by A. K. DuBoff
Lexi remained silent, having nothing to add. She watched as Kira traced the path of one data ribbon and then unplugged it. Kira pulled out her handheld and plugged the ribbon into the universal port at the base.
“Hardwiring in bypasses some of the usual security protocols. If I can find the right network opening…” She tapped rapidly on her screen. “Gimme a few secs.”
After a minute of rapid typing and several expletives of frustration, she gave a victorious shout. “All right! I’ve got the user’s login credentials who last accessed these files. Looks like they were in a project directory. I bet you anything that this is the information about that new lab.”
“If they’ve got a new lab, they’d need people to staff it.”
Kira gave a grim nod. “I have a suspicion that Leon was ‘recruited’ for that very purpose.”
They couldn’t yet rule out the possibility that Leon wasn’t still somewhere in the Alliance office, but it did make sense that he could have been taken. Regardless, they needed all the information they could get on the lab. “Where is the planet?”
“Let’s see… We should be able to go into the directory and— Shite! The permissions profile has been modified. They must have locked it down in preparation for their departure.” Kira rocked back on her heels. “Bomax. With this lockout, these files can only be opened from a local terminal for this division. I can’t get in from here.”
Lexi’s heart dropped. “Then there’s nothing we can do. We should get out of here.”
“No, this is the clue we’ve been waiting for! We need those files. We have to find a terminal.” Concern edged Kira’s normally playful tone.
Lexi couldn’t blame her. The files could very well hold the clues they’d been waiting months to uncover, not to mention Leon’s possible whereabouts. “Where do we need to go?” she asked.
Kira consulted her handheld’s screen. “Fourth floor, northeast corner.”
Lexi did some quick mental calculations about how long it would take to get up there and the likelihood that the building would come down around her. “We should hurry.”
Kira unplugged her handheld, and they ran back into the hall.
A couple of doors down, Lexi halted when she heard the faint sound of a metal chair scuffing on the stone floor. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah.” Kira pressed her ear to the door to confirm the sound. “Hey, is someone in there?”
Stifled shouts replied, unintelligible.
“Leon?” Lexi ask hopefully.
“No, it doesn’t feel like him.” Kira tried the handle, finding it locked.
“I’ve got it.” Lexi reached out telekinetically and broke the lock.
Kira raised her eyebrows, impressed. “Nice trick.”
“I’ve been holding back… a lot.” Lexi swung the door inward, and the sounds of struggle inside the room got louder.
The overhead fixture was off, but light streaming in from the hallway illuminated a man tethered to a chair. He wriggled and cried out through a cloth gag.
“Hey, we’ve got you.” Kira rushed forward to remove his face covering. “Who are you and why are you tied up?”
Lexi appreciated that Kira hadn’t immediately assumed the man was on their side. She hadn’t had much opportunity to see the soldier in her element, and it was freeing for both of them to now finally be able to let their fronts down.
“I’m Trent. They threw me in here when I tried to stop them.”
“Do you know what’s happening?” Kira asked.
“The end of this stage. They had to move up the timeline. There was a breach. They don’t want any witnesses.”
“Well, we’re still alive!” Lexi declared.
“For now. The entire planet is set to go up.”
Lexi gaped at him. “How do you know that?”
“Because I was the one who objected to the plan. Please, untie me.”
Lexi and Kira exchanged glances, coming to silent agreement that he didn’t seem like a threat. They began loosening the ropes securing him to the chair.
“Thank you,” the man said, giving them a grateful smile. “They were about to shoot me when they were interrupted by one of the scientists trying to escape while they were dragging him out. Guy had some moves.”
“Probably Leon,” Kira said, freeing the last of the man’s bonds.
He rubbed his wrists. “Well, I owe him my life—whatever little time we have left.”
“What do you mean?” Kira asked.
“The Alliance’s plan is to overload the planetary shield generator and force it to go critical, releasing a deadly blast.”
“What?!” Lexi and Kira exclaimed at the same time.
“It will take hours,” he said. “But once the chain reaction starts, it’s all over.”
“There’s still time to stop it,” Kira assessed. “If we can get an engineer—”
“You won’t find a specialist like that on this world. And they’ve certainly taken out all the ports by now, so we’re trapped. Your best bet is finding a deep cave to ride out the initial blast.” He started to move toward the door.
“Hey, come with us,” Kira offered.
“No, thanks, I’ll find my own way. Good luck.” He ran out.
“Is it really possible to weaponize a planetary shield like that?” Lexi asked.
Kira bit her lower lip. “Maybe. I do recall hearing that they could be turned into a giant planet-killing bomb under very specific conditions.”
“The Alliance has been recruiting engineers…”
“Those sick bastards are just deranged enough to try it. We need to get the authorities here.”
“They have to know something is going on with all the madness outside!”
“Yes, but there might not be any signs of a critical shield failure yet. The sooner we can get word to them, the better the likelihood of diffusing the energy buildup before it can’t be stopped.”
“Make the call!”
“The communication grid is failing. I have no connectivity down here.”
“Well, we need to go after the project files, and I don’t know that we’ll be able to get back here if we leave.”
“I need you to go get those files,” Kira said.
“Split up now? You can’t be serious!”
“Please go, Lexi. I’ll find somewhere with reception to make the call, and then I need to escort as many people to safety as I can. I’m on a mission, but it’s my duty to protect civilians whenever possible.”
“I don’t know how to get into the files even if I can find an access terminal on the fourth floor.”
“There’s no trick to it. Now that we have the user information, just enter it into the system.”
“Okay.” Lexi’s gut lurched. “I’m so sorry for getting you into this mess.”
Kira laughed. “This? This is nothing! And I volunteered to be here—that’s not on you.” She turned serious. “We’ll meet at the park near the port in half an hour. You can do this, Lexi. It’s going to be okay.”
She wanted to believe the other woman, but the chaos erupting around her amplified every doubt swirling in her mind. “Okay. Be careful.”
“You too.”
Kira ran off into the swirling smoke and dust.
Lexi took a slow, deep breath to center herself. I can do this. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for.
With renewed resolve, she jogged down the hall, toward the stairwell that would grant her access to the upper levels. Normally patrolled security guards—though no one would admit that’s what they were—the way ahead was now clear. She raced up the steps, not wanting to waste any time while the structure slowly crumbled around her. Worse than the groaning metal superstructure and flaking plaster was the warning that the man, Trent, had given: the Alliance didn’t want to leave any witnesses, and they’d take whatever steps were necessary to destroy Duronis now that the planet and its people were no longer useful.
They’re making this entir
e world a sacrificial symbol, she realized. Get an uprise of the people all over the news and then wipe it out in a shocking act of terrorism that can be blamed on whoever makes the best narrative.
She’d spent enough time working on Alliance marketing messaging that she could play the story out in her head, how they’d twist the tragedy and turn it into a moving masterpiece. Those in charge would show no remorse; she wasn’t even sure they were capable of it. The people who had been roped into the organization were pawns to be manipulated in a giant game. She didn’t know where they were going with it, and she didn’t want to find out.
The best hope for stopping the Alliance was to recover as many files as possible and turn over that information to the authorities. The issues were beyond the scope of her abilities.
Getting that information, though, was on her. Kira was counting on her to come through. Moreover, she needed to do this for herself. She’d spent more than a year waiting for a chance to make a big move, and this was it.
Her legs were warm and tingling by the time she had loped up the stairs from the basement. At the fourth-floor landing, she was faced with a closed and locked security door leading to the wing she needed to access.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.
She telekinetically yanked the door from its hinges, holding back just enough to prevent other structural damage to the already weakened building. Tossing the metal and plasglass door aside, she rushed into the northeast quadrant of the building to look for an access terminal.
The hallway was lined with offices. The desks had been mostly cleaned off, though the items that remained were strewn about in a haphazard way. Whatever order had been given, this was a rushed evacuation.
When did they clear out? Lexi thought back over the afternoon, and she couldn’t think of a time when there’d been unusual foot traffic. In fact, everything had been normal until the moment the alarm went off. Within three minutes of it sounding, the building had been almost empty, and the stragglers had vacated by the time they were ten minutes into the incident.
It didn’t make sense. How could an entire building full of people disperse without anyone noticing?
Lexi stopped in her tracks. She was missing something.
Her desire to get answers battled with the ticking clock in her head. Another explosion could go off in any moment and bring the entire building down. Yet, she had risked her life to get this far, and she had to learn everything she could while there was still an opportunity to do so.
She ran back to the landing and busted down the other security doors leading to the different sections of the building. As she looked down the hallways, she noticed that the interior was arranged oddly. A quick run down the hallways confirmed it. There were gaps between some of the rooms; the interior walls didn’t adjoin in a way that it looked like they should.
Stopping at one such area, she telekinetically punched at the walls and began ripping away sections. Her breath caught in her throat as the hole revealed a hidden stairway.
Of course! In retrospect, she felt silly for not suspecting there were secret passageways throughout the building. There were always more people at mealtimes and in the bunkrooms than she ever saw coming or going throughout the day. If she had to guess, the stairwell probably connected to the old transit tunnel system beneath the city. It would provide perfect access for planting explosives at key sites, and for moving people around without detection.
As great as that information was to have, it did little to assist with her current task of obtaining the project files.
Clock is ticking. Move!
She ran back to the quadrant where she needed to access the terminal. She’d spent precious time running around, and her chest was tight with anxiety about getting trapped in the building.
Toward the back of the hallway, she spotted a room that still had the computer terminal intact. To her relief, she saw a docking port where she’d be able to hook up her handheld.
She made the physical connection. A network access protocol popped up on her handheld’s screen. She flipped through the directory to locate the same project folder Kira had identified.
Got you! She opened it. Unlike the previous attempt, she now had access. Now to download this data.
Lexi began the sync. The estimated time to completion was twenty-seven minutes.
How much information is here? She groaned with dismay. Not only would that make her late for her meet-up with Kira, but she wasn’t sure her handheld had enough storage capacity for the files. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an external storage device on her, and the office looked like it had been picked clean. I guess I’ll take as much as I can get.
The transfer status bar began slowly crawling across the screen. She leaned against the edge of the desk, tapping her foot with nervous energy as she watched it progress.
Several minutes passed in anxious anticipation. It was coming along well, and she had yet to get a ‘memory full’ error.
A large explosion boomed outside, this one further away. The windows rattle slightly, but at least the building didn’t quake this time.
Her sigh of relief was cut short when the lights cut out. A moment later, the connection screen on her handheld dropped to idle.
No! Her heart sank. Though daylight still streamed in through the windows, the illuminated displays on buildings outside had all gone dead. The power was out. A plume of smoke rose above distant buildings. Did they take out the power distribution station?
It didn’t matter. The fact remained that the interface was now dead, and she couldn’t proceed with the data transfer. She had some information copied, but was it the part that would provide answers?
Shite! There was nothing she could do about it now. However, there was the other lead she could follow about the hidden stairway to see where it went. There might be answers down there if they didn’t have useful information in the limited files she’d been able to copy.
What do I do? There were only moments to decide. She weighed her options. The obvious solution was to stick with the plan and meet Kira at the rendezvous. However, there wouldn’t be another chance to get underground and search if she passed up this opportunity. She had to risk it.
She reached out with her mind to search for Kira. “Where are you?” She couldn’t feel the presence of the other woman in the building. Or anyone.
There was no way to pass on a message about her intentions. It didn’t change her decision. If she couldn’t get all the files, she could at least chase this lead.
Wait for me, Kira, she willed out to the universe. I’m coming.
Chapter 12
Jason was winding down for the day in his office when his desktop illuminated with a high-priority alert. A quick check of the incoming call showed an unregistered ident from Duronis.
An update from Kira? He accepted the vidcall. “Hi, how’s it—”
“Jason!” Kira coughed as a plume of smoke swirled around her.
“Stars, what’s going on?”
“Shite went sideways.” She started to laugh, not a happy sound, which turned into another cough. “Field work is the best!”
“Are you okay?”
“Mostly. For now.” Her expression turned serious. “It all happened so fast. One minute we were going about our regular afternoon duties, and then alarms were going off and people were panicking.”
“I don’t understand. What—”
“The Alliance has made its big move, Jason,” she interrupted. “They took all of the ‘valuable’, trusted people and got off this rock. Near as I can tell, they’ve left us here to tear ourselves apart.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why?”
“Because they’re insane. The more disruption, the easier it is for them to work toward their ultimate goals, whatever those are.”
“Slow down. What’s happening?” He brought up the listing of TSS incident reports. Sure enough, Duronis was flagged with a developing situation, though no details h
ad yet been loaded into the files accessible to him.
Kira shook her head. “These sick bastards are destroying the planet and leaving people here to die. They’ve taken out the food stores and the ports. Torched the farm biodomes. Blew up the power station. I expect communications will go down as soon as the backup batteries are drained.”
Jason was speechless. It sounded like too much devastation to have happened in short order, but the smoke and rubble in the background of the video supported Kira’s words. “Where are you now?”
“A few blocks from the Alliance office—or what’s left of it. Lexi was going to try to copy some information from one of the management offices, but I don’t know where she is now. She missed our rendezvous. The whole building just went up in flames.”
His stomach dropped. “What about Leon?”
She let out a bitter cough. “He disappeared this afternoon. I think they may have taken him as part of that new research project we learned they were working on.”
No! This can’t be happening. He tried to keep the emotion from his face. She needed reassurance right now, not someone else feeding into the worry she must be feeling. “I’m going to get you out from there. Send me your current coordinates.”
A notification popped up that he had received a datapacket.
“The port is gone,” Kira said. “I don’t know how this planet can get evacuated in time.”
“In time?”
“We found a man tied up in the basement. He claimed that the Alliance has rigged the planetary shield to overload and scorch the surface. I already alerted the local Enforcers.”
“How would—”
The vidcall abruptly cut out.
Shite! Is the communication network on Duronis down? Kira had told him that it could drop out at any moment. The situation was deteriorating must faster than he’d anticipated. I need to tell Dad what she told me.
He ran down the hall to the High Commander’s office. He knocked on the door.
“Dad, I just got a message—” he began telepathically.
