by Bob Cooper
***
Aidan hid under a pile of brush ready to spring his trap. Dirk and Acey were prepared to fire the flare shells from their blasters. Aidan could hear O’Malley and his men approaching and signaled to them to get ready.
O’Malley halted his men and studied the temple from down the path. Since it was dusk, he couldn’t see clearly into the temple area.
“Either they’re gone, or they’re up to something. You two! Up here in front,” he shouted to Raina and Hillary.
His men pushed them up to the front, and O’Malley held his blaster at Hillary’s head as he motioned them forward.
“Any tricks and the two girls are history,” he said loud enough for Aidan to hear.
Aidan waited until O’Malley, and his crew were almost under the canopy of trees at the temple altar. He slowly released the ropes to lower the stuffed costumes. He signaled Dirk and Acey to get ready with the flares. He let the ropes slide through his hands, but one rope got caught, causing one of the costumes to come crashing to the ground. Aidan tried furiously to get the rope untangled to control the other costumes, but they were caught high in the trees and wouldn’t budge.
O’Malley heard the noise and grabbed Hillary by the neck with the blaster pointed at her head. He stopped and shined his light.
“Over there! On the ground!” said one of his men.
Aidan struggled with the ropes, but they were hopelessly tangled. Dirk saw Aidan’s predicament and aimed the blaster.
“Come out now, or she’s dead!” O’Malley yelled.
Dirk lowered his blaster and looked over to Aidan. There was a sudden swirl of wind, and the costumes came alive. They were no longer attached to the ropes and flew directly towards O’Malley with a piercing scream that made everyone hold their ears.
“The Guardians!” Acey cried.
Dirk wasted no time when he saw O’Malley recoil as the costumes accosted him. He fired the flares. The gas released and the Guardians swirled it directly around O’Malley and his crew. They gasped and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Hillary and Raina were somewhat protected from the effects of the gas by the Guardians but were slightly dazed. Aidan rushed towards them with his blaster in hand. He grabbed Hillary while Dirk held Raina.
“Hurry! We don’t have much time before this stuff wears off,” Aidan said.
Dirk went over to O’Malley and his men. He stood over O’Malley’s unconscious body and looked at the man that caused him all this pain. His teeth clenched, and his eyes narrowed as the anger welled up inside of him. Acey watched him intently. He saw her from the corner of his eye and eased up. He took their blasters and used the ropes from the costumes to tie them to the trees.
“We better get out of here while we still have a chance,” Acey said.
She helped Hillary to her feet. Raina was already up but still dizzy.
“It should wear off soon. We’d better get going,” Aidan said.
Dirk threw the blasters in his backpack and illuminated a few light sticks. He led them through the dense woods until they found a path that appeared to head towards the twin mountain peaks where they hoped to find the city. Raina talked to Dirk and Aidan about O’Malley and his men.
“There is a reward for you back on earth. O’Malley plans to kill all of us. There is no way he can afford to let any of us live. We have to find the evidence and get back to Earth before he does.”
It was very dark, and although everyone was tired, they were determined to gain enough distance from O’Malley to evade him. They walked all night long until Acey saw the suns light. They stopped by a stream to clean up and rest. The two mountain peaks were still off in the distance. Aidan tried to gauge the distance through his vision intensifiers.
“It looks like another day’s hike, and we should be in the valley,” he said.
“Where do we go from there?” asked Hillary.
“I’m not sure. We’ll have to figure that out when we get there,” Acey said.
As they continued on, the trail led to something similar to a paved road on Earth. The smooth stones we deliberately laid to make walking easier. Acey saw the familiar markers appear on the side of the road.
“This should make it much easier for us to find the city,” she said.
“Unfortunately, it will also make it easier for O’Malley,” Aidan said.
They came to a fork in the road. There were two sets of markers—both headed in the general direction of the valley. Acey took out her computer and scanned the symbols. It produced a comparison with the other markers they found when they first arrived on the planet. The mileage symbols were the same, but the other symbols differed. She compared them to her father’s notes and found similarities to one in particular, but the description in the notes didn’t give any detail. Acey then remembered the amulet that Tai-Som wore had a similar design as one of the markers. The glyph of the two suns rising over the two mountain peaks was present on both. Acey walked over to Raina.
“May I see your amulet?” she asked.
Raina took it off and gave it to her. The glyphs were identical. Dirk also studied them closely.
“The rising suns glyph must represent the City of Antares. It was on the amulet that Tai-Som was wearing and it’s on Raina’s amulet too,” Acey said.
Acey searched the computer for the glyph in the computer and found only vague references.
“No information from my father’s notes about this in the computer,” she said puzzled.
“We’d better make a decision and get going,” Aidan said, breaking the group’s focus on Acey’s computer.
“We’ll take this road,” Acey indicated decisively.
***
O’Malley slowly opened his eyes. One of his men crawled over to him and called his name several times before he awoke.
“What the hell happened?” O’Malley asked.
“This place is spooked. We’ve been out for over five hours. Turn your back against mine, and I’ll try to untie you,” he said to O’Malley.
As O’Malley positioned himself, he could see the others were still unconscious. Struggling at first, they were able finally able to free themselves. After rousing the others, they huddled around O’Malley still groggy and waiting for some direction. O’Malley discovered that all their blasters were gone.
“We can’t continue without weapons,” one of his men said.
O’Malley pulled out his com link and contacted Franz on board the starship.
“Franz, check to see if you can get a fix on Saunders,” he ordered.
“I got them. They’re about ten miles ahead of you heading approximately 280 degrees,” came the reply.
“Good work. We’ll be joining you shortly,” O’Malley said.
The men looked puzzled.
“Are we giving up?” one asked.
“How does Franz know where they are?” asked another.
“I put a trans-locator in Raina’s backpack. The shuttle is not far from here. We’ll go back to the ship and wait for the opportune time to get them,” O’Malley responded.
***
The road, paved at one time, quickly fell into disrepair. Trees lined the road and provided shelter from the two suns. Just as at the temple, they could see the multi-colored liquid running through the limbs and roots. Hillary took some pictures as they continued their journey. Acey fell behind the others to walk with Aidan while Dirk and Raina led.
“Tell me. What happened when you were at the Academy?” Dirk asked.
Raina looked at him for a while before she answered.
“I was enrolled in Astro-Engineering. The courses were difficult, but I was doing well. Everything was fine until I started asking questions about my father—that’s when the problems started.”
“What did your father do?”
“According to my mother, he was somehow connected to the Academy. She never mentioned his name or had a picture of him. All I know is that they met on Europa when my Grandfather was there r
unning a mining operation. My mother died before I could question her further.”
“What sort of questions did you ask at the Academy?”
“Well, I wanted to find records of Academy expeditions to Europa thinking this might give me some clues. What I found were newspaper articles and general information about the expeditions. I found one expedition that coincided with my mother and Grandfather being there. When I asked to see the expedition records, I was given the royal run-around.”
“Who did you ask?”
“I asked several of my professors, but the trouble really started when I asked….” She stopped for a moment thinking about what she was about to say.
“Who was it?” he asked.
“Bob Haskall,” she said.
“One of my instructors said he might be able to help me.”
Raina heard a slight gasp from Dirk.
“What did Bob tell you?”
“Bob was helpful at first. He gave me the public manifest records. There were a lot of people on that mission.”
“Was my son one of them?”
“Yes, he was.”
“Did he tell you anything else?”
“I went to Bob’s office one day to ask him more questions. O’Malley was there, and he did all the talking. He asked me questions about my mother and Grandfather, what they did on Europa. When I answered his questions, he became visibly upset. The conversation ended abruptly, and he literally threw me out of the office. After that meeting, I suspected that O’Malley knew more than he was letting on. That’s when all the trouble started.”
“What trouble?”
“Well, all my grades mysteriously dropped in all my classes. When I attempted to meet with my professors to seek an explanation, they never showed up. I was put on academic probation, and before I could appeal, I was thrown out. Suspecting O’Malley had something to do with this, I stormed into his office to demand some answers. He called security and had me physically removed. I was furious. I found my apartment ransacked, and my lease canceled. I was sure O’Malley and the Academy had something to do with my mother’s death. I found proof in the expedition records that O’Malley was there on Europa around the time my mother died. That’s when the Earther movement found me. They took me in and gave me a way to get back at the Academy.”
Dirk’s mind raced through different scenarios—none of which he liked. He believed what Raina said was true but still found it hard to accept.
“Why did you help O’Malley frame me if you knew he had something to do with your dismissal and your mother’s death?’
“It was a way to get money to finance more protests, but mostly, I wanted him to trust me so that I could find out more about my mother’s death.
“Do you have any idea as to why he would kill your mother?” Dirk asked.
Dirk never got an answer. The explosion blew the side of the hill away and knocked them off the trail. They tumbled down the embankment and received a shower of debris.
“What the hell was that?” shouted Acey.
A flash seared the treetops followed by another explosion. This one was just behind them and sent them flying forward.
“Laser cannons!” Dirk shouted.
11
They all scrambled down the cliff. Acey and Dirk hid under a rocky overhang. The next explosion pulverized the embankment and blew apart the rock ledge where Acey and Dirk were hiding. Dirk was knocked unconscious, and Acey tried to drag him away from the falling rocks and debris.
“Dirk!” screamed Acey.
Aidan rushed over to help Acey as the next blast hit their previous position.
“He has a fix on us!” shouted Aidan.
He turned to Hillary and Raina who were scrambling towards Dirk.
“You were the last to have contact with O’Malley. Could he have bugged one of you?”
Raina and Hillary looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
“Our backpacks!” she shouted just as another blast sent them running for cover again.
Quickly Hillary and Raina dumped the contents of their backpacks on the ground.
“There it is!” Aidan yelled as he picked the trans-locator out of Raina’s backpack and threw it as far as he could.
He went back to help Acey with Dirk, but Dirk was dazed. The next blast was a good distance from them near where Aidan threw the trans-locator. Helping Dirk to his feet, they ran over to Hillary and Raina who were checking the rest of the contents before re-packing their backpacks. As the debris settled, Acey noticed a rush of air coming from where the rock ledge once stood. She went to the opening and saw a shaft leading down to a long, winding tunnel covered with the glittery material found at the temple cave. There were valves and pipes the entire length of the tunnel.
“Hey! Over here!” she shouted to the rest.
“It looks like an air shaft,” Dirk said.
“Can this lead us to the city?” Raina asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Aidan said taking the lead down the shaft ladder to the tunnel.
***
“Can you find them?” O’Malley asked impatiently.
“They were there a minute ago, but now they’re gone. I still can detect a signal from the trans-locator,” Franz answered.
“Damn! They must have found it. Get a fix on their last known position. We’re going down there again.”
“Got it.”
“Prepare the shuttle. And this time, load the incendiary weapons,” he shouted.
***
Aidan cautiously proceeded down the tunnel with the others following. It was clearly an airshaft that recycled air into the underground city. There was no sign of the inhabitants. The tunnel led them to a small room that contained monitoring equipment. As they entered, an alarm went off, and lights were flashing.
“Damn! Aidan yelled.
“Just stay calm and show no hostility when they find us,” Dirk said.
“How do we communicate with them?” Raina asked.
“The same way we communicated with the Guardians and the creatures on the surface, I hope,” Hillary offered.
The words were barely out of her mouth when they saw the door opening slowly.
“Here we go,” Dirk said, taking a deep breath.
Everyone braced for the security team to enter. The door swung open, and a wrinkled old Anterian hobbled in with his communicator in his hand. He gasped and dropped his communicator as he came in contact with the alien beings.
“We mean no harm,” Hillary communicated to him.
The old man screamed, turned, and ran only to hit the door falling flat on his back. He crawled to the opening and cowered expecting the worst.
“We come seeking your help. Please do not fear us,” Hillary tried again.
This time she got a response. Although it was somewhat garbled as it entered her head, she was able to make sense of it.
“Who are you? Please don’t hurt me.”
“We are seeking one of your citizens. Her name is Tai-Som.”
The old man recoiled at the mention of her name.
“Ask him to take us to those in charge,” Dirk said to Hillary.
“Can you lead us to those in authority?” she asked.
He looked at them warily, somewhat reassured that he wasn’t going to be harmed. Acey recognized the bald head and out of proportion limbs depicted in the vision she had of Tai-Som. His disheveled appearance was not at all like the radiance she saw from Tai-Som in her vision.
“There is no authority,” he finally said.
***
O’Malley made final preparations to land the shuttlecraft in a clearing where the trans-locator last transmitted a good signal. With the promise of more money, he persuaded the crew to accompany him once again. This time they were heavily armed and had fresh provisions. As the shuttlecraft landed, O’Malley gave last-minute instructions.
“We must find Dirk and his accomplices and bring them to justice,” he said like a campaigning politician.
“The reputation of the Academy has been tainted by Dirk Saunders, and we must see that it is cleared. Back on Earth, there is a handsome reward for his capture. That reward can be yours. Bring him back to me—dead or alive, and I’ll see that you collect it.”
As the door to the shuttlecraft opened, O’Malley could see the destruction from the laser cannons.
“Are you sure we didn’t get them?” one of the men asked.
O’Malley surveyed the damage. The still-smoldering terrain seemed eerie as the wind blew wisps of smoke around. He took out his tracking device. It beeped as he walked in the direction where Aidan threw the trans-locator.
“No. I think they are still somewhere around here,” he finally answered.
Exploring the area, they found the shaft entrance.
“I see footprints all around,” said another member of his crew.
“Okay. Down there is where we must go.”
He vowed to himself that this time they wouldn’t get away.
***
The old man recoiled as Dirk helped him up off the ground.
“Tell him to take us to the others,” he said to Hillary.
Hillary conveyed the message to him, and he nodded to her. They left the airshaft and followed the old man down a maze of corridors. Most of them were air ducts and waste treatment centers. They finally came to an elevator that opened as they arrived. The old man stepped in, and they followed. He muttered something, and the elevator plummeted. Before anyone had a chance to steady themselves, the elevator came to an abrupt stop. The old man chuckled as he watched the expressions on their faces. When the doors opened, the scene surprised them all. The images of a shiny, new city shattered as they surveyed what was before them. The old man took the opportunity to bolt.
