I run my hand over the seemingly flawless wall. As far as I can tell it’s all just one large piece of white glass-like material.
A clicking sound comes from my right; I look over at Zanning, “ah ha! Here we are,” he exclaims. The place where he’d run his hand over becomes almost transparent; several symbols appear on the small pad.
I look at the symbols, there’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen, “what are those?”
“It’s a combination lock to get the door open.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I point directly at the symbols, “I’ve never seen those types of symbols before.”
“That’s because they are not of Earth origin.”
“You mean this compound was not built by humans?”
“Like I said before Colonel, ask your superior; he will most likely be able to answer your questions a lot better than me.”
Zanning punches in a combination of the symbols, a crack appears down the base at the bottom of the wall, a blast door retracts into the ceiling. What lies beyond the blast door surprises me.
“Is that it?” I ask.
“Yes, that’s it, at least on this level,” Zanning says.
All there is to this entire level is a hallway, and a rather small room with a large tank in the middle with several monitor like objects.
“How many levels are there?”
“Dozens upon dozens. Each is almost identical to this room,” he returns to the back of the bed and begins to push again.
“How come this place is not public knowledge?”
“Because,” he pauses, “because it would cause panic,” he explains.
“Why, because they would realize that we are not the only ones out there? I think they already know that now.”
“Well, before these Hakorians showed up it would have, since then there has been no reason to do so,” he continues to talk, “enough talk though, let’s just get this done, we need to hurry; otherwise we might lose her.”
It only takes a few strides into the room before we’re at the tank, “stop here,” he says.
I let go of the bed.
“Ok, here’s the deal. I can take her out of her coma seeing as we were the ones that put her in it. She will most likely have a few minutes to talk if she is able to muster the strength. As soon as you’ve let her know of the situation -if that is what you are going to do- we must then put her into the tank and begin the freezing process.”
“Do what you have to do Doc,” all I can do now is stand around and wait.
Zanning’s standing beside one of the consoles that are hovering in midair beside the cryo tank. It’s amazing; I’ve never before seen such technology. It leaves the mind to wonder where it had been discovered, and how we had been able to figure out how to properly operate them.
“Colonel,” he waves me over with his hand, “I think we are ready to revive her.”
“Can I have this time with her spent alone?” It’s the one thing that I want the most right now; to spend the last moments with my wife alone, it’ll possibly be months if not years before I’ll return with the proper medicine.
“The way that this will work is I will revive her very shortly. I can give you a minute or two of privacy then I will come back and we will start the freezing process.”
“How come I can't just do this by myself, couldn’t you just tell me what to do?”
“I’m sorry Colonel, it’s too complicated for anyone but me to do it.”
“Alright, I guess I will call you in if anything goes wrong.”
Zannings hands are hovering over the symbols on the console, “shall I begin?”
I nod at him in confirmation.
Zannings fingers fly over the many different symbols on the console screen. It’s only a minute later that he looks up at me, “it has been done. It shouldn’t take long for her to wake up, but if it takes over five minutes let me know. If that is the case then something has gone seriously wrong and we will then need to put her directly into stasis.”
“Thank you Doctor. I’ll let you know if I need you.”
Zanning turns away from the console and goes towards the door. I’m fortunate that he’s giving us some privacy.
I pace around the tiny room several times, waiting for something to happen.
Enough is enough however; I turn towards the door and take a few strides, ready to summon the Doctor back into the room to figure out what’s taking so long.
A noise catches my attention though, the shuffling of bed sheets.
I spin my head around and look directly at the bed. Syreenas eyes are half open and staring directly into mine. A gasp escapes her lips; her gaze looks past me for a split second as she inspects her surroundings. The last thing that she probably remembers is being in the apartment that night, just falling asleep on my chest, little does she know that that was two cycles ago.
She tries to move her lips but all that comes out is a very soft and incoherent whisper.
I rush up to her bed and grab her hand with both of mine, “Syreena, it's Mavrik, you’re gonna be fine sweetie, you don’t have to worry about anything.”
“Where am I?” She manages to say.
“You’re in a safe place deep underground.”
I bring my hand up and stroke her face, wiping away a tear that’s beginning to form on her check. After spending so much time without her I’m finally able to talk to her, and hold her.
“What happened?”
“You don’t have to worry about any of that right now; all that you need to know is that I am here now and that I’ll never leave you,” tears begin to form in my own eyes, for all I know this might be the last conversation that I’ll have with her for possibly several years.
“I’m not foolish; I know that you’ll have to at some point,” she tried to sit up; she clenched her jaw and let out a sharp yell of pain.
“Where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
“The Doctor that’s been taking care of you says that you’re in critical condition.”
More tears begin to well up in her eyes, “how long do I have?”
My head drops as I pause before I say anything, I don’t want to put her into anymore shock than she’s already in, “not that long.”
“Why don’t I have long? I feel fine,” she claims, although her face says otherwise.
“They don’t know what's wrong with you, besides some broken bones they can't explain why you are dying.”
Unexpectedly she bursts into tears, “I’m scared Mav, it’s unfair what you must’ve gone through.”
“What I’ve gone through? At this point in time I don’t really give a shit about me, all I care about is what happens to you; which is why the Doc and I have a plan to save your life. Well, actually it’s more of my plan but the kind Doctor is going to help me achieve that.”
“What do you mean?” Her eyes light up with hope.
“This room that we are in is a cryo-stasis chamber.”
That’s all that it took for her to figure out what I have planned.
“I can't let you freeze me, what if something goes wrong and I die in there?” She blurts out.
“You don’t have to worry about it, this technology isn’t exactly ours.”
A puzzled look spreads across her face, “how do you know that’s what it is then?”
“Apparently we have tested it and it is capable of putting a subject into stasis for a long duration of time with no affect,” I let the words sink in before I continue, “there’s still chance that you could get out of this situation.”
“And how do you plan to make that happen? From what I can tell I won’t even ever be able to walk again.”
“In the time that you have been in a coma the people of Terra have made some remarkable progress into jump drives, we have ships that are capable of traveling larger distances in a shorter period of time.”
Her eyes open wide and her mouth forms a little ‘O’
“Ho
w long has it been?” She asks.
I almost stop myself from telling her, she has a right to know though, “two cycles.”
She stares at me for a second as if she doesn’t believe me, that or she doesn’t want to believe me.
“And how long are you planning on me being in this Cryo?”
“I don’t know for sure, it could be several cycles or several years.”
She lets out a sharp cough into her hand, “Mav, look” she extends her hand towards me to show me what lies in her palm.
Blood.
“We need to hurry; I need to know that you’re fine with this plan. I can still save you; it just might take a while.”
“You haven’t exactly told me what you’re even planning on doing.”
“I plan to leave Terra and find the civilization that I’ve heard of in the stars, they might be able to help me.”
She tries to laugh at that one, although it doesn’t go so well, instead she just ends coughing up more blood.
“And why would they do that?”
“Well, I will only leave if we defeat these invaders who are destroying our home, and if we do that then we have rid the others of a great enemy that they thought was gone long ago.”
The door behind me starts to open, “looks like our time is up, we have no idea how long you can talk for, it’s best if we begin as soon as we can,” I say.
Zanning walks into the room at a fast pace.
“There are alarms going off all over the compound, the only message that was received from the surface before the transmitters cut out was ‘they are here’. My guess is that we don’t have a lot of time before they start striking this planet from orbit,” he blurts out all at once.
I’m still looking at Zanning when Syreena reaches up and grabs my arm, “Mav I love you. Do what you need to do, ok?
My eyes fill with more tears, “I love you to sweetie, I will come back for you, do you understand? That is a promise, I will not leave you like this forever.”
She understands perfectly, in all the years that she’s known me for she’s learned to trust me in every way.
“Ok Doc, we’re ready,” I nod at him.
Zanning goes to the tank and begins pressing buttons. Within mere seconds, the tank hisses open and begins to glow a faint blue.
“Ok, can you pick her up for me and stand her up in here? You’ll also need to undo all of the tubes and stuff that is connected to her.”
I start to undo all of the medical items, “and how exactly is she going to stand up? She can barely keep her head in the air.”
“There are braces inside don’t worry.”
“Wrap your arm around my neck ok?” I say to Syreena.
She struggles to raise her arm up, I remember someone said that she’d broken some of her ribs, moving must be extremely painful for her.
I pick her up, her weight surprises me, she must’ve lost ten kilos. Being in a coma for two cycles has already taken its toll on her. No actual food entered her system in that time, unless you call nutrients injected into her system a filling and healthy meal.
“Alright, set her down nice and easy,” Zanning says, he gestures with his arm in a fluid motion into the tank.
“No kidding.”
I walk over to the tank and set her gently in an upright position.
“We have to hurry,” Zanning urges, “we need to get to the command level as soon as we can to figure out what is going on.” His hands fly over the control pad. “I’m beginning the freezing process now.”
I bend over to be head level to Syreena; tears are still streaming out of her eyes. “Everything is going to be fine, before you now it you’ll be awake again and I’ll have brought back help,” I kiss her gently on the lips, hopefully not for the last time.
“I love you Mav, never forget that.”
“I know, I love you to and I will see you very soon. When you open your eyes next I will be standing in this same spot.”
“Stand back Colonel.”
I take a step back from the tank, the door to it hisses shut, luckily it’s just a glass door. Syreena is still gazing at me, she isn’t frozen just yet; she moves her hand up towards the glass and places her palm on it.
I bring my hand up and reach out for hers. She’s mouthing words to me, I’d seen her lips move like so many times, I know what she’s saying to me. I love you.
I smile back at her; she blinks once and doesn’t reopen her eyes.
“Is it done then?” I ask Zanning.
He nods in response, “the freezing process is now a hundred percent complete.”
I have to look away from her; it’s just too much to bear. I’ll come back though; I’ll come back with a way to save her. I made a promise, one that I intend to keep unless death takes me.
“Colonel we need to go, those alarms are still going off all over the complex, we need to get to the command level and figure out what's going on,” Zanning double-checks the system monitor for the tank and then rushes to the door, “leave the bed; it would take too much time and energy to bring back up.”
I nod to him and then make a bolt for the door. If we have to be hasty about it then I’m almost too willing to comply, getting away from this room is the first and last thing that I want to do.
“Go to the lift I’ll be right behind you,” I turn my back to Zanning and access the panel outside to cryo room. I take one final look at Syreena before executing the command to close the blast door. The door hisses shut and locks her inside, a single tear rolls down my cheek. I take the bottom of my shirt and rub my face clean.
There, I did it. I had put my wife in stasis. All I need to do now is survive whatever comes my way.
“We need to hurry Colonel.”
He does have a good point, seeing that Syreena’s now locked inside and away from eyesight there’s nothing to stay for.
I finally turn around and walk through the lift doors.
“What level did you say we’re going to?”
“It’s the command level. Let’s see, ah here it is, level thirty two B.” He hits the button; the lift lurches up and then starts to pick up speed.
The lift take only a minute max to get to level 32-B, the awkward silence makes the whole trip pass even slower.
The door chimes open, the activities of the command level are all that I can focus on, people running around like ants; scurrying from room to room.
“Colonel, over here!” I hear General Weber; his voice however is coming from a place where my eyes can’t see. The hallway is a buzz of constant motion, making it very, very hard to pick out an individual from the crowd.
Next thing I see from somewhere on the left wall is a waving arm; it must be General Weber trying to get my attention.
“Thanks for all the help Zanning, but we must depart here; I’m positive that whatever the General is going to inform me of is most likely classified.”
He takes my hand and shakes firmly, “you’re a good man Colonel, make sure that whatever you do that, you see to it that you come back alive, your wife will need you when we wake her up.”
He lets go of my hand vanishes amongst the crowd.
“Hurry up Woods, I don’t have all day and time seems to be against us at the moment,” he shouts over the all the noise that the crowded hallway are making.
It takes a minute to get to the door; it’s rather hard to maneuver through all the people. By the time I get to the door Weber is already inside.
“Shut it behind you, I need my soldiers to be able to actually hear my orders when I issue them,” he says gruffly.
I close the door; it shuts with a snap.
“Take a seat and listen closely,” He gestures towards the seat opposite him.
“Sir?”
“Yes Colonel?”
“May I ask why I’m the only one in here?”
“You are the only one in here because you are the only one that I need to tell at the moment. I have already briefed other members that are under
my command over the intercom. I wanted to tell you you’re mission in person.”
I sit back in my chair; might as well make myself comfortable.
“Approximately ten minutes ago dozens upon dozens of ships appeared out of nowhere. Luckily for us though when your ship landed I had Major Ravenson and an entire division of soldiers debark in our orbital defense crafts. As we speak they are setting up their position to strike the enemy.”
I interrupt by raising my hand, “Sir, surely they won’t be any match against the fleet.”
“It’s negative thinking like that Colonel that gets our boys killed.” He says curtly.
“Pardon me Sir but I have seen glimpses of the forces that the Hakorians have under their command, and trust me when I say this; there might be very well a good chance that we won’t make it out of this alive.”
“You worry too much Colonel; all we need to do is distract them long enough to shove one of our Thopium enhanced nuclear missiles up their scaly asses.”
“That’s an insane plan! Who came up with it? They must realize that an explosion of that magnitude could very well destroy the planet?” I don’t care if I yelled in front of the General; I have rights -even within the military- to voice my opinion on some courses of action that might be taken in extreme circumstances.
“We had our brightest minds think this plan over Woods; it is guaranteed that given, we have enough distance between Terra and the enemy fleet that we will survive.”
He leans back in his seat, “there is nothing else that we can do Colonel, we have thought of everything else and this is the one plan that might work.” He sits upright again and taps the table with his fingers. A screen comes up from the table and lights up with dozens of menus.
“This is your mission Colonel, read it carefully.”
I lean over table and inspect the screen, “you’re having me fly patrol paths over the city?” I want to say that it’s a waste of my talents and time; I know though that it’ll only create unwanted conflict.
“That is correct,” he nods.
“Is there any reason why I’m not up there with the Major?”
“We have plenty of skilled pilots that are waiting to engage the enemy Colonel.”
“When do I leave?” I know that there’s be no point in trying to get assigned a different mission, it’ll be best to just go along with the flow. Unless there’s another reason that I wasn’t going to be up there in one of the birds alongside my wing mates, “there’s something that you aren’t telling me isn’t there?”
Siege of Terra (The Mavrik Woods Series, Book 1) Page 24
