by Dan Oakley
I held out my hand to help the spiky-haired girl down from the hatch, but she brushed my hand away and jumped down, landing lightly on her feet.
She could definitely teach me a thing or two about agility.
I wondered why the girl hadn’t chosen this suite as her base, but as we walked over to the exit, I saw the reason.
The room had a standard sliding door without added protection. It wasn’t reinforced like the one in the girl’s safe haven below us.
We hadn’t redirected the power to this room, so she opened it by force. I was surprised at how easily the door slid across with a single shove.
Yet another reason this room was a bad option for a base.
She stopped to listen before stepping out into the corridor. I followed closely with my weapon ready just in case.
The corridor was empty. All the walls and windows appeared relatively unscathed.
There was a large green door at the end of the corridor, and we headed towards that.
It was heavy and had once been an emergency exit.
The door released with a single press of a button. It was mechanical rather than electronic, so we had no problem passing through.
It was hot in the building, but we had the benefit of shade in there. Once we stepped outside, the sun glared down fiercely, and I almost wished it was raining.
I looked up. The sky was bright blue without a cloud in sight.
This was going to be hot work.
She led me up a series of steps until we were on the flat part of the roof and then pointed out the solar panels.
She didn’t need to. It was quite obvious what they were. All of the panels looked intact. So why weren’t they working?
I wasn’t great with electronics. Sure, I could wire a basic circuit, but we hadn’t even been on the main grid in Terrano, and most of my knowledge of electronics came from trying to repair discarded machinery.
I hoped this wasn’t going to be a difficult job.
I could do with something going right for once.
The girl stood with her arms folded, watching me as I inspected the panels. I hoped she wasn’t expecting a miracle.
Although the surface of the panels was intact, they needed a good clean. I wiped them free of debris using the arm of my uniform. But cleaning them wasn’t going to get them to work.
There was a more serious issue causing them to malfunction, and I saw that once I took a look underneath one of the panels. The wiring had been gnawed. Maybe by rodents? I’d seen things scurrying across the floor while I’d been on Tor. Probably rats. The damn things seemed to survive everywhere.
I should be able to fix it, though, if I could source some more wire.
I looked up to ask the girl if she knew where we could find any and caught my breath. She was perilously close to the edge.
“Come away from there. You might fall,” I said.
She rolled her eyes and ignored me balancing on the balls of her feet this time. She was apparently very confident, but seeing her so close to the side of the building made my stomach churn. We were only two stories up, but a fall from this height could still do some severe damage, and it wasn’t like we had top-class medical treatment available to us.
I looked away because she was making me queasy.
“We need to get hold of some wire,” I said. “And…”
I broke off as I heard the girl scream.
A huge dragonfly circled her head, making her panic. It was probably harmless, but she’d leaned back too far as she tried to get away from the insect. Her arms swung in circles as she tried to regain her balance.
She was going to fall.
I jumped up from my crouched position and ran over to help, but I was too late. She tumbled backward.
Chapter 29
I’d like to say I put some thought into what I did next, but that would be a lie. Everything I did was based on instinct.
I knew I wouldn’t reach the girl to grab her in time and pull her to safety. As the realization hit me in the gut, a single thought passed through my mind. It wasn’t sensible. It was pretty ridiculous actually, but somehow it worked.
I thought: that dragonfly is so big it could easily lift her.
Before I’d scrambled to the edge of the roof, the dragonfly dived and maneuvered its thick, segmented body underneath her butt, flapping its iridescent wings frantically.
It wasn’t powerful enough to lift her to safety, but it did stop her from falling any lower and gave me enough time to race over to the edge and reach out.
“Take my hand!” I shouted.
The girl was now distracted by the fact she was sitting on the back of a dragonfly. She stared down at the ground and looked a little green.
“Don’t worry about that… just reach out!”
She was still too far away for me to grab her. As soon as I thought it would be easier if the dragonfly moved the girl a little bit closer to me, lo and behold the insect moved half a foot closer to the edge of the building, its wings pumping so fast they were a blur.
Her eyes wide and her face white, she leaned over and grabbed onto my arm.
She was very light, and I quickly pulled her back onto the roof.
I frowned at her and was very tempted to say I told you so. She looked at me sheepishly, brushing off her pants and then turned to look in amazement at the dragonfly.
The insect was still hovering only a few feet away from us.
You can go now, I thought, and the dragonfly flew off in lazy zigzags towards the jungle.
It took me a moment to process what had happened. Somehow, without even knowing how I’d done it, I’d controlled that insect. I’d managed to make it do my bidding. Unless it was a mutant, telepathic, friendly dragonfly, this was down to my magic.
How had I done it? I didn’t have a clue.
There was so much about my magical abilities I didn’t understand. Maybe I never would. I imagined those mage mutations sitting inside every one of my cells. At the moment, they were wasted. I wasn’t utilizing their full potential. But unless I got off this planet and found someone to train me, I’d never live up to my potential.
Sure, I could practice magic on my own here on Tor. Maybe controlling other animals and insects. That could come in very useful.
I wondered if I’d be able to control the lizards but then dismissed the idea. It probably worked on insects because their brains were less complex. Lizards would be a greater challenge, and I wouldn’t want to be around them if I failed or my concentration lapsed. The consequences could be devastating.
I turned my attention back to our present problem. The faulty wiring.
“We should be able to extract some wire and cable from rooms you don’t use in the building. Then we can use that to replace the wire connecting up the solar panels. I’m not sure how long it will take us, but we might not get it done today.” I looked at her. “We also need to locate the circuit breaker. We can’t have any power running through these cables while we’re working on them.”
She looked upset and crossed her arms over her chest.
I didn’t know why. Was it because she thought it was dangerous to be without power when there were lizards present? I guessed her safe haven wouldn’t be protected if we cut power to the whole building.
We could mess about with the circuit breakers until we isolated the solar panels, but I’d feel more confident if the whole system was out while we were doing the work.
“I wish you could talk.” I sighed. “It would be a lot easier if you could tell me why you don’t want the power off.”
“Flaming fires, of course, I can talk,” the girl said with a distinct twang.
I recognized her accent from somewhere but was too shocked to try and place it.
I stared at her. “You can talk?”
She shrugged. “Sure.”
“Then why haven’t you spoken before now? It would have made my life a whole lot easier.”
“I don’t talk much,” she
said. “I’ve been alone for so long it feels a bit weird.”
I shook my head, finally placing her accent. She sounded like one of the actors in the soap operas that were broadcast around the Seven Kingdoms. They’d been popular for hundreds of years. The Baker’s wife used to adore them.
“Have you watched many soap opera shows?” I asked.
My question must have seemed odd, but she beamed. “I have a few series of the Magnificent Memories recorded. I’ve watched all the episodes hundreds of times. I love them!”
I grunted and shook my head. She had been cut off from everyone on a planet infested with mutant lizards, yet she was able to watch soap operas.
“Do you watch them?” she asked
I shook my head. “I’m afraid not. People watched them in the village, but we couldn’t access the broadcasts where I lived in the hills of Terrano.”
Her face fell in disappointment. “Oh, that’s a shame. The last season I’ve got ended on a cliffhanger, and now I’ll never know if Mary Sue woke up from the coma after Larry found out she was cheating on him with his brother and shot her with her plasma gun that she’d left behind after racing off to the hospital to meet the son she thought had died two years ago in a freak fireball accident.”
I blinked. Soap opera shows were very fond of far-fetched, convoluted storylines.
“When we get off this planet, you’ll find out.”
She smiled again. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“So… back to work…our first step is to find the circuit breakers. Do you know where they are?”
She nodded. “Yes, there’s a box in a small cupboard off the lobby. The main power is routed through there, and we can turn everything off, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea. It will leave us vulnerable to attack. We won’t have a safe room to retreat to.”
I nodded. She made a good point, but I believed we had to take the risk. The rewards would be worth it.
“We’ll only keep the power off for a short time. Just until we extract the wiring. Then we’ll put the power back on and take a break to cool down and have something to eat and drink before we tackle the wiring on the solar panels.”
I looked at her hopefully. I knew what I was asking was a big deal. She operated in self-preservation mode, and that had kept her alive so far. Turning off the power must have gone against all her instincts.
Finally, she nodded slowly. “Ok then. I hope it works.”
“Me too.”
Again, we used the crawl space to get back to the lobby, and this time the journey seemed to take even longer.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt even hotter in that dark, narrow tunnel as we crawled along next to the pipes.
“So, what’s your name?” I asked.
“Kira,” she said.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kira. I’m glad you’re talking now.”
I wanted to ask about her background, about how she came to be on Tor and abandoned without any family or friends, but decided to wait until after we got out of the cramped space and started on extracting the wire.
We kept quiet as we monotonously crawled forward.
Kira was ahead of me, and I nearly crashed headfirst into her butt when she stopped suddenly.
“What is it?” I whispered.
She said nothing but looked at me over her shoulder and then pointed down.
I shuffled a little to the side so I could see what she was looking at.
Although I was hot, the sweat trickling down the back of my neck felt icy when I saw two lizards in the room directly below us.
I held my breath, hardly daring to move.
They’d both stopped milling about and sniffed the air as though they could detect prey was close by.
Should we retreat or push on?
One of the lizards was huge, and he’d easily be able to reach the metal grid work to bash it with his snout.
My throat felt parched and dry as I swallowed.
The largest lizard stopped directly below us, raising its head and sniffing. I was so close I could see its quivering nostrils and the individual scales around its snout. I wished my magic was powerful enough to obliterate both of them with a single thought.
But there was no point in wishing. My magic was extremely unreliable. Our best chance of getting out of there without becoming lizard snacks was for them to grow tired and move away.
Surely they couldn’t be that hungry. I wondered what they usually ate, apart from human flesh.
The other slightly smaller lizard ambled up sniffing the air too.
They knew where we were. They were both directly beneath us.
Ahead of me, I could see Kira trembling, and a low moan left her throat.
She was frozen. Like me, she didn’t know what to do for the best.
Go away, I ordered the lizard with my mind, praying I could control the creature as well as I’d managed the dragonfly. That worked about as well as I’d expected. Neither of the lizards moved away from us. They didn’t even falter for a second.
Kira shrunk back as the larger lizard raised its snout again, this time pressing it against the metal. The panel rattled as it scraped its snout along the grid work.
Kira gasped.
The lizard’s slithery tongue slid out tasting the air.
Blast it. We had to make a decision.
I reached out to put a hand on Kira’s shoulder, urging her to scoot backward. We would have to retreat and come back when the lizards had gone.
But before we moved, the giant lizard let out a high-pitched screech followed by a snarl. It opened its mouth wide and then smashed its teeth together.
It wasn’t aiming its aggression at us but at its smaller counterpart.
The smaller lizard responded with the same hostility, snapping at the hulking beast’s midsection and that was all it took for a full-scale fight to break out.
The noise was deafening as they crashed around the room, knocking over boxes, desks and expensive monitors.
“Go! Go!” I urged, and we both scurried forward while the lizards were distracted.
My breathing didn’t slow down until we’d put distance between the fighting lizards and us.
I really hated those creatures.
When we were directly above the lobby, we opened up a hatch and slid down to the floor. Kira wouldn’t meet my eye. She looked anxious, and I guessed she was second-guessing our decision to turn off the power. It was easy to see her point of view.
Right now she was scared and wanted to go back to the safety of her secure room. That was perfectly understandable. Maybe I should have been more sensitive to her feelings and suggested we go back to the secure area and try again tomorrow, but there was no guarantee that tomorrow would be any easier. Perhaps we’d run into three lizards tomorrow.
I tried to distract her by asking for her opinions on the different circuit breakers.
I didn’t need her help this time as the fuse box was well labeled. It was sectioned off into different areas of the building, but for some reason, there was no way to isolate the solar panels. Even if I’d wanted to keep the power on in the rest of the building while we worked on the roof, I wouldn’t have been able to.
I reached up and put my hand on the switch.
“Ready?” I asked.
She looked terrified but nodded.
I flicked the switch, and nothing happened because there was no power in the lobby anyway, but it still felt like a defining moment.
“Now we have to find a room that we won’t need in the future and strip the wiring. Where do you think would be best?”
She paused and thought for a moment and then said, “Probably one of the officer’s bedrooms or suites.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
The journey back along the crawl space was uneventful this time, and there was no sign of the lizards in the room we’d seen them in earlier. There was some fresh blood smeared along the floor, so at least one of the lizards hadn’t come awa
y unscathed from the encounter.
I couldn’t wait to get the power back on and keep these beasts outside.
Kira showed me to a maintenance cupboard near the officers’ section headquarters. It was just a small cupboard mainly filled with cleaning products. But Kira pointed out a toolbox that would be very useful. I grabbed it, and we went to the closest officer’s room.
It was furnished in a similar fashion to the first one I’d seen near the exit to the roof. It had the same style of sofa that wrapped around three-quarters of the room, and a large window looked out onto the jungle.
Outside, the sky was still bright blue and the day showed no signs of cooling down. Most of the pipework and cable was in the ceiling and wasn’t difficult to access as we could easily remove the panels. Within an hour, I’d rerouted some of the wiring and managed to pull out a good ten feet or so for us to use.
There was only a short distance to cover between the solar panels, so I reckoned we had enough wiring to get at least twenty of the panels working again. If we could do that today, it would be a great start.
We were only just along the corridor that led to the roof, so rather than head back into the crawlspace we decide to take the direct route.
I coiled the wire and looped it over my arm and then followed Kira to the door.
The door slid open, and she paused, peering out cautiously into the corridor. Then suddenly, she stepped back, slamming into my chest and she grabbed her plasma weapon.
I dropped the wire and grabbed my weapon, then braced and prepared to fire.
Chapter 30
We stayed in our defensive positions for a few seconds. The only sound I could hear was our breathing.
Eventually, when we weren’t attacked, I leaned over to whisper to Kira. “What did you see?”
She shook her head, and her gaze darted to me then back to the door. Her eyes were wide with fear and confusion. “It wasn’t a lizard,” she said. “It was a person.”
