He checked the other video monitors and recognized a familiar face just outside the rear suspension chamber door, and another outside the ocean room’s double doors. Both were Mekens disguised as Breakers. This was not unexpected. Part of the plan had been for two disguised Mekens to crawl through a large air duct that ran at ground level from the mechanical room to the back of the north hallway. The duct vented into the hallway just before the T-intersection and well beyond the view of the Breakers in the lobby. His accomplices had obviously succeeded in terminating the two rear guards and taking their place.
It was time to initiate the second phase of Kane’s plan. Super 4 tapped a keypad in the control terminal and released the locking mechanisms on the front and rear suspension chamber doors. Immediately an alarm sounded and red lights started flashing in the control room and throughout the complex. A prerecorded female voice spoke over a crackly speaker system. “Alert: chamber doors releasing. Danger to biomechanicals. Alert: chamber doors releasing. Danger to biomechanicals.”
He checked the rear chamber door video monitor, and the Director, Kane, and Dr. Manassa came into view. The Director waved to the camera. Super 4 entered another code and the deadbolts holding the rear chamber door were released. He watched Kane and the doctor pull the heavy door open and slip into the suspension chamber. They reappeared on the large video screen. They would be on their own, but safe, in the chamber; none of the Mekens or Breakers could enter for another hour.
The dust had settled in the lobby monitor. The Breakers were gathering up the hostages and moving them out of camera view. Super 4 glanced at the perimeter hallway monitors; there was no sign of Breaker or Meken. The Director and his team would be hidden in the mechanical room, in the secondary elevator shaft, and in the air duct. The ocean room monitor was dark; the lights had been turned out. Super 4 had successfully completed his mission.
Now all he could do was watch and wait.
11
Day 1
2130 hours
Suspension chamber, Alto Raun
When the suspension chamber door shut behind him, all sound, and thought, of the lobby battle vanished as if Kane had left one world and entered another. The chamber walls hummed with energy. The air in the room shimmered. It was visually disconcerting at first, but he adjusted quickly.
Considering the size of the larger complex, the chamber itself was smaller than he had imagined. Shaped like a rectangular shoebox, the room was antiseptically clean, glossy white, with a smooth ceiling and floor. The long walls on each side glowed a yellow-orange hue. The room was just big enough to house the colonists comfortably and provide a staging space on either end.
Kane felt a sense of awe as he gazed upon the colonists. These people had been here for more than two thousand years, yet they looked as if they had recently lain down for a nap. Clothed in white, tight-fitting body suits, they lay flat on their backs, each on a padded platform that stood about three feet from the floor. Kane and the doctor would later discover that, in suspension, the colonists were not actually lying on anything; the padded pedestals were there so that when they came out of suspension, there would be a place for each of them to rest comfortably. There were four rows of thirty colonists each and a narrow walk space between each row and pedestal. One hundred twenty people—all that was left of an entire planetary race. As if it lingered in the air, the fear and passion that had driven them to this place flooded Kane. And here they were, helpless, and in his hands. He had borne some heavy responsibilities in his life, but none compared to this. While he had every right to feel resentment for being kidnapped from Earth, in this moment, he knew that he never would; all he felt was a deep compassion for these people, and a desperate determination to help them.
From the Director’s briefing, Kane knew that the colonists ranged in age from twenty to fifty-eight, they were mostly younger, and there were slightly more females than males. They had been chosen based on their youth, physical condition, intellectual prowess, and mental and emotional stability. The few older colonists were included for their expertise and to provide counsel to the colony leaders. The leaders were two men and two women, all in their early to midthirties. Kane was pleased to hear that all of the colonists were trained in hand-to-hand combat and a few had military training.
The Director had covered all the possible suspension side effects with Dr. Manassa, several times, and had expressed his deep regret that the doctor would not have access to any medical resources. Dr. Manassa had done his best to put the Director at ease, recounting his experience working emergency care in disaster-relief conditions.
“They’re waking,” the doctor said, moving down an aisle to a colonist who was beginning to stir. He was a young man, very fit; Kane thought he couldn’t be more than twenty. They helped him sit up. His eyes were open, but he was groggy.
“Can you see us?” the doctor asked.
“Yes.”
“Clearly?”
“It’s a little fuzzy, but it’s getting better. Got a headache . . . and thirsty.”
“Here. Take this.” Dr. Manassa gave the young man a pain pill and a cannister of water, both found in the pedestal. “Drink slowly.”
“So good,” he said after a long, slow drink. “What language am I speaking . . . English?”
The doctor and Kane exchanged glances. “Yes,” Dr. Manassa answered. “Is that new for you?”
“They told us it was possible to upload knowledge in level four suspension, but I’ve never experienced it. It’s strange to be speaking a language you know you’ve never learned.”
“Your mental processing is active and present, very good. What’s your name?”
“Rhogan.” He pronounced it with a very subtle, almost silent, hhh sound.
“Hello, Rhogan.” The doctor pinched his arm.
“Ow!” The young man jerked his arm away.
“Touch sensitivity and reflexes are good. Rhogan, can you move your legs?”
He extended each leg one at a time.
“Lift your hands over your head.”
He raised his arms over his head, while looking closely at the doctor. “Who are you?”
“Doc, we’re in a hurry,” Kane interjected.
“I’m Dr. Manassa, your doctor for now. We’ll explain more later. I need you to try to stand.”
Rhogan eased himself off the bed pedestal and carefully shifted his weight onto his legs. He was a bit wobbly, and Kane took his arm to provide support. But he straightened up and slowly began to pump his legs and arms, walking in place.
“They told us to do this as our first exercise after coming out of suspension.”
“Good, very good. If the others recover like you, we’re in great shape. Rhogan, as soon as you feel able, we need you to help us wake the others and get them standing and moving as quickly as possible. And do not—I repeat, do not—leave the chamber until everyone is awake and we have spoken with all of you. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir,” Rhogan responded, looking directly at the doctor. “Help wake the others and do not leave the chamber.”
Kane and Dr. Manassa spread out and moved around the room. After completing their exercises, more colonists joined them in waking their fellows. To the doctor’s relief, he didn’t see a single problem, physical or mental, with the colonists, although the older ones were slower to regain their mobility.
Kane finally noticed a small group of colonists gathered at one end of the chamber, conversing and glancing occasionally at him and Dr. Manassa. Finally, two men and two women approached him. Kane presumed they were the colony leaders, and he called the doctor over. One of the men, larger than Kane, very muscular, and with a short-cropped haircut, spoke first.
“I am Thorin. This is Lhemo,” he said, pointing his chin toward the other male. “This is Ehlan . . . ,” he nodded at the blonde female at his immediate right, then leaned forward and glanced around her at a second female, a brunette, “and this is Mhara.” The brunette nodded.
&nb
sp; Thorin spoke clear English with the same European accent as the Professor.
“We are the leaders of the Colony,” Thorin continued. “On behalf of all the colonists, we thank you for your assistance. Now I must ask who you are.”
Before responding, Kane took a few seconds to look into each of their faces. This was a field practice that he used when he first met the leaders of a joining or opposing force. Body language and the eyes told a lot about a person, and the process gave him a moment to consider his words. Each of the four had an air of confidence and authority, but none were defensive in their posture. He knew their first charge was the care of their people, and he expected their caution, but he also saw their curiosity. And, he couldn’t help but notice how fit and attractive they were, Mhara in particular. Her emerald-green eyes were like magnets; Dr. Manassa had to nudge him with an elbow.
He spoke formally. “I am Kane McKennon, and this is Dr. James Manassa. We are from a planet called Earth. We have been brought to your planet by your Director.”
Three of the leaders relaxed at this news, and they let their excitement show.
“Then it has worked,” Mhara said with amazement. “The Director was successful.” She looked at Kane and the doctor with a sense of awe. “You really are humans from another planet?”
“Yes.”
“Mhara,” Thorin interrupted, signaling for restraint. The girl frowned at him, but Thorin was clearly not ready to let down his guard. He directed his next words at Kane.
“And what are your feelings at being brought to our planet?”
A good question, Kane thought. The answer would reveal a lot to these four. Thorin was definitely the leader of this group, so Kane spoke directly to him.
“We are not in conflict with you. We have only recently arrived and discovered the purpose of the Colony. We are still . . .” Then Kane switched gears. “Unfortunately, I need to skip the introductions; we really don’t have time. Thorin, the colonists are in grave danger. A band of rogue robots are in the lobby, and they are holding twenty of my people hostage. There is a possibility that they may try to kill the hostages, and you colonists, as soon as they can enter the chamber.”
The four leaders looked shocked. “That is not possible,” Lhemo said. “That would be in direct conflict with their program directives.”
“Apparently,” Dr. Manassa said, “over the course of two thousand years, their programming evolved and they—”
“Two thousand years?” the girls echoed in disbelief.
“Yeah, but that story will have to wait,” Kane said. “The Director and a team of sentries are hidden in an elevator shaft behind the mechanical room. One of our team has taken command of the control room, which is how the doctor and I gained entry to the chamber. We expect the Breakers to move with—”
“Who are the Breakers?” Thorin interrupted.
“They’re the rogue robots. Your Director refers to them as the Breakers. They can’t leave via the elevator, so I think they will try to move into the ocean room to escape, taking the hostages with them, or kill them as they leave; I just don’t know. For now, the Breakers can’t enter the chamber and the colonists are safe, but that will change in about thirty minutes. The Breakers are using the hostages as human shields. Our plan is to separate the hostages from the Breakers with a surprise attack from their flank as they move down the perimeter hallway.”
It was a lot to ingest at once, and the four leaders were visibly distraught at the news. Thorin was thoughtful a moment before he responded. “We are deeply alarmed by this report. It was not supposed to be this way. How can we help?”
“I need three of your best, who are trained in hand-to-hand combat,” Kane said. “We can’t use lasers—too much risk to the hostages. We need anything that can be used as a striking weapon.”
Lhemo, Ehlan, and Dr. Manassa went in search of weapons, while Thorin went looking for recruits. Mhara moved around the room, directing the colonists to meet her at the front end of the chamber. Kane went to the rear chamber door and cautiously stepped into the hallway. It was empty and quiet. The calm before the storm, he thought. He returned to the chamber and found Thorin with three colonists, all of whom looked like Olympic decathletes.
Dr. Manassa and Lhemo joined them. “We found these in the control room,” the doctor, said holding up three fire extinguishers. “I know; pretty weak against lasers, but it’s the best we could do.”
“Actually,” Kane said, “they’re perfect. We can spray the fire retardant to create a fog and then use the canisters as clubs. But I don’t want anyone out there without a weapon, and we only have enough for three, and I’m one. Pick two more,” he said to Thorin.
Thorin chose one of the men and introduced him as Bhram. He instructed the other two to stand at the ready in case they were needed.
“Are you sure you should go?” Kane asked.
“Without question,” Thorin responded flatly.
“OK. Any pointers in how to disable a Breaker?” Kane asked.
“The sentries and builders are forty percent stronger than an average man, but their grip strength is considerable. The Directors are twice as strong as an average man. All Mekens are most vulnerable at the neck and the waist. They are no faster than a human. And their balance is less stable, so they are easily felled. A solid blow to the head with one of these should stun or incapacite them.”
“Good to know.”
Mhara and Dr. Manassa moved everyone else to the front of the chamber, to explain the situation. Standing with his team, Kane cracked open the chamber door enough so that he could see into the hallway. After five minutes of waiting, there was no sign of Breaker movement and they were running out of time.
“You guys stay here,” Kane said. “I’m going out to draw their attention.”
“I’m going with you,” Thorin said.
Kane looked at him and decided not to argue. “They’re probably holed up in the lobby. We can’t reveal the presence of the Meken team; that will only cause them to dig in. If we reveal ourselves as unarmed humans, maybe they’ll follow us back.”
Thorin nodded. Laying down their fire extinguishers, he and Kane slipped into the hallway. Once at the T-intersection, Kane peered around the corner. Nothing. They entered the perimeter hallway. When he came to the air vent, he paused, knowing that Mekens would be inside the vent and watching. Using hand motions, Kane tried to relay his plan. He saw a double flash of golden light from behind the vent cover, the Director acknowledging his message.
Side by side, with their backs hugging the inside wall, they moved down the hallway. When Kane saw the mechanical room door, he stopped. A few more feet and the curvature of the hall would no longer hide them from the lobby. In his mind, Kane visualized the action they were about to take to make sure he didn’t have a better idea. He looked back at Thorin and whispered the plan again. Thorin nodded. Kane held up three fingers, then counted them down—three, two, one. They both stepped forward into the hall, revealing themselves to the Breakers.
Kane had imagined what he might see, but he was still taken aback. The hostages were squeezed together like sardines, filling the width of the hall, not a space between them. He didn’t even have time to take in their faces before laser fire filled the hallway, the Breakers shooting at them from between the hostages’ heads. As planned, he and Thorin twisted and rolled backward, taking cover behind the curvature of the hall. Kane yelled at the top of his lungs at the hostages.
“First left, and follow Simon Says!”
On short notice, it was the simplest code he could think of, something the hostages might understand but that would mean nothing to the Breakers. Kane needed to communicate what direction to take when they hit the T-intersection and prepare them to react instantly to his command. He hoped they got it.
Kane and Thorin jumped up and ran down the hall, lasers striking the far wall of the hallway. On his way, Kane whispered another prayer. When they reached the T-intersection, they hid themse
lves just around the corner, waiting to see if the Breakers were moving down the hall. The laser fire stopped and it became quiet. Too quiet, Kane thought; the Breakers weren’t following.
“Damn it,” he said, between clenched teeth. While he was frantically trying to think of what to do next, he heard the sound of distant laser fire. The Breakers were shooting again, but not in the hallway. Then he heard several screams from the hostages, followed by more laser fire, closer now. Peering around the corner, he saw laser flares randomly striking the far hallway wall; they were coming. Kane shouted down the hallway, “First left, and follow Simon Says!” Then he and Thorin ran into the chamber.
Dr. Manassa met them at the door, extremely agitated. “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked with a mix of frustration and relief. “You and your foolhardy missions! We thought you had both been killed when they quit shooting.”
“What do you mean? How did you know what they were doing?”
“We were in the control room, watching from the lobby cameras. We saw them shooting and then stop, but they didn’t move forward. We thought you had been killed.”
“But they started shooting again,” Kane said. “And now they’re moving down the hall. What happened?”
“Supervisor 4. When he realized that you had failed to draw them into the hall, he gave us the door codes and left, killing the hallway guard and closing the control room door behind him. We watched via the video monitors as he exited the outer door and ran into the lobby. We think he took cover behind a column and started shooting at the Breakers from behind, trying to push them into the hallway.”
“Well, it worked.”
Lasers were now flying through the air in the short hall just outside the rear chamber door; the Breakers had reached the T-intersection and were firing forward randomly. Kane, Thorin, and Bhram held their fire extinguishers at the ready.
The Last City (The Ahlemon Saga Book 1) Page 11
