by Brian Bakos
“That way!” the Captain said.
We rounded a corner and got onto a down elevator.
To tell the truth, I didn’t mind being carried by the Captain. He was an undeniable hunk, strong and exotically handsome.
Why did he have to be so attractive? I mean, he was an alien. Weren’t they supposed to be all gooey with tentacles and stuff?
The elevator door slid open and we entered a narrow, gloomy tunnel – still empty. The three Kintz started to glow in the dim light.
Well, apparently I was the alien here, and I certainly wasn’t all gooey. I might just melt away, though, if the Captain didn’t put me down soon.
We ran for several minutes until we reached a narrower tunnel that dropped sharply away to the left. It was dank and stinky, like the polluted creek at the end of our street back home. The Purples set us down.
“This is the route to our side,” the Captain said. “Good fortune has attended our effort thus far.”
“So it would seem,” Ilona said.
The Captain offered her a courtly bow. “Farewell, Lady Ilona, perhaps we shall meet again under more pleasant circumstances.”
I hate to admit this, but I felt jealous at the attention he was giving her. I tried to push the feeling away, but didn’t succeed entirely.
“Let’s get going,” I said.
“Would you not prefer to stay behind with Lady Ilona?” the Captain asked.
“No! I have to get Quentin.”
“But we gave our word,” the Captain said. “We will bring Prince Quentin safely back or perish in the attempt.”
I gulped. Why did he have to mention death?
“It’s not that,” I said. “He won’t cooperate unless I come with you.”
Silence. Everybody organized their thoughts. Then sidekick spoke up.
“That makes sense,” he said. “Our endeavor has little enough chance of success without Prince Quentin opposing us.”
“Agreed,” the Captain said.
I gulped again. Was I an idiot for hooking up with these guys? They were as much as admitting that we were on a suicide mission.
Well ... too late to worry about it now.
Ilona hugged me. “Take care, Lady Amanda.”
“I-I’ll sure try,” I said.
I held onto her the way a shipwreck victim might grasp a life preserver. Then she moved off, and we entered the tunnel.
25: Eerie Trek
The tunnel shut in around me like a grave, I could hardly see a thing. I ran my hands along the wall to keep my balance.
“Ugh!”
Filthy, cold slime. But I had to keep touching the wall, or risk falling into the slippery goo we were walking over. The passage went down and down, everything became much darker. We walked single file – Sidekick, the Captain, me.
The Kintz began to glow until all I could see were their sharp faces, shiny red eyes, and long-fingered hands creeping along the wall like great spiders.
I looked back to see a last dot of light framing Ilona. Then it was gone.
The tunnel squeaked and groaned all around us as it bored into deeper ground. Finally, the descent stopped, and we walked for many minutes on a level passageway.
I felt the weight of the whole planet trying to press me into mush. Foul-smelling water dripped on me from little cracks in the ceiling. Horrible little creatures brushed against my legs and scurried away.
“Ahhh!” My scream thudded in the dank air.
“The rats should not harm you,” the Captain said, “unless they sense that you are weak or injured, then ...”
I fought a growing urge to begin screaming non-stop – just cut loose like a fire truck siren. But then the tunnel started going up again, and a speck of light appeared far ahead. The tight bands of fear around my chest started to loosen.
The circle of light got bigger as we moved closer, but it threw little cheer – it was more like a dim candle flickering at the side of a vampire’s coffin.
“It is fortunate for us that the enemy has not blocked this passage,” Sidekick said.
“Doubtless they have a similar one to their own side,” the Captain said. “It would not be honorable to obstruct ours.”
This “honorable” stuff sure was important here. Back home, somebody would have dynamited this route long ago. Then again, maybe dynamite wasn’t necessary because the cracks in the walls and ceiling were getting worse.
I was walking through cold, ankle-deep water now. We’d pass one drippy area and it would immediately start leaking more.
“Spread out,” the Captain said, “tread lightly.”
But no matter how careful we tried to be, things were getting worse – fast. Somewhere in the darkness a waterfall started roaring, the water around my legs got deeper. I glanced ahead to the light. It was much bigger now, and it didn’t look like a coffin candle any longer – more like the bright sun in a fairytale kingdom.
“Run!” the Captain shouted.
The water was almost at my knees now and rising fast. I slogged along behind the Kintz. Their light had gone out, leaving us in a dim twilight zone of thundering water and dank stench.
“Hurry!” The Captain reached back and grabbed my hand.
No electric thrill from the Captain’s touch now, just cold dread. All around me, layers of terrified rats shrieked and clawed. One jumped on my shoulder, I smacked it away with my free hand. Others leaped on my back.
The water was past my waist now. I dove under it and shook off the rats. Then we were all swimming under water. I held tight to the Captain’s vise-like hand. With my legs and free arm, I struggled with all my strength.
My lungs felt ready to burst. I fought to get back to the surface, but there was no surface! Just an endless nightmare of frigid water and thrashing rat bodies. Bottled up air exploded from my lungs, my consciousness started to slip away, I began the final, deadly inhale –
And then we were out.
26: Sweet Home
I lay sprawled out like a half drowned rat, gulping down the sweetest air in the whole universe. The Captain was kneeling beside me holding my hand and gazing into my face with his probing, reddish eyes.
“Uh,” I gasped, “that was some pool party.”
A faint smile crossed the Captain’s face. “Welcome back, Lady Amanda.”
“Thank you.”
I sat up, just in time for a coughing seizure. I spit out some fluid. Very elegant.
“How long have I been out?” I asked when the coughing finally stopped.
“Only a few moments,” the Captain said, “but I think the ‘pool party’ went on much longer than it needed to.”
Was that supposed to be humorous – was this grim, steadfast Captain able to tell jokes? Mmm.
“What happened back there?” I said.
“That tunnel was old and ready to collapse,” the Captain said. “Our presence within proved its final undoing.”
He stood and saluted the tunnel entrance. “Thank you for granting us this final service, great tunnel!”
Sidekick also hailed the collapsed tunnel. With a straight-arm salute like the Nazis used, no less.
Many rats lay around gasping for air. They looked like rodents back home, but were very large and with vicious fangs sticking out from their mouths. Sidekick was walking around punting them like footballs. He kicked one hard right beside me. It squirted gore as it flew through the air, like a bloody comet tail.
“Gross!” I said.
“Please pardon the indelicacy, Lady Amanda,” the Captain said, “but in your weakened state, you do not wish to have these creatures active around you.”
He helped me stand.
“Lady Amanda seems much recovered,” Sidekick said.
“Not if you keep that up,” I said. “I’m about ready to vomit my guts out!”
The Captain chuckled. “Yes, well, we all have our little diversions.”
Other rats were recovering now and lumbering away toward the riverbank
. I guess they were tired of being used for soccer balls.
The final rush of water must have been fairly clean because I didn’t feel too grungy. My jumpsuit was drying fast, but my hair was a total loss.
The Captain placed his hands on his hips and gazed at our surroundings with great satisfaction. “Sweet home at last!”
Sweet home looked pretty weird to me. We were in a deserted area alongside the river, near the flooded mouth of the tunnel. Ahead, a dark and gleaming arch shot up into the sky – the same one I’d glimpsed from the airplane. It was huge but still some distance away, so I couldn’t really tell how big it was.
The sky was a dark, roiling purplish-black, like you might see at home when a thunderstorm was building up. I cringed beneath it.
“Our sky bothers you?” the Captain asked.
“You could say that.”
“Get accustomed, Lady Amanda,” the Captain said. “Once we have triumphed in the final contest, such a sky will cover all of Core City and beyond.”
I straightened myself up. “You seem pretty confident about that.”
“Of course,” the Captain said. “We are the Master Race. Our triumph is inevitable.”
“Oh?” I said. “Lord Eddie thinks your team is using drugs.”
The Captain smiled and waved a hand, as if to say that I was full of hot air.
But at the same time, Sidekick was inhaling something from a little bottle he’d pulled up from his sleeve. He didn’t notice me watching because his eyes were closed. With each inhale, he seemed to puff up bigger.
The Captain followed my gaze over to Sidekick.
“Hey!” the Captain yelled.
Then he snarled something so furious that my translator couldn’t handle it. Sidekick pushed the bottle back under his sleeve, he looked terrified.
So, that was it – Master Race in a Bottle! I guess that “honorable” routine only went so far.
WHAP!
The Captain smacked Sidekick alongside the head. He looked angry enough to take his teammate apart for blowing their precious secret. Sidekick tried to cover himself up.
“I won’t tell anyone,” I said.
The Captain turned toward me, the rage flickering in his eyes cooled down a bit. Sidekick stumbled out of hitting range.
“Then we can rely on Lady Amanda’s discretion?” the Captain said.
“Of course,” I said. “No sense rocking the boat now, is there?”
The Captain rubbed his chin. “Rocking the boat ... you Earth Americans have a poetic manner of speech. Still, I believe I understand.”
I nodded. “Just get me to Prince Quentin, nothing else is important.”
But that wasn’t true. The drugs were very important. Without them, the Purples would be a normal team, and Eddie’s squad wouldn’t need Quentin to even things out. We’d still be safe at home, and ...
If I kept thinking about what might have been, I’d go nuts in no time.
“Can we get moving?” I said.
“Certainly,” the Captain said, “our objective is over there.”
He pointed toward a distant, square-sided tower. It was an ugly, dirty white against the dark sky, and it was framed by that hideous arch. Low buildings and large open areas stood between us and the “objective.”
“That’s a long way off,” I said. “How can we get there without being discovered?”
“First we need to hide your green outfit,” the Captain said.
He took off his purple cape, folded it in half, and wrapped it around me. I felt an almost electric thrill at his touch, I closed my eyes so as to enjoy it more ... I went off into reverie land.
Wouldn’t it be great to have an exciting, powerful hero sweep me away from all this danger? I wanted to just sag back into the Captain’s arms and forget everything. He must have felt something too, because he was taking longer than was really necessary. His breath tickled my neck.
Cut it out, Amanda, this guy is the enemy!
I stepped away from him.
“Thank you very much,” I said. “I can handle it from here.”
Why were girls such jellyfish? Well, I guess you were always going to feel whatever it was you were going to feel. The important thing was to act sensible.
The Captain gave me his mocking little smile, as if he could read my thoughts. That couldn’t be too hard for him, he probably had every Kintz girl in Core City falling all over him.
“Shall we go?” he said.
27: Heroes’ Memorial
We started walking through a wide park-like area with long, grayish purple grass and many large trees. Blank, low buildings scowled along the edge – places where dead people might live.
The Captain walked beside me. Sidekick stayed to the rear, as if he was afraid of getting smacked again. An eerie wind hissed through the grass and along the tree tops. It seemed to have ghost voices in it. I wrapped the cape more tightly around myself.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“Heroes’ Memorial Park,” the Captain said. “It is dedicated to the founders of our revolution.”
“You mean like, a cemetery?” I asked.
“No,” the Captain said, “we leave such primitive notions to aliens ... uh, no offence intended.”
Cemetery or not, this was definitely a place where you wouldn’t want to have a picnic.
“Where is everybody?” I said.
“The population must fear an enemy attack, because of this kidnap business,” the Captain said. “They are in hiding.”
“This surely works to our benefit,” Sidekick said.
He had moved alongside us and was obviously trying to get back into the Captain’s favor. The Captain gave him a sharp look, but didn’t hit him again.
There were numerous statues on pedestals around us now, fashioned out of gleaming white material, like marble. They were all frozen into threatening postures – marching, charging, swinging weapons. They hardly looked like Kintz at all but were filled out bigger. Maybe somebody had shot them up with drugs.
One particularly frightening trio stood at rigid attention with guns in their left hands and their right fists raised in a salute. Their thighs were all bulged out, and they had no faces. I drew closer to the Captain.
“An old tunnel begins at the park boundary,” he said. “If it is still passable, we can take it into Zone Five, near the prison tower.”
“Then what?” I said.
“We shall have to rely upon our wits,” the Captain said.
Great – another tunnel ready to cave in any second! And I didn’t like the sound of this “Zone Five” place.
I remembered Tommy speaking of Zone Five, Zona Cinco, in Guatemala City where his family is from. He said that it was muy peligroso there. I think that means “very dangerous” but my Spanish isn’t so hot.
Tommy – what I wouldn’t give to see him again!
We were passing the saluting trio now. Of all the statues, they were the scariest with their blank faces and bulging legs. One of them seemed to move a tiny bit.
“Oh!” I jumped.
“Is something wrong, Lady Amanda?” the Captain said.
“Yes ... I mean, no,” I said. “My mind’s playing tricks on me.”
“Really?” the Captain said.
“I thought one of the three stooges moved,” I said.
“Three stooges?” The Captain studied the trio. “Lady Amanda has a unique sense of humor.”
The statues stood perfectly rigid on their pedestal – anyone could see that they hadn’t really moved. Well, didn’t I feel dumb? If I couldn’t get a grip soon, I’d be ready for the padded cell.
Ahead, one statue towered above all the others. It portrayed a very cruel and evil looking Kintz man wrapped in a flowing cape. We paused before it, looking up into the harsh face. Its expression seemed vicious enough to crack the stone. The Captain and Sidekick snapped to attention and made clenched fist salutes.
“To the Glorious Fuehrer!�
�� they said in unison.
So, this was the big honcho, eh? He certainly looked mean enough for the job. I glanced back at the three stooges. They were maybe fifty feet away and ... no, they hadn’t moved.
“It was the Fuehrer’s inspired plan to invite Prince Quentin,” the Captain said. “But then he became ill and the Council sought to interfere.”
“How?” I said.
“With that.” He pointed to the great arch. “They used the equipment at its apex to jam communications with your world.”
That must explain the difficulty Eddie had getting through – the heavy static, the garbled messages, etc. He couldn’t just contact Quentin directly but had to use all kinds of dodges, like the Magic 8 Ball.
There was lots to think about here.
But all thoughts blew out of my head replaced by absolute terror. The three stooges had jumped off their pedestal and were coming for us!
28: A Nasty Situation
“Basitch,” the Captain snarled, “run!”
But before we could go ten feet, one of the stooges fired a blast from his weapon. The ground before us exploded into a shower of dirt and grass chunks. We froze as still as the statues. Only my thundering heart told me that I was still alive.
“I should have listened to you, Lady Amanda,” the Captain said, “we might have ambushed those cowards.”
“Perhaps we still can,” Sidekick whispered.
I didn’t like the sound of that – it was too much in line with the Captain’s “perish in the attempt” philosophy.
The three Basitch cops confronted us now, weapons at the ready. They’d stripped off their head covers to reveal their true faces – thin, sharp and ghastly pale, with vicious red eyes. Just like the guard at the Tire Giant. All the terror and hatred I had felt for him returned with a vengeance.
“You are under arrest,” their leader said.
“Why?” the Captain said defiantly. “Because we escaped enemy captivity, with an important hostage, no less?”
He indicated me. So, I was an official hostage again.
“You have disobeyed a government order.” The Basitch leader said. “Your duty was to remain in enemy custody.”
The Captain and Sidekick exchanged glances. They were about to do something desperate, I was sure.
“Don’t try anything,” I said. “You can’t fight these guys.”
“Silence, Alien!” the leader commanded.
“She is the noteworthy Lady Amanda,” the Captain said. “You would do well to show proper respect, officer!”
