimmer. Not having to hold my breath as I swam underwater helped, but I was still winded long before I reached the chamber. As I rounded the last corner before reaching it, I held my breath, fearful of what I might see. I was in luck. They were still unconscious, drifting in the slight bow wave that preceded me.
I reached them and took their weapons. Now armed, I was more confident of success. At worst, I could shoot the nullifiers—assuming, of course, that there wasn’t an armed guard inside the chamber ready to shoot me the instant I poked my head through.
As I squeezed through the tube, I wished I was a turtle, with the ability to retract my head inside a protective shell, if necessary. Fortunately, it wasn’t.
Inside the chamber were four Azarti, holding hands and floating in a ring, feet outward. This close to them, a sort of deadness permeated the room. It must have been caused by the dampening field—sort of a telepathic version of an anechoic chamber.
Now back inside the dampening field, there was no hope of using my sledgehammer on them. I had the handguns, but I didn’t want to use them unless I had no choice. If there was a stun setting on the weapon, I had no idea where it was. So what was I supposed to do, slap them silly with my bare hands? Underwater?
I no longer received Shari’s transmissions, so I didn’t know how close the guards were to executing anyone, or who would go first. My guess was that they’d leave Keldor and Karsh for last. But anyone else was fair game.
I was paralyzed with indecision. I didn’t want to shoot the nullifiers, but I didn’t seem to have a choice. I aimed one of the guns at the nearest Azarti and took a deep breath. One squeeze and he or she would be dead.
Then I had a sudden thought that stayed my thumb from the firing button. Could it work?
I stuck both weapons down the front of my pants and swam to the two nearest Azarti. Grasping their wrists, I pulled. After a moment’s resistance, their hands separated.
At once there was a flicker in the dampening field and it dropped in intensity. I swam to the other two and pulled their hands apart. The field weakened further.
I projected a thought to the quartet as loudly as I could, “Hey! Have you ever seen a real live alien?” The four nullifiers instantly focused their attentions on me. The shock of sensing me in the chamber with them broke their mental chain. The dampening field momentarily shattered.
I seized the opportunity and stunned them all with my sledgehammer—but not soon enough. I sensed a heightened state of alertness among the guards and soldiers throughout Grambala. One of the nullifiers had managed to sound the alarm.
Suddenly, this turtle had a bull’s eye painted on his back.
Shari’s frightened plea broke through my moment of panic. “Don, get out of there! Korr just sent a squad of soldiers to investigate. And he ordered the off-shift nullifiers to meet in a fallback location to restore the field. I don’t think he knows you’re involved yet, but the soldiers know where the nullifiers are housed. Hurry!”
Expanding my consciousness to take in the whole of Grambala, I saw dozens of sparks change direction with purpose. Some went to cover the exits. At least two dozen were heading my way.
Shit.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I froze for a second. Then I wanted to slap myself. What was I worried about? With the dampening field down I was in control of the situation.
My first thought was to sledgehammer everyone but Shari and sort things out later. But then I realized it would be a lot easier to get the prisoners and Korr out if they were conscious. I focused on all the sparks in Grambala that were outside the detention wing and swatted. They all went dim.
I exited into the passageway and headed for the detention wing. But then I realized that the guards there might continue executing the prisoners if I left them conscious. I swatted all the Azarti in the wing except for the prisoners in the execution and holding rooms.
That left Karsh and his people and Shari and me as the only conscious ones left in Grambala. But there was no telling how long the others would remain out. We had to take Korr and go!
It took me several minutes to reach the detention wing, with Shari urging me to hurry the whole time. No kidding. The two guards outside were unconscious, but the tube was sealed. I hadn’t counted on that. Now what? How to get in?
I tried cutting through the wall with one of the energy weapons I took from the guards. It worked, but it was slow going. After seven or eight tense minutes, I had cut away enough of the wall to create a flap that could be pushed aside. I slipped through. Frustratingly, I had to repeat the process at the entrance to the execution chamber.
“You’d better hurry it up, Don. There’s no telling how long your mental mickey will last.”
I know it wasn’t fair, but I let out my frustrations on Shari. “You think I don’t know that?” I calmed down a bit. “Besides, I can just give them another jolt if they wake up.”
“Sure, but what if a second jolt doesn’t work? Maybe it’s possible to develop an immunity to it. Or worse, what if a second jolt kills? Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people?”
“Oh, sure. Give me even more to worry about. Thanks, a bunch.”
I quickly scanned Grambala for bright sparks that would indicate conscious Azarti. There were none. Yet.
Then I was through the wall and into the viewing chamber. Shari and I hugged briefly. I surveyed the room. Korr and the dignitaries all floated unconscious. Fortunately, my aim had been true. The prisoners were still awake and excitedly milling around, one in the walkway and the rest in the cells. I sent Shari to collect the weapons from the two unconscious guards in the viewing area.
All that stood between them and me was the transparent membrane. Piece of cake.
Or so I thought. The stuff was even tougher than the outer wall that I’d just cut through. Rather than try to cut a big opening, I concentrated on making a small one. The prisoner in the walkway, one of Karsh’s security detail that I didn’t know, took the weapons from the two unconscious guards in the room with him. He used one to cut into the membrane separating him from the prisoners in the first cell. Once he cut a small hole through the first cell wall, he passed the other weapon through to one of the prisoners inside. With cuts being made simultaneously on two cells, the work went faster, but it still took nearly twelve minutes to make an opening large enough for the first prisoner to squeeze through.
By then, I’d already cut a small hole through the wall to the walkway. I passed the two weapons collected from the guards to the prisoner working within. Shari and I had the ones I’d taken from the nullifier guards. Finally, the hole was large enough to pull myself through into the walkway, and I began working on Cell 4. My cohort had already passed a weapon along to those in Cell 2 and was working on Cell 3.
It took so long to cut through the membrane that I had to settle for a fairly small opening—merely a ‘T’ cut, forming two flaps—barely large enough for an Azarti to pull himself through. We had six weapons, but eight cells to cut through and not a lot of time left.
By the time I got the hole cut on Cell 7, it had been almost fifty minutes since I dropped the sledgehammer on everyone. I began to feel flickers of consciousness in various parts of Grambala. We were out of time.
Karsh and one of the other prisoners finished the hole in Cell 8 moments later.
“Come on, let’s go, let’s go!” I hollered—not that anyone was taking their sweet time.
These last two holes were even smaller than the previous ones and a tight fit, even for the diminutive Azarti. I resorted to grabbing their arms, putting my feet against the membrane on either side of the hole, and yanking them through. That cut the time per prisoner about in half, but it still seemed to be taking forever.
&n
bsp; Shari took my cue and pulled the last three through the newest hole while I finished up at Cell 7.
By now, much of Grambala was awake again, if groggy. We had to leave. I did a quick headcount of those in the viewing area. We were short two prisoners.
“Shari! Where are the others? I only count 26.”
“They—” Shari began, and then choked up.
Karsh finished for her. “They were executed before you knocked the guards unconscious.”
“Ex—!” I was stunned. I looked over at the execution chamber and realized that there were three bodies floating there: two guards and a prisoner. My breath caught in my throat and I nearly retched.
My hesitation with the nullifiers had cost two prisoners their lives. If I had just shot the nullifiers immediately, instead of waffling over how to disrupt the dampening field without hurting them, the two prisoners would still be alive. If I had even knocked everyone out immediately after leaving the chamber, instead of starting with just the people outside the detention wing, I still might have saved one or both of them.
Clearly, Shari sensed my mood darken. She grabbed my shoulders and shook. “Don! Snap out of it! There’s no time for regrets right now. We have to go!”
“You’re right. Everyone, through that hole!” I pointed to the one I’d cut into the viewing chamber. Because it was cut human-size, it was plenty big enough for the Azarti, who were able to dart through it with inches to spare. I shoved Shari through. Then I pushed the unconscious Korr halfway through and Shari yanked him the rest of the way. I slipped through last. Most of the prisoners were already through the other opening I’d made, at the entrance to the detention wing, by the time Shari, Karsh, and I got there with Korr.
Once outside the entrance, I did a quick check, trying to determine who the execution victims were. I didn’t know everyone in the group, but I knew most. “Wait! Karsh, where’s Keldor? Did we leave him behind?”
Karsh’s mental voice was oddly subdued. “He will not be coming with us.”
No! “You don’t mean—” Images of his lifeless body floating in the execution chamber pierced my soul. It was all my fault.
“I almost wish that were the case. No, Keldor has not been with us since the first day.”
Now I was confused. “But, wasn’t everyone returned after interrogation?”
“Everyone but the traitor who divulged our abduction plan to Korr.”
It couldn’t be. “Are you saying—?”
“That Keldor was the traitor? Yes. It appears so.”
“No way. I don’t believe it!”
“Neither did I, at first. We have been friends since childhood. I do not understand how he could betray us like that. However, it had to be him.”
“Yes, Keldor was rather useful to us.” Korr was awake. “It is amazing how cooperative someone can be when the proper leverage is applied—for example, holding someone’s family captive.”
His tone turned smug. “Keldor fed us detailed descriptions of your plan for the last several weeks. Your plan never had the slightest chance of success. I expect we will be able to make use of him again with the next cell, after his upcoming ‘miraculous escape’.” He chuckled, and then his voice grew hard as flint. “You might as well surrender. You will not be allowed to leave Grambala.”
“Shut up!” I yelled, ready to kill the bastard if he said another word. How could I have been so taken in by his honeyed words and empty promises, telling me exactly what I wanted to hear? I thought I’d been a cop and a private eye far too long to be suckered like that.
Fortunately for both of us he did the wise thing.
I’d gotten him to stop talking, but now what were we supposed to do with him? With a human hostage, you could gag him and he couldn’t give away your position, or coordinate his own rescue effort. What was I supposed to do with a telepathic hostage? I didn’t have a brain gag handy. I did the only thing I could think of at the moment: I gave Korr a moderate tap with the sledgehammer, and hoped it would have the desired effect without killing him. He slumped in place.
Karsh grew agitated. “We must find Keldor and rescue him and his family! I knew he could not be in league with Korr. At least not willingly.”
“We don’t have time to look for them and get them out, Karsh. We have to go. Now. If we get out of here with Korr as a hostage, we can demand that the others be freed. But not now. If we don’t leave in the next couple of minutes, we’re dead.”
Karsh seemed paralyzed with indecision. “But—”
“No time!” I sensed bright sparks converging on our position from all over Grambala. Then, before I could sledgehammer them all, the sparks winked out.
“Damn! The nullifiers must be back in operation. Quick, this way. Move it!” I called out, pointing toward a passageway to our right. During the wee hours of the morning, while we were planning this organized chaos, Shari and I had located the nearest sewer jet pipe opening that was large enough to admit humans. It was a couple of hundred yards along the passageway, down two levels and then another fifty yards or so along another passageway.
There were plenty of Azarti between us and the exit, and we had six handguns with which to hold off an army.
I led the way with one of the weapons. Karsh was right behind me with another. Two of the guns went to the people bringing up the rear. The remaining two were wielded by security on either side of the main body of the group. Two others in the center of our group towed Korr between them.
The first resistance came from three guards at the far end of the passageway.
Karsh and I forced them to duck back. But they proceeded to fire blindly around the corner. Even though their aim was wild, there were enough of us that eventually some shots would find their mark. Were they crazy? Didn’t they know we had their leader? Then it dawned on me that with Korr unconscious, it was likely they didn’t know. I called out to let those firing at us know the situation, but I guess they didn’t believe me. The only response I got was a shot that missed my shoulder by inches.
Energy blasts flew back and forth, making the water vibrate with each passage. I didn’t know what kind of energy was being discharged, but I was glad it wasn’t electrical or we’d all have been fried.
“Hurry,” I called out to the others behind me. “Through here!” I gestured to the opening in the passageway that led downward. Two of the armed members of our group provided covering fire while the rest of us headed down to the lower level. Two more covered the lower exit as the rest of us emerged and headed for the sewer access chamber. The first two caught up to the main group.
Karsh and I turned a corner and had to pull back in the face of incoming energy blasts. I don’t know whether the guards guessed our plans or got lucky—or perhaps Korr was only feigning unconsciousness—but there was a knot of them between us and the chamber we needed to reach. They had us pinned down. Soon the other group of guards would descend to this level behind us. We had to get unpinned down rather quickly. A blast whizzed past my head, creating a painful buzz. One of the Azarti behind me shrieked in pain, followed by another.
Despite my qualms about possibly killing people with another sledgehammer jolt, I didn’t see any alternative. It was either a few of them or all of us. But with the nullifiers back in operation, I wasn’t sure I could do anything, even at such short range. I concentrated on the group of guards ahead and gave them a firm swat. They didn’t have to be out for hours, just the few minutes we needed to escape from Grambala.
They sagged and floated in place. I didn’t think they were dead, but I didn’t have time to worry about it one way or the other.
I led the way to the access chamber. “In here. Hurry! Into the sewer pipe!”
Karsh and I guarded the entrance as the rest of the group poured in. When we were down to the last two security people, Karsh and I opened a slit and climbed into the pipe.
It was a relief to be alive and on our way out of Grambala. The trip down the pipe was much like the earlier one, ex
cept perhaps for being even more of a thrill ride. Before, we had the fear of a potential firefight ahead. Now we felt the exhilaration of a successful escape. We zipped along. Another few minutes and we’d be outside.
Then, up ahead I saw a clot of people—the Azarti who’d entered the pipe ahead of me. Why was I catching up to them? Within seconds, I had my answer. Someone had installed bars or a grating of some sort at the pipe outlet. It let water and small objects through, but not large objects—like people.
Damn! Why hadn’t I considered that? It was an obvious security measure.
The first group into the pipe was crushed against the barrier by the powerful flow of water and those who followed behind. Now there were more than two dozen of us trapped behind the bars, which were barely visible between the nest of arms and legs ahead of me. Undoubtedly there would be guards following behind us.
We were sitting ducks.
“Someone has to cut through those bars!” I yelled at those in the front of the pileup.
“We cannot move our arms to reach our weapons,” one shouted back. “We are pinned against the bars.”
“Somebody has to be able to get a hand free. Here.” I handed my weapon to the Azarti in front of me. “Pass this forward until someone with a free hand can get a shot at the bars.”
He handed the gun to someone ahead of him, and then I lost sight of it.
I took a jolt to the back. Fearful that one of Korr’s guards had caught up to us and shot me, I looked back. I was relieved to see that it was just one of the two security people who had entered the pipe behind me. A moment later, the last in our group arrived with a thud. Now we were all trapped in this spider’s web.
“Hurry it up!” I yelled to those ahead.
“Almost there,” another voice answered back. “I have it!”
A moment later, an energy blast lit the water in the pipe.
“Missed! I will try again.”
The pipe wall vibrated. A direct hit.
“I do not have a clear shot at the other bars.”
Sunrise Destiny Page 27
