by Ian Williams
“OK, listen up,” Captain Rigs began. “We’re going to head down a few floors and search for team two. It’s not safe to stay here. Watts, anything from the Ring?”
Watts shook his head quickly, his eyes spelling out just how bad a thing this was. He went back to his wrist screen a moment later and began to call for an answer from above. “Come in. This is team one on the ground, come in Ring HQ, come in.” Static returned instead.
“The Laser rig needs cooling down between firings,” Graham added to the conversation. “You won’t get through until they try again.”
“Right, well, the first job is to find the second team before another hole is formed in the shield. There should be four more of us somewhere close by.” The Captain made a hand signal to the soldier at the front of the group, who responded by setting off down the corridor, his boots crunching glass underfoot.
Out the window came another bright flash of orange flames as something exploded in mid-air. Graham ducked instinctively to avoid being hit, not realising the damage had been felt by the metal structure of the building only. The rest of them raised a weapon for a second, then lowered them again. Everyone was on edge and ready to react immediately. Graham, on the other hand, was ready to leap to the floor and cover his head.
As they slowly stepped through the bowels of the broken skyscraper they observed the ongoing fight through the window. Every now and again, when the sound of something hitting the building rang through the walls, the entire group would stop and crouch down. They would only move again once given the order by their commanding officer.
Once at the stairwell door they took a moment to assess their situation more closely. Captain Rigs sent one of his people ahead to the floor below while the rest stood by. It was only a short rest, but it was enough to give Graham a chance to take a proper peek outside.
“Keep away from the window, sir,” the woman soldier said. He had missed seeing her follow him to the door of a burnt-out office.
Graham did as he was told, even though his curiosity desperately wanted the opposite. He remained a good few meters away from the glass and arched his head up to the sky.
High above the city he tried to pick out the Ring’s outline. It was easy to find, seeing as it appeared the main source of the noise permeating the night. An entire swarm of drones still whizzed around, more than he could possibly count. Once every few seconds the Ring’s defensive cannon would pick out one of its enemies and send it hurtling into the outside edge of the shield. Occasionally the drones would try and avoid being hit only to be clipped in the side and left to spiral away.
But the hole in the shield was gone. And the enemy’s drone force had been cut off from the inside.
“Gregson, what is the status of the Ring?” Captain Rigs called from the corridor.
Gregson was the name of the female soldier standing beside Graham. She stepped toward the glass and looked up, her weapon by her side. “It’s still fighting the enemy drones off, sir. The laser device isn’t firing anymore. Mr. Denehey must be right; it’s got to be cooling down ready for the next firing.”
“They won’t try again until the sky around them is clear. Come on, we need to get moving,” the Captain shouted back.
They disappeared into the unlit stairwell next. The man Captain Rigs had sent ahead reported back with the all clear. In the stairwell they stood in a single file line down the stairs as the plan was forced to adapt.
“Everyone, check your weapons. We may have to fight our way out of here.”
“What? We can’t fight them.” Graham stepped down a few steps to say this.
“We can handle ourselves just fine, Mr. Denehey.”
“Are you kidding me? What about this makes you think we stand a chance against them? The drones won’t be able to find us if we can hide somewhere.”
“Hide. We don’t hide, we fight.”
“With what, these peashooters?”
“Enough!” Captain Rigs barked. “The day I let a bloody civvy tell me what to do is the day I retire from the SAS. We came here to do a job and I’m damned well not going to abandon it.” He turned to Watts, who stood in the corner of the stairwell. “I want comms, trooper.”
“I’m trying, sir, but there’s too much interference.”
“You must have something. Team two must be nearby.”
“Sir, they could be two floors down from us and I wouldn’t hear them through all this shit.”
“Fine, then we head down through the building. The lobby can be our temporary ops centre. If we have to search for Team Two by sight alone then that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Sir,” Gregson said with her arms resting on her weapon. “The Ring should be sending more teams down soon, shouldn’t we wait for them to arrive?”
“We can’t wait for them, trooper. We need to set up the ops centre before they head down.”
Graham again felt compelled to speak up. “They wouldn’t send more into that chaos, would they?”
“No-one else is coming, G,” the voice inside told Graham, who did his best to ignore it.
“Once we restore communication with the Ring we’ll know what the plan is,” Captain Rigs said as he began to take two steps at a time down the dark stairwell. “Our priority is to set up a base of operations. When the others arrive they’ll know where to go. If we’re going to get a foothold in the city, then there has to be a starting point on the ground. Come on.”
It was a slow journey down the stairs. An almost constant crashing and smashing from above suggested the top floors had become the territory of the enemy’s flying fighters, more of which had now turned up. At each new floor they took a quick look through the door and checked the progress of the search lights. It would only be a short while before the enemy found something new to shoot at.
By the time they reached the bottom floor Graham was exhausted. His thin legs had struggled with the repetitive nature of taking each step, one after the other. They now ached and seemed to creek with every heavy footstep he took. The soldiers were much healthier than him and so appeared almost completely unaffected by the quick trek. Even with their equipment hanging from their shoulders and from their bullet-proof vests, they were able to move freely.
The first floor of the building left behind the small rooms and cubicles of the upper floors and instead opened out into a large space. As they stepped out of the stairwell they were met with a long row of lifts, all dead through lack of power. They ran along the opposing sides of the floor.
In the middle there was a small coffee shop situated in a large circular area, which had been sectioned off with thin wooden walls no more than ten feet high. It had a casual feel to it – at least it would have done before then. As with most other parts of the building that they had seen already, the place had been wholly trashed and left with upturned chairs all over the place.
To reach the ground floor they only had to take the metal escalators to the lobby. Captain Rigs slowly edged his way around the coffee shop and toward them. He took sideways steps as he took his time and checked around himself. The others did the same. They scanned the place with their torches, waving them from side to side and up and down. All of this was organised with hand gestures alone, all coming from the Captain.
Each soldier returned a moment later and confirmed safety with a ‘clear’.
“This will have to do,” Captain Rigs said. “Watts, set yourself up in the coffee shop there. Keep trying to break through the interference. The rest of you barricade the escalators with whatever you can find and set up a safe perimeter. I want cameras facing each way with motion detectors and alarms. Gregson?”
“Yes, sir?” She returned from the other side of the coffee shop’s wooden walls.
“Place charges around the front doors of the lobby. We’ll keep the barricade open until you’ve done that. If any enemies try to get inside the building I want them to know why they shouldn’t try again.”
Standing by and waiting for orders to
come his way was Graham. He watched as everyone else went about their job and secured the area with the tech they had carried there from the PODs. His reason for being there was not quite needed yet, not until they realised that hiding would be their only chance of survival. Nothing came Graham’s way at all. Captain Rigs hardly even acknowledged his presence before he went about his business. In the end Graham decided to find out for himself if he could help, so ventured around the corner and into the small coffee shop.
Sitting at a table near the metal and glass cabinets of the coffee shop – no doubt ones that once contained tasty treats for the staff who had worked there – was Watts. He had opened out his chunky wrist screen into a similarly cumbersome tablet and was twisting small dials protruding from the screen. The tablet had a sophisticated tactile system installed that allowed temporary buttons in the form of raised areas to come right out of the plastic.
By the strained look on his face it was obvious he had still not found anyone else.
“Erm, Captain?” Graham said.
“What is it, Mr. Denehey?”
“What should I do?”
Long lines of sweat traced down Captain Rigs’ angled head as he faced Graham sidelong. “Find somewhere comfortable and wait until I need you,” he said, before wiping his big eyebrows.
Fuck you too! Graham thought. With that, he was free to do as he pleased. He decided to take a seat in the coffee shop, near enough to Watts to hear for any change, but far enough away still to have a little chat with himself again. “Hey, you here?” he asked the seat beside him, his hand covering his mouth from view. “Come on, you need to help me keep these guys alive.”
His imaginary friend blinked into existence with the question only having just left Graham’s lips. “I’m not quite sure you understand the arrangement here, G.” The other, still much tidier looking Graham sat in the chair opposite. “Helping these people is not part of our mission.”
“Well, it is now, since everything that could go wrong is going wrong.”
“We don’t have the time or the resources to help them. Besides, they’re on their own in here now. So, either you convince them to leave here and find a Conduit or we’ll have to ditch them.”
A quick look of confusion from Watts, sitting only two tables away, made Graham turn further. Even with the light levels low he could not afford to bring attention to himself. The conversation shifted to the table behind Graham now, where the other him had suddenly appeared.
“We’re going to a Conduit? I didn’t see one while inside the Sentient world. But didn’t Luke find one?”
“Yes, he did. Phoenix used one in the real world too. That’s how she communicated with you, G. We’ll need to use one to reach Luke and the others in their world.”
“OK, so how do we find one? They could be anywhere in the city.”
A sharp, but short, sensation of heat came from beneath the bandage on Graham’s hand unexpectedly. He slapped his other hand over it and felt it building in intensity. His first instinct was to rip the wrapping away and rub the glassy object sticking out of his skin. Yet it passed a moment later without any residual feelings left behind.
“Feel that?”
Graham nodded nervously. “What was it?”
“For now you can consider it your guide. The diamond will lead us to the nearest Conduit. Keep it to yourself, though. Revealing it to these people will only cause us more trouble.”
“So, what now?”
“Now, you have your work cut out for you, buddy boy. If they stay here, they will die.”
As the second him quickly vanished into the darkness, Graham finished with one last request. “I could really use some help convincing them.”
A moment later he heard a reply, but the other him did not reappear to say it. “I’ll see what I can do. Stay close to Watts. He’ll be busy soon.”
Gregson marched into the coffee shop. The bag she had been carrying around her back now hung loose and open, its contents having been placed strategically around the area. “Sir, charges are all set. The front doors have infrared Laser trip wires across them; anyone tries to get in, they’ll get a face full of C4.”
Captain Rigs went to reply at the same time that Watts suddenly became rather excited about something. It seemed that the other Graham had seen it coming a few minutes earlier.
“Sir, I’ve got them,” he said with a slap of the table in front of him. “The Ring is forming another hole in the shield. I can hear them again.”
“About time,” Captain Rigs responded. “Update them on our current situation.”
Watts wasted no time in telling those aboard the Ring just how bad things had gotten. “Team One is on the ground, one missing and minor injuries reported. The Captain and our civilian made it through. But we’ve lost contact with Team Two, suspect casualties. We’re setting up temporary base in lobby of building, over.”
“Up … date … received…” The response came with a strong and angry hiss as the interference played havoc with the equipment again.
Captain Rigs then leant over Watts and began to talk into the radio. “Immediate vicinity is hot, I repeat, immediate vicinity is hot, advise the Ring uses all countermeasures and offensive capabilities to clear the sky during next launch of PODs.”
Nothing returned to them through the speakers this time, not even a broken message to interpret. What came in the place of a reply from the Ring was another floor shaking rattle and deep booming noise from above. This time the explosion was more forceful than the others they had heard and felt. The walls and glass windows of the lobby wobbled and creaked as the vibrations passed through them like ripples in a puddle. It was obvious to them all that this had not been another enemy drone crashing into the side of their building, but something else entirely.
“What the hell is going on?” Graham said quietly and only for himself and his internal clone to hear. There was no reply.
Captain Rigs sent Gregson to the window with a flick of his fingers. When she reached the point where she could see high enough into the sky to see the Ring, she froze. While staring through a small pair of binoculars she let her shoulders droop the moment she saw it.
“What do you see?” Captain Rigs said with a clear urgency to his voice.
“Jesus Christ, it's on fire,” Gregson replied.
“What?”
“Sir, there must have been an explosion in one of the carriages, because all I’m seeing is… Wait, the Laser rig, sir, it’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“The drones… they must have destroyed it.”
“What about the hole in the shield?”
“It’s gone too.”
Captain Rigs sat heavily in a nearby chair. His face looked as though it was feeling a strong pull downwards, where it began to bunch up around his jaw. Not appearing to be one for sharing his real feelings to others, he soon snapped back into his role as leader. He did not seem happy unless he was ordering people about. “OK, everyone, listen up. We’re on our own, it seems. This is no longer about hurting the enemy, and it’s certainly not a stealth mission anymore, but one of survival. We’re here for the long haul. So find somewhere to set up and get comfortable. The minute the enemy finds us, we’ll have to be ready.”
“With the Laser device gone, we’re trapped.” Graham felt his breathing speed up in response to yet another setback.
“That’s not helping anyone, Mr. Denehey. Suck it up and get to work building that barricade with the others.”
“Hold up, Captain … What the…” Watts said, his finger pushed deep into his earpiece.
The interruption held back Graham’s coming verbal attack on his imaginary companion. He was angry for having been ignored. If not for Watts, he would have let rip and not stopped until he had run out of words to use.
“What is it, Watts?” the Captain said.
“I’m getting something.”
“From the Ring?”
“No sir.”
Watts slowly turned to face them all, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. “It’s not from outside the shield, sir. It’s coming from someone inside.”
“What! Well, let’s hear them then.”
With a short round of button pushes and dial twists, Watts made the voices loud enough for them all to hear.
“Who is this?” someone said through the speaker system. “How are you contacting us on this frequency? It’s supposed to be encrypted.”
“Say hello to the resistance, G,” the internal voice unexpectedly reappeared to tell Graham.
Chapter 13
First impressions
Captain Rigs stood behind Watts and spoke into the screen sat on the table. He had taken his time to reply to those on the other end, and only agreed to do so with caution. He clearly did not trust them. “Identify yourself, immediately,” he said.
The only one there who really understood what was going on was Graham. His imaginary friend had gone beyond his role of guide once more and stepped in. Using the diamond device’s wireless capabilities, he had hacked Watt’s tablet. They were now speaking to the remaining human faction hiding somewhere within the city. The two groups had been put in contact by the ever present clone inside Graham’s head. This time the assistance was to benefit them all, and not just to further its own agenda.
“You contacted us, so you first, mister.” It was a young woman speaking. “Wait. Are you the idiots that just lit up the sky like fireworks night?”
“The idiots you’re talking about are SAS soldiers, so watch your words. We were sent here to help you,” Captain Rigs said.
“Well done then, you’re here. Now shut the hell up.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’re all making too much noise. This frequency is for emergencies only. By talking to you we’re making it easier for them to find us. Just tell us where you are.”
