by C. W Tickner
‘Perfect,’ Kane said, pulling out his stun device and another wad of bandages from his bag.
Damen frowned at the cylinder as Troy backed up.
Kane dropped the bundle. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said and stabbed the end into the bunched up wadding. A crackling sound and a puff of smoke rose from inside until the cloth caught in mix of smoke and small flames.
Troy stared at the growing smoke as it trailed up. ‘You mean we’ve been slaving with flint and steel for fires while you had that in your pocket?’
‘It uses batteries.’ Kane said, wafting the smoke up from the tiny blaze.
‘And?’ Troy said.
Kane whirled on Troy. ‘and it is difficult to replace. Unless a farm boy can tell me how to make sulphuric acid?’
Troy scratched his chin in mockery of a deep thinker. ‘Hmm, no I don’t,’ he said looking at the floor, ‘but I know that regardless of your electrics, and smart-ass attitude, you’re still flammable.’
‘Wha-’ Kane glanced down at his trousers which had caught on fire from the blaze as he’d stood next to it. He leapt back and Damen’s hand shot out stopping him mid jump and yanking him away from the red lines appearing in the smoke.
Kane hit the ground and Damen let go.
Harl knelt slapping Kane’s legs to put the flames out.
When the flames were out, red shimmering lines were visible, crossing from one side of the circular tunnel to the other.
Harl had expected them to be at regular intervals, forming a star. Instead there were gaps around the side, big enough to slip through.
‘Shoddy work,’ Kane said as Damen ducked through the largest gap and stepped over a low beam that would have taken his foot off if it was still invisible. Dana sprung through as if hopping a skip rope, followed by Kane who seemed to grin as he took the risk. Troy crept past the lines with agonising slowness and Harl ducked under behind him. A hiss in his ear made Harl freeze. Something rolled down his back and clunked with a thud on the floor.
He craned his head around to see the butt of his rifle had been sliced clean through.
Kane was staring at him, his eyes wide in shock.
‘If that had sliced through the magazine,’ he said, ‘we’d all be dead.’
Harl carefully stepped over the low line, taking care to avoid chopping his sword handle off and breathed a sigh of relief when he was on the other side of the deadly trap.
They passed several smaller tunnels that lead off at right angles and only Kane’s reassurance that the reactor would be deeper had stopped Damen from storming off to find something to kill.
‘Probably best to ask for directions,’ Troy said.
Harl put a hand up and they slowed, recognising the clear ring around the pipe join.
Kane knelt in front, stun gun at the ready.
‘Damen,’ he said, ‘I’ll need your bandages.’
‘Use your own,’ Damen said.
‘I used half of mine back there,’ Kane said pointing the stun gun at him. ‘And I doubt when the fighting starts you’ll want to heal up.’
‘Ain’t gunna find anything to hunt at this rate.’ Damen said and tossed the bundle to him before taking a long swig from a second canteen on his waist.
Kane stoked the smouldering cloth until an impassable criss-cross of red lasers blocked their path.
The lines were so numerous, Harl couldn’t see a way through. They intersected at irregular tangents with some holes bigger than others.
‘Not like the last one,’ Kane said.
‘We take the offshoot then,’ Troy said, swivelling his flyer around. ‘Dana, no!’
Harl spun to see Dana had stepped off her drone and was sprinting towards the lines. She curved up the wall and dived through the largest gap, landing in a roll and twisting around, a triumphant grin across her feline features.
Damen laughed, making Kane hush him at the echoing sound. The hunter jumped off his flyer and threw it through a small gap between the red lines. He lowered his chin until his beard scrunched into his chest, eyed the gap as if it was an enemy and plunged forward through the hole.
‘I don’t think so,’ Troy said as Dana slapped Damen on the back and beckoned him to come. Damen handed her the canteen and she took a swig in celebration.
Harl had to agree with Troy. The largest gap was less than a metre in diameter. The opening was a death trap, one wrong foot before the jump, or a hand flapping to one side and he’d be needing more than the bandages they’d burnt.
‘There must be another way,’ Kane said, wiping his forehead of sweat and polishing his glasses on the sleeve of his white coat. He lifted his small notepad from his chest pocket and produced a pencil.
‘There’s nothing to figure out,’ Damen said, picking up his weapons and bags as Harl tossed them through. ‘Unless it’s how to grow bigger balls. Grakka needs to be dead.’
Kane eyed the lines, glancing from the red beams to Damen. Finally he seemed to come to some conclusion and after taking several long strides to measure the distance, he lobbed his equipment over the lines and pocketed the pencil and pad. Harl winced as the belt of grenades clattered to the floor.
Kane tilted his head until his neck cracked and ran. He staggered up the curving wall then threw himself through the hole. His coat tail was sliced off as it fluttered through a beam but he landed and slid down the wall. Glancing down at himself as if to check he was still alive. He beamed when he realised he’d done it.
Even Damen seemed taken aback by Kane’s sudden boldness. The two looked at each other and Harl felt a flush of guilt, realising Kane had in some way done it for Yara.
The bottle was handed to Kane.
‘That felt good,’ he said, taking a series of swigs before Damen snatched it back.
Fear washed from Harl at the memory of Yara and without waiting he sprinted for the hole. Gravity seemed to double, trying to pull him down. His foot slipped going up the round wall but he caught it and launched himself forwards before gravity won, straightening his legs as the red lines blurred in front of his face. He landed like a fish on a river bank, slapping down hard. He stood and to his relief, everything was still intact.
They all turned to face Troy on the far side.
‘No bloody way,’ he said. ‘With my track record you’ll be picking up the pieces afterwards. I have become attached to my limbs over the course of my life and I don’t intend on parting with any of them.’
Harl felt elated at his own daring and was beginning to understand Dana’s actions. It was addictive.
‘Come on,’ Harl said, but he could tell Troy wouldn’t do it on his on volition.
‘Easy for you to say, standing on that side of it,’ Troy said.
‘A drink on this side if you make it,’ Damen said, dangling the bottle in front of him.
Troy shook his head then coughed. ‘The smoke...’ he said.
The smoke was getting thinner and the lines were fading.
‘Hurry,’ Kane said. ‘It’s easier to not think about it.’
‘Coming from the one who wrote a plan,’ Damen scoffed.
Troy was turning pale as he paced left then right. He glanced back to the distant fan as if weighing the chance of getting out again.
When he looked back Dana was pointing her rifle at him.
He stopped the pacing. ‘You wouldn’t dare-’ He was cut off as she pulled the trigger and a bolt of blue flashed through the lines and slammed into the floor in front of him.
He spat on the burn mark on the floor. ‘Witch.’
She jabbed the rifle at him and he threw his hands up. ‘Fine,’ he said, ‘but you’ll be sorry. Try making love with half a man.’
‘You will be that to me if you don’t do it,’ she growled.
Troy raised an eyebrow. ‘Witch, he muttered and took several steps back.
Troy ran at the hole, the determination on his face disappeared as his eyes glazed over and he faltered as his legs gave out and he fell towards the lines.
‘No!’ Harl called.
They all jumped forward, unable to stop him collapsing on the lines.
Chapter 27
It seems light is a priority when dealing with plants in an ecosystem, so I headed to storage and brought back two dozen solar simulator lamps. Now I just need climbing gear to put them at the top of the core. Back to storage it is then.
A click echoed through the tunnel and as Troy fell, the lasers shut off. He hit the floor hard, his head bouncing on the cold metal.
They all rushed forward except for Damen who raised his rifle to scan the dark tunnel.
Dane rolled Troy over and Harl felt a weight lift when he heard his friend breathing. He was unconscious but alive.
Bright light exploded around them as the clear ring in the tunnel became a circular torch, working in sequence with the others along the tunnel to light up the air duct.
A booming voice bounced off the walls from a hundred paces further in.
‘Get in there and clean, scum!’
They froze as up ahead, dozens of people poured into the tunnel from a side opening and milled around in a group. They didn’t look down the tunnel but turned to face their entry point, as if waiting for someone.
‘Back to the junction,’ Kane said, turning his flyer and speeding off.
Harl looked down at Troy. His breathing was slow and steady but a trickle of blood seeped from his mouth. ‘Help me drag him back to the corner.’
Damen jumped off his drone and hauled Troy up on one burly shoulder as Dana picked up their flyers. They raced for the corner, slipping around it just as some of the group broke off and headed towards them. Harl crouched to peer around the corner as Damen dumped Troy down and raised his rifle, waiting for them to pass the T-junction.
Five men were ambling towards them. They were the scrawniest people Harl had ever seen. Their flesh clung to their bones, seemingly without any fat between. Only the ragged wraps of cloth gave any impression of bulk. Four of them trudged behind a slightly stronger man who didn’t stumble as much.
Kane had a pistol ready while Dana slapped Troy, in a futile effort to wake him.
‘As soon as they pass,’ Damen said, ‘take em out.’
Kane nodded and levelled his pistol.
Harl didn’t think they looked dangerous. None held weapons and the scraps of white cloth clinging to them barely covered their skeletal frames.
‘I don’t think they’re guards,’ he said. ‘Don’t fire yet, let them see us.’
‘Foolish,’ Damen said.
‘Haven’t you seen enough innocents die?’ Harl muttered.
Damen darkened and for an instant Harl thought he had pushed him too far. He didn’t care though. Even after Yara’ death he was fed up with Damen’s insistence on killing everything. ‘Just wait,’ he said.
Voices grew louder as they neared and Harl waited with the others out of sight. He dared not look around the corner in case they were close enough to see him. The last thing he wanted was them to run back to the others he had seen.
‘Can we snaffle some, Seth?’ The reedy voice matched the weak desperate look of the men. ‘Ain’t had buzzer meat in ages.’
‘Not this time,’ a stronger voice said, ‘unless you wanna popped head.’
‘They ain’t gunna know,’ the reedy one said. ‘Can’t last much longer anyway. If I get enough I might be noticed and picked to fight.’
‘Yeah right,’ a third said. ‘None of us is big enough, cept maybe Seth.’
‘Anything to get away from Four,’ another said.
The ragged bunch shuffled into view. ‘Well, ‘cept head poppin-’ The largest one spun to face them just as their weapons rose, locking onto the bedraggled men. Harl guessed he was Seth.
The scrawny men nearly jumped out of their bone-hugging skin before their leader put his hands up. ‘Please,’ Seth said, glancing back down the tunnel. ‘We didn’t know there was patrols here. We’re just a cleaning crew, we got orders.’
‘They ain’t in white,’ one said, peering over Seth’s bony shoulder.
a look of relief crossed Seth’s face. ‘You ain’t guards?’
‘Who are you?’ Harl asked, noticing the black radio device clipped to a rope belt around his waist.
‘Cleaning crew six,’ Seth said. ‘No need to kill us.’ he lowered his hands as Harl pointed the rifle barrel at the floor.
Seth smiled at the gesture. ‘Have you anything to eat?’
A deep pity came over Harl. These people looked like they had been through more hardship than anyone should endure in a lifetime.
To his surprised, Dana shifted forwards, fished under her black cloak and tossed a wrap of food to him.
Seth caught it deftly and the men around him shuffled closer, their eyes locked on the package as he unravelled a flat loaf of bread and a squashed patty of cheese. Harl guessed Dana had known the sharp pangs of hunger on Orbital.
‘Look busy,’ Seth said, handing the pieces over. They stuffed the it down while pretending to search the ground at the junction. It was then Harl noticed that each wore a thin metal collar with a small green light at the thorax.
‘We need to find the lab here,’ Kane said. ‘Do you know where it is?’
Seth nodded and Kane perked up. ‘Upstairs,’ Seth said.
He glanced down at Troy and packed the last of his bread into his mouth. ‘What’s up with him?’
‘Sick,’ Dana said and Harl wondered if she knew more about what had been happening to Troy.
A crackling voice broke his thoughts as a man shouted through the radio Seth had clipped to his belt.
‘Oi, team six,’ it said. ‘What you found?’
All of the men looked suddenly nervous as if unable to lie but trying not to show it. Harl had seen men act the same before and he shook his head as Seth plucked the radio from the rope.
‘I’m sorry,’ Seth said. ‘Please, we have no choice.’
Damen twitched his rifle but it was too late.
‘Code red-six,’ Seth said cowering down into a crouch.
Damen pulled the trigger but Harl stuck a hand out and forced the shot wide. A spreading wetness grew down Seth’s leg and all the men hunched down, with their hands over their heads, awaiting the inevitable.
‘Fool,’ Damen spat. He looked as if he was going to fire again and one of the men broke up from a crouch and ran.
‘Team six?’ the voice on the radio said as they watched the man stagger down the tunnel towards the fan.
‘Jon, no!’Seth cried.
Harl poked his head out into the main tunnel.
A distant beeping sounded as Jon reached the fan and a wet pop echoed down the tunnel as his head exploded in a shower of red. His headless body sunk to its knees and flopped on to the curved floor.
Harl ducked back in as the sound of marching feet grew from the opposite end of the tunnel.
One of the cleaning crew gagged and vomited up the bread they had so desperately craved.
‘Sorry,’ Seth muttered although whether to Harl or the dead runner, he didn’t know.
The green light on Seth’s collar turned orange and they all froze, as each changed colour. They shook visibly, their ragged clothing vibrating as they looked up at the noise of heavy boots stomping from around the corner.
‘No, no, please don’t,’ one man muttered as if in prayer.
‘What was that?’ Harl asked, wondering what had killed the runner.
‘Time to fight,’ Damen said, stepping out from the junction.
‘Dammit,’ Harl cursed.
‘Please don’t,’ Seth said, ‘or we’ll all die.’
‘I’m not afraid of death,’ Damen said, ‘so shut it.’ He leapt back as red shots whipped over the heads of the cleaning crew. ‘Lots of them,’ he said. ‘Coming right for us.’
One of the cleaning men was hit and he curled up in a ball, moaning as he clawed at the burning wound.
‘Get in here,’ Harl said. He leant out and s
aw a horde of white armoured troops running down the tunnel. He grabbed Seth’s arm, ready to pull him to safety.
‘No!’ Seth cried. He yanked himself from Harl’s grip even as red shots flickered past and crouched down again.
‘They can’t move,’ Kane called. ‘Let’s go.’ He was ready to take the smaller tunnel off shoot.
There was no way they could get Troy away before they rounded the corner.
‘We’re not leaving,’ Harl said.
Dana had dragged Troy further back and stepped protectively in front of him, raising her rifle.
Damen knelt, ready to fire. A whirring told them the lasers had reactivated, cutting them off from retreating down the smaller tunnel. Thankfully the lights stayed on.
Kane held out his hand. ‘Give me Troy’s rifle.’
Dana unslung the weapon from Troy’s arm and tossed it to him.
Harl, realising he didn’t have a weapon ready, tugged the pistol out from his belt.
Kane stepped to the corner and lobbed the rifle blindly by the sling into the weave of lasers.
The explosion rocked the tunnel as the magazine exploded. A severed arm tumbled past the junction in a spray of blood followed by the screams of injured men. The gore rained over the cleaners and they covered their heads with their hands.
Damen stuck his rifle around the corner and fired blindly at the remaining soldiers.
‘Too easy,’ he called and tossed a grenade at the wall across the junction so it ricocheted to the soldiers out of sight.
As it blew, the tunnel rocked. Troy groaned from the floor and Dana leant out, adding her shots to the maelstrom.
The fire from the soldiers ceased and a voice called out in the silence. ‘Drop your weapons or they die.’
It took Harl a moment to realise he meant the cowering cleaners in the junction. A red shot arrowed over their heads as they huddled in foetal positions. The blasts raced past the junction towards the fan.
‘And have you kill us instead?’ Harl called out in the silence. He couldn’t see the speaker around the corner and he dared not stick his head out.
‘No one else ‘as to die.’ the man said.
‘He’s lying, ‘Kane said.
