by Bianca D'Arc
“I’ve had it powered up a number of times, and it’s functional to the point we’ve been able to explore. I would advise caution however, beyond the scouted area. There may be obstructions on or near the rails that we don’t know about. You could still use it, at reduced speeds, as long as you watch ahead for obstructions. There are lights in the tunnel and lights on the pods, so even if the tunnel lights no longer work in sections, the pod lighting is independent and will still allow you to see for some distance.”
She turned to look at Jim. “He makes it sound like we’re going somewhere.”
“That’s because we are.” Jim grinned at her, and her tummy did a little flip. “We talked it over last night and decided we should try to make contact with our neighbors to the north. If anybody’s living there, we should see if they want to open up communications. At the very least, we could share information.”
Gina felt hope take hold and expand in her chest. This was going to work. They were going to take a chance on making contact. It was the first step in the plan the Patriarch had laid out for her. She might yet succeed in her mission and humanity might have a fighting chance after all.
“We’ve explored up to this point and the tracks are sound.” Wally flipped through the large drawings until he reached a section of tunnel that looked a lot like all the other sections of tunnel that preceded it to her untrained eye. “That should give you a good few hundred miles or so of fast coasting. After that, you’ll have to take it slower.”
Jim took hold of the pile of drawings and flipped to the beginning. “Each section of track, as I understand it, is powered separately. We’ll have to get out and flip a switch every once in a while, right?” He brought the scientist back to the beginning with ease, and Gina realized he’d probably done this before.
But Wally’s enthusiasm was undimmed as he explained. Jim had been so diplomatic in his choice of words that he hadn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Gina was pleased to see the brash young man she remembered had been tempered by time.
“Yes. There are certain points, here…” he pointed to a spot on one of the early drawings where the tunnel took a sharp turn, “…and here. You’ll have to apply brakes at a predetermined point. There’s actually a switch on the rail that will trigger it for you if you’re on automatic, but it’d be safer if you drove manually since these rails are old and we’ve only been up this far once before.”
“What do we do then?” Gina was curious about the system and wanted to be sure she knew as much as she could about it before they set off into the unknown.
“There are power grids that will allow you to power down the previous section of track and power up the next section. You’ll have to have both powered up for a short time as you coax the pod onto the new set of rails. I think they designed it this way to conserve energy by powering a section at a time. This is a long line of track and the mountains above dictate the shape of the tunnel in some spots. It creates sharp angles that are impossible to glide around at speed. By having to stop and manually turn the vehicle, it adds time to the trip but also a factor of safety to the journey. Of course, the generals and other bigwigs who used this system in the past had aides with them who did the grunt work. In this case, you’ll have to do it yourselves. I suggest one gets out and sees to the power grid while the other maneuvers the pod.”
The scientist babbled on about technical specifications and exactly how to work the apparatus, but one thing was clear to Gina as she listened with one ear. She was going with Jim. Alone. Nobody else would be accompanying them on this excursion. She didn’t know what that meant. Did Jim want to use caution when approaching the Canadian encampment? If so, she thought it was prudent, but she also thought they could take at least one or two of his men with them.
She wasn’t sure why he was making this a solo trip for just the two of them, but then, she hadn’t expected to be able to make the journey in just a matter of a few days either. She’d fully expected to have to go over land—by foot, if necessary—evading Alvian patrols all the way. This maglev tunnel would save an incredible amount of time and if it really worked, it might open up yet another secret road of communication and even transportation between the human encampments. This could be a real breakthrough for human freedom.
When Wally finally wound down, the questions started in earnest. Each of Jim’s lieutenants had questions relating to the safety of the tunnel and what to do in case of problems. Jim also talked about how to best approach any strangers he and Gina might encounter along the way and at the other end of the line. He particularly asked about other entrances to the tunnel system, which Gina thought was a really good question. Who knew what might be in those tunnels? It was a good idea to know how and where they could get out if they had to.
“There are access tubes leading to the surface in several places along the tunnel’s path,” Wally explained, indicating various points on several different drawings. “After the blast doors, which we keep closed for safety reasons but will be opening and manning while you’re gone, there are no access points for about fifty miles. Then they begin to appear closer together. Mostly, that section of tunnel is in the literal middle of nowhere. The terrain is too rugged for even the hardiest of mountain men to live in, so chances that anyone’s found their way into the tunnels is remote at best. If you find the way blocked ahead of where we scouted, you can always climb out of the pod and hike to the nearest access tube. There should be a ladder leading upward and the way should be clearly marked. At least, all the tubes we’ve encountered in the length we’ve been able to search were well designated and in good condition.”
Gina liked the sound of that. She’d never been fond of enclosed spaces and wasn’t looking forward to spending so much time underground. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but the thought of being underground in unexplored sections of tunnel that had somehow survived the earthquakes and upheaval of the cataclysm gave her the creeps. It was good to know there were ways out should they run into problems.
The questions eased finally, after about an hour, but the biggest question of all loomed big in her mind. Finally, she just had to ask.
“This is all great, but when do you plan on us going?”
Jim looked at her, and she had a hard time reading his expression. “The sooner the better. How about we set out this afternoon?”
“All right.” Well, he certainly didn’t let any grass grow under his feet, did he? Gina was taken aback by the speed with which he was acting, but she knew it was for the best. The human race was already behind the eight ball. The sooner they came together to fight for their freedom, the sooner they would be free.
She thought it was appropriate that the struggle for freedom start in North America. The place that had once been the home of the greatest human democracy ever to grace the planet. It would start here, in the center of the old United States, hopefully in partnership with the Canadians. But they were all humans now, not Americans or Canadians. Just humans, fighting not for a country, but for freedom itself. Hopefully it would start here and spread to every corner of the globe.
From here, smaller pockets of human resistance in what had been Europe, South America, Africa, Australia and the Asian continent would be united in the fight against Alvian domination. The Zxerah kept tabs on human activity all over the world, ready to coordinate and aid where possible when the time was right. Any day now, the time would finally be right.
Chapter Nine
Gina noted the path Jim led her on after returning her pack. Someone had filled it with provisions for their trip. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he wanted to leave immediately. No sooner had the meeting in the conference room broken up than they were on their way down a series of elevators into the depths of the facility.
She noticed she wasn’t invited to see any more of the base than she’d already seen near the top and what she could glimpse on her way down. She wasn’t being given the run of the place, but she didn’t mind. She’d build on the kernel of trust
from their shared past while she traveled with Jim to Canada—and hopefully back. By the time they returned, he would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was on the level. By that time he might have begun the even bigger leap of faith to trust the Patriarch, but she wouldn’t push it. It was enough that she’d be getting this group of people in touch with the others.
If there were, indeed, any to find living in the Canadian facility. She thought there were. The best intel they had said it was more than likely a group of humans had taken up residence, but nothing was one hundred percent certain. That was why she had to go and check things out herself.
Under normal circumstances, they would have sent a human scouting party to verify the theory before they did anything else but events were happening quickly now. The Patriarch had sped up his plans for a reason known only to him, but her trust in him was absolute. He’d never harmed her or any human. He’d never led her wrong. He’d done nothing but help her since the moment she’d passed his test of combat, and the Zxerah had been true friends to humanity ever since.
It would take time to convince Jim and his people, but it would happen. In the end the truth always prevailed.
The elevator dropped rapidly, taking them to another level. They got out, and Gina followed behind Jim, flanked by Wally and his son, Dex. Jim’s three stooges brought up the rear as they made their way to another elevator that took them down further into the reinforced concrete citadel.
Each level was clearly marked though the paint had faded with time. Gina saw some evidence that they’d made an attempt to keep the place in good repair. A small maintenance drone whizzed by on the side of the corridor at one point as they walked along. There was definitely some high tech equipment in the place and the added bonus of scientists who probably knew how it worked to keep it that way.
“Did you and your family ride out the crystal bombardment here?” Gina asked Wally as the other men discussed schedule alterations during Jim’s absence.
“The first round hit while I was on duty. After the satellites went down, the commanding officer let us get our families and bring them here. He was a good man, General Yeager.” Wally’s voice throbbed with emotion, and his eyes filled with moisture that he refused to let fall. In that moment, Gina saw the toughness behind the man that had allowed him to persevere, and she knew where his son got his grit.
“Did you go out and get them? I mean, by that time, transportation was pretty iffy, right?”
“I took one of the SUVs. I went with some of the others who had family living in the same neighborhood. We went in the dark of night, during one of the clear times when the bombardment engines were on the other side of the planet. We went in, grabbed as many possessions as we could, whatever vehicles and tools we could salvage and anything else that looked useful and caravanned back. There were few people left in my old neighborhood, but I took the lady next door and a few others with me. General Yeager, God bless him, didn’t turn them away. He made room for everyone and led us all in those first few days of utter confusion. We were doing well until the aliens started appearing. He sent out some of the soldiers to do reconnaissance, but most of them never came back. The few that did told us how the aliens were capturing people and taking them away. That’s when he drew everyone inside and locked down the facility.”
“Didn’t the Alvians search this far? The entrance on top is pretty visible despite the damage from the bombardment, and it’s been years. They had to have seen it.”
“Oh, they did,” Wally’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “We had to abandon the first few levels and hide below. We hunkered down and made it look like the place was empty. After descending deep into the ground, they seemed to give up when they hit the lowest level of blast doors, just as the general hoped. He said they probably figured it wasn’t worth the effort of blasting the doors and bringing the entire mountain down on their own heads since it looked like the inhabitants of this base had abandoned it long ago.”
“Smart man, your general,” she agreed.
Alvians were tenacious but strict followers of logic. Their cold adherence to risk-benefit analyses had led to their current problems—including the mess their geneticists had created and the unforgivable choice to proceed with crystal seeding of a planet when there was some evidence of an advanced culture already living there.
“General Yeager was the absolute best. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t pray for him.”
“Then he’s still alive?”
“I don’t really know. He went out on a mission and never came back. He’s either dead or captured. Otherwise he would have come back. He cared for our wellbeing more than his own life. He was a great man.”
Gina made a mental note to ask the Patriarch to search the Alvian databases for news of this General Yeager if possible. If he was a captive, the Zxerah might be able to get custody of him and put his experience and his warrior’s heart to good use in the fight for human freedom. Every honorable man they could find was one more who would aid their cause. This one had the added benefit of proven leadership abilities if he was still the man Wally remembered with such respect and admiration.
Finally they arrived at the transit level and got off the last elevator. They had to take a few flights of stairs down further, but it wasn’t far. During their journey through the complex, Jim’s lieutenants had worked out a duty roster and Jim had given them some last minute instructions while she talked with Wally. The scientist had integrity. She could tell by his words and actions that he was concerned for his fellow man. He still had the eager mind of the scientist he’d been in the old world and the love and pride he had for his son was obvious to anyone who bothered to look.
Gina had a sense of satisfaction that here, at least, humans were living and thriving in family units…as it was meant to be. Too many humans had been ripped from their homes and families. Here was a small group that managed to stay together and help each other. It reminded Gina in a very tangible way of what they were fighting for. It was a good reminder.
Wally gave them some last minute instructions on how to operate the small pod. It wasn’t a train, per se, but rather a sort of bubble on rails. The nose was pointed, probably for aerodynamics, and it was relatively small. There were two seats up front for a pilot and co-pilot like an airplane, and an area in the rear of the small pod meant for passengers. There were spare seats and tables made to lock in place in a utility area off to one side, and Gina was reminded that top brass had used this method of travel. They’d probably left the driving to the grunts while they worked or held meetings in back. But Gina and Jim took only two extra seats—in case anybody from the Canadian facility wanted to make the return trip with them¾and a few items of gear that had been packed by someone beforehand.
There was a tent, some camping equipment and more food. A quick glance at the piles of stuff that had been tied down in back told her that much. Jim motioned her into the pod and took a moment to say goodbye to his men. Wally and Dex were at the end of the chamber, Wally standing at a console, flipping switches, his brawny son muscling open a blast door that worked on some kind of hydraulic crank.
She settled into the co-pilot’s chair and waited. Jim hadn’t said much to her since they left the conference room, but she figured they’d have plenty of time to talk on the trip. His standoffishness didn’t offend her. In fact, she would rather have a little distance between them than the uncomfortable closeness of the night before.
Gina wasn’t one to fall into intimate situations with men. Her days running in the wilderness had made her leery of most human men, except for the ones tested and accepted into the Zxerah Brotherhood of course. But those fellow warriors were more like brothers. She hadn’t been sexually attracted to any of them, but then, she had always been rather picky about who she dated and who she became intimate with. Since the cataclysm had changed the very fabric of her existence, she hadn’t really gotten involved with any man, much less two.
And now in the
space of a few days she’d been approached by two attractive males who both managed to devastate her with the slightest touch and made her yearn for more. Circumstance had taken her away from the mysterious Alvian Prime and thrown her into Jim’s arms. Jim was larger than life. He was the man she remembered, but now he was even more. He’d filled out and grown hard, his life’s experiences forging the young blade he’d been into the finest of tempered steel.
He’d brought her more pleasure than she could ever remember experiencing—except with Grady Prime. It had been so long since a man had given her that kind of pleasure, she’d almost feared she’d never find a man she was attracted to in that way. Now there were two of them and though Grady Prime wasn’t in her life now, he was still in her mind. Jim, though, was much closer and much more frightening.
She would be alone with him for days on this journey and she had no idea what his expectations were. For that matter, she didn’t know what she expected either. Would she throw herself into his arms at the first opportunity? Or would she be too afraid to take the leap of faith that would lead her straight into his bedroll?
Even she didn’t know the answer to that.
Thankfully, she was distracted from her whirling thoughts by the crackle of an intercom that she could faintly hear echoing outside in the rest of the chamber. She was safely ensconced in the co-pilot’s chair as Jim sealed the hatch on the side of the vehicle after taking leave of his men. He settled into the pilot’s chair at her side, brushing her arm with his muscular thigh as he maneuvered into the small seat.
“Everybody clear the track area and stand back on the platform,” Wally’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker.
Gina watched as Dex jumped clear of the track to stand next to his father by the control console. All the others were standing farther back on the low platform from which they’d boarded the pod. The platform wasn’t strictly necessary to board, Wally had explained, but the actual stations had them installed to make getting on and off easier.
