by John Coon
“No luck,” he said.
Kevin marched over to the nearest guard and yanked off his boots. He tossed them at Doni's feet.
“Just try these ones on.” His tone grew exasperated. “You all overthink things too much.”
Doni undid the laces on the right boot and slipped his foot inside. He stood and then wobbled while taking a couple of steps forward. Doni cast his eyes over at the other guard's feet.
“This boot is much too big. I'm afraid I'll turn an ankle after walking a few steps.”
“Grab the other pair,” Kevin snapped. “We need to leave now.”
Doni mumbled a few words under his breath at the ranger. He slipped the other boot on his left foot, instead of grabbing the alternate pair, and laced the footwear tight. Xttra grinned internally at seeing an Earthian soldier knock him down a peg.
Kevin led the group out of the cell and down the corridor at a brisk pace. Xttra surveyed the ceiling as they moved through the corridor, checking for signs of other surveillance devices. He counted it as good fortune they had drawn no unwanted attention up to this point. Ahm seemed to be on their side, watching over them in this rescue mission.
Lance took out his tracker as they rounded a corner. They came face-to-face with a man with short black hair before he had a chance to activate it again. He wore a thin EDB jacket, matching one Xttra saw on a different Earthian earlier. A cup dropped from his hand, spilling a pungent brown liquid across the floor. Steam rose from the spot where the liquid pooled. The black-haired man backed up a few steps to avoid stepping in it. He looked at them apologetically.
“I didn't see you there. Sorry about the mess.”
“No sweat,” Kevin said. “We better be on our way.”
The bureau agent raised his eyebrows when he laid eyes on the rest of the group. His eyes trailed Xttra's uniform from top to bottom.
“What exactly are you doing, Sergeant?”
“My CO ordered the prisoners be taken to new cells.”
“I didn't hear anything about that. I'll have to check with Mr. Bono or Ms. Beck on it.”
He reached for a two-way radio on his belt. Kevin jabbed his rifle barrel in the bureau agent's sternum. He lifted his head slowly and then raised his hands.
“You should have just walked away.”
Kevin motioned for him to hand over the radio. Doni snatched it from his hand as soon as the bureau agent finished unhooking the radio from his belt.
“Hand over your sidearm too. And your keys.”
He followed both of Kevin’s demands. Lance took the keys and unlocked a nearby supply room door on Kevin's instruction. Xttra marched the bureau agent inside. He found some rope and bound his arms to a shelf. Lance used a shop towel to gag the agent, to keep him from calling for help. Kevin kept his rifle trained on him until they finished securing the Earthian in place.
“That was too close for comfort,” Xttra said.
Lance's eyes widened when he turned to leave the supply room.
“Where did Doni go?”
Xttra snapped his head toward the door and dashed outside the supply room. His eyes darted up and down the corridor. No trace of the medical officer anywhere.
“We better go now.” Tangible fear rose in Kevin's voice. “Nothing good can come from this.”
Lance locked the supply room door again. At that moment, Doni stepped out from an adjacent corridor and held up the two-way radio.
“I wonder how this works.”
He turned a knob atop the radio. Then, Doni pressed a button on the radio with his thumb.
“If you can hear me, please send help now. Alien prisoners are trying to escape.”
A light started flashing above their heads. It cast a dull red glow through the corridor.
Xttra froze. His mouth dropped open.
Doni betrayed them.
“Traitor!”
Lance practically growled that epithet at him. He whipped out an eliminator to shoot him. Doni lifted his chin and beckoned to the assistant pilot, inviting him to fire a shot.
“I still intend to return to Lathos,” he said. “But I'll see to it, Xttra Oogan, that you and your assistant pilot never leave this awful planet.”
Xttra wanted to do nothing more than send a laser bolt ripping through Doni's chest. Before anyone fired a shot, sounds of running feet filled the corridor. Several soldiers and Earth Defense Bureau agents closed in on their position.
“I hope you know how to pray on your planet,” Kevin said. “We're gonna need a miracle to get out of here now.”
34
Staring at Doni sparked an unquenchable rage inside Xttra. It breathed and billowed into a fireball of hatred that overtook him as fast as a real flame consumed a single dead tree.
He wanted blood.
Doni's blood.
Xttra flashed a hand signal at Lance and Kevin. He drew a stun pebble and Cassian fire shell from his pouch. Doni glanced down at Xttra's hand and then at his face. His eyes widened. The two-way radio tumbled from his hand to the floor.
He turned to run at the same time Xttra tossed the stun pebble. It flew over his head and landed between Doni and the Earthians charging up the corridor. A brilliant shaft of light enveloped the group. When Xttra opened his eyes again, Doni staggered around and clutched at his eyes. The Earthians did likewise. A few collapsed on the floor near the medical officer.
Xttra pressed down a button atop the fire shell until he heard a click. He tossed it straight at Doni. A liquid sprayed from exposed cylinder ports in mid-air. It splattered across his chest and left shoulder. The same liquid also splashed two nearby Earthians.
Upon striking the floor, the fire shell cylinder emitted multiple sparks.
“Down!” Xttra shouted.
Lance and Kevin both hit the floor right when he did. The liquid ignited. Doni and the two Earthians screamed. Blue-white flames sprang up across the medical officer's neck, chest, and left arm. They also covered an Earthian soldier's torso and a bureau agent's upper legs.
Smoke climbed to the ceiling. Water from the sprinklers rained down and puddled in multiple spots on the floor.
Xttra scrambled to his feet.
“Here's our chance. Let's fly.”
Kevin and Lance also bounced off the floor. They sprinted down the dim corridor with Kevin leading the way. Lance's thermal tracker now showed a swarm of heat patterns moving fast toward the hangar. Earthians were converging on their location from multiple directions.
Xttra's thoughts turned to Calandra. Letting her go with Collin and Fuller seemed like a less dangerous choice at the time. Now he feared for her safety. If they ran into hostile Earthians, her injuries ruled out fighting or outrunning them. She walked with some difficulty after getting back on her feet and had only one healthy arm. Xttra felt foolish for becoming angry with her earlier. Anguish consumed him as he thought about what would happen if he failed to reach her first.
Beeps from his arca vox greeted his ears. Xttra dug it out of his pouch and activated the holoscreen. Calandra's image appeared a second later.
“Where are you?” She sounded as worried as he felt. “We've run into some trouble over here.”
“Doni betrayed us.” Rage still consumed his voice. “Alerted the Earthians to our presence.”
Her mouth fell open and she instinctively pressed a hand to it.
“How could he do such a thing?”
“He wants to leave us trapped or dead on Earth. I don't know his reasoning behind it, but I do know we're in even more danger now.”
Weapons fire echoed from her end of the holoscreen. Xttra at once stopped in his tracks. Lance and Kevin also halted and turned toward the arca vox upon hearing the same sound. Calandra glanced over her shoulder and back at him.
“We are pinned inside a stairwell over here,” she said. “We can't leave the building.”
“Hang in there a little longer,” Xttra replied. “We'll come and get you.”
He ended the communication
and her image vanished. Xttra stuck the arca vox back inside his pouch and drew his eliminator again.
“They're pinned down inside the other building,” he said. “We need to pull them out of there.”
Lance pressed his palm against his forehead and shook his head.
“Doni put us in a tough spot, didn't he?”
“We're not licked yet,” Kevin said. “If we hurry, we can still make this work.”
He turned and started sprinting through the corridor again. Lance and Xttra stayed within a couple of steps of the ranger. Sweat beaded across Xttra's forehead when they reached the same door he cut through earlier to enter the hangar.
Kevin stalked toward the door; rifle elevated. His eyes darted between the exit and the section of corridor behind their backs.
Lance thrust up his hand.
“Wait! My tracker is showing four heat patterns on the other side of the door.”
Kevin stopped, turned, and signaled for them to back up a few steps. Xttra and Lance followed his instructions and flattened themselves against opposite walls. The ranger took up a forward position behind the door hinges.
“Kill the lights,” he said.
They took turns blasting overhead lights with their eliminators. Laser bolts shattered one LED bulb after another until only a flashing red light from the silent alarm remained. It now bathed the entire corridor in an eerie crimson glow.
The door popped open a few seconds later. Four bureau agents, all brandishing pistols, entered.
“Someone is definitely in here,” one agent whispered. “All the lights just went dead.”
Kevin slipped behind the foursome and raised his rifle. Xttra and Lance emerged from the front-facing shadows and pointed their eliminators at the group.
“You're surrounded,” Xttra said. “Surrender now before this turns ugly.”
Two agents turned and saw Kevin cutting off the open door, ready to drop them all at a moment's notice. All four agents raised their arms.
“Now get rid of your weapons,” Lance said.
Three agents stooped down and set their pistols on the floor. The remaining bureau agent did not move. He clenched his teeth.
The agent lowered his arms and raised his pistol.
“You will never take over our planet. Death to all alien invaders!”
Xttra fired his eliminator. A blue laser bolt ripped through the resisting agent's shoulder. He gasped. His pistol fell from his hand and clattered against the floor. The agent dropped to his knees and grabbed his collarbone. His wounded arm now hung limp at his side. The other bureau agents grew wide-eyed when they saw blood dribbling through his fingers. One pleaded with Xttra to spare their lives.
He cast an irritated glance over at Kevin.
“We don't have time for this nonsense. Do you have ropes or chains or something else we can use to subdue them, so they don't follow us?”
Kevin shook his head.
“Fresh out.”
Lance confiscated their weapons and Xttra produced a stun pebble.
“We'll improvise.”
He tossed it among the four agents. Xttra, Lance, and Kevin all turned away and sprinted through the door as the corridor lit up behind their backs. Screams from the blinded Earthians followed.
“That should give us some breathing room while we reach the other building,” Xttra said.
They raced toward the same building where he and Lance first met Collin earlier. The doors opened as they approached. A bureau agent popped outside the door and raised a pistol.
“Watch out!” Kevin shouted.
Xttra and Lance each fired their eliminators. Laser bolts struck the agent in the middle of his chest and he tumbled to the ground.
A soldier popped out from the open door right behind him. Using the door as a shield, he fired a pistol several times. One projectile hit Xttra's right armored sleeve and dented the metal. He stumbled for a second but managed to stay on his feet.
Kevin raised his rifle and returned several shots. An acrid smoke hung in the air. The other soldier groaned and slumped backward. He splayed out on the ground. The open door now rested against his motionless body.
“What is that thing?” Xttra's voice became tinged with awe after seeing it in action.
“M4 Carbine rifle,” Kevin said. “5.56 caliber. Fires more than 700 rounds per minute.”
“Rounds?”
“Bullets. Same things they're firing at us.”
They reached the open door. Xttra stepped over the dead soldier's body. Up close, he saw how much damage an Earth rifle could do. Holes riddled him, including a fatal shot that blew away part of his cheek. Xttra averted his gaze from the fresh corpse.
Several other Earthians had taken up positions inside the main lobby. Lance's tracker showed they concealed themselves behind a pair of overturned couches and a small desk near the front of the lobby. A soldier popped up from behind one couch as Xttra approached the doorway. He jumped back and dove out of the soldier's line of sight on a patch of grass facing the open door.
“Get down!” he shouted.
Kevin and Lance retreated behind a parked car. Bullets sprayed the doorway. Glass shattered. Xttra lay flat on the grass and covered his head. When the shooting ceased again, he dug into his pouch for a Cassian fire shell and a stun pebble. Xttra discovered only one pebble and two fire shells remained.
“I better make effective use of these ones.”
He raised his chin and crawled toward the door. Xttra activated a fire shell and tossed it inside the lobby. The shell struck an overturned couch and immediately set it aflame. A string of shouts and coughs followed. Smoke billowed out through the open doorway.
Xttra tossed his stun pebble inside next. The smoky air lit up a second later. He hoped the pebble took care of any remaining resistance awaiting them inside. Xttra jumped to his feet and beckoned to Kevin and Lance.
“The path is clear. Let's get the others.”
All three dashed inside. Beads of water cascaded from sprinklers. Puddles formed on the lobby carpet even as the couch kept burning in some spots while smoldering in others. Xttra's weapons did what he hoped they would do. Blinded Earthians staggered out of the lobby and stumbled into other nearby rooms while trying to escape.
Kevin made a beeline toward the stairwell. He shouted to Fuller on the other side of the door and told him they cleared the lobby. The door popped open a second later. Fuller, Collin, and Calandra dashed out of the stairwell. She had her boots again. Calandra hobbled over to Xttra and embraced him.
“About time you all showed up,” Collin said. “They were getting ready to storm the stairwell. I don't think we could have held out much longer.”
Kevin glared at him.
“We weren't exactly out enjoying a picnic over at a local park.”
Xttra brushed away water droplets streaming down his face. He grabbed Calandra's hand and started for the lobby door.
“Time to fly!”
Kevin sprinted ahead of the group and Fuller stayed at the rear, so they could supply cover fire. Everyone bolted from the sprinkler-soaked lobby. Calandra brushed excess water off her face once outside the building. She lifted her chest pouch now slung over her shoulder again.
“We found everything I brought with us from the Earth probe.” Her voice carried a hint of her usual optimism for the first time since Xttra reunited with her. “I worried I wouldn't get it back.”
“Does it matter now?” Lance bristled at her happy declaration. “Your peaceful probe builders don't exist.”
Calandra shook her head.
“This is a large planet. We’ll find the people who tried to contact us. I know it. Then the hostilities will cease.”
Xttra wanted to embrace her hopeful approach. What they had experienced made it impossible. The Earthians did not want peace, regardless of what message their probe carried. Going home and never returning were all that mattered to him now.
“Where is your escape vehicle?” Kevin ask
ed, looking over his shoulder. “Is it far?”
“A 30-minute walk outside the base perimeter,” Xttra said. “Getting there will be tricky.”
“It will be impossible on foot. I have a better option.”
Kevin turned and charged back to a dead agent's body near the open door. The ranger knelt on the ground and patted down his pockets. He retrieved a set of keys from a front pocket.
“Bingo!”
Calandra stopped in her tracks and looked back. Upon seeing what Kevin did, her lips curled into a frown and she turned away in disgust. Xttra also stopped running and turned to see where the ranger had gone. He simply shook his head.
“You're robbing a dead body?”
Kevin jangled the keys at him.
“I just wrangled us a getaway car! Beats the hell out of hoofing it past the main gate on foot.”
Collin stopped running when he heard those words. He spun around and at once stabbed a finger at Kevin.
“Those cars are Earth Defense Bureau property. You can't help yourself to one.”
“Your buddy here isn't using it. If it bugs you so much, why don't you keep running while the rest of us drive out of here?”
“I can manage,” Collin scoffed. “I finished third in the 800 meters at the NCAA championships during my senior year at Rice.”
“Did you do it while bullets flew around you?”
Kevin sprinted past him before Collin could think of a snappy comeback. He glowered at the ranger and picked up the pace again. Xttra glanced at Calandra and shrugged. They all scrambled to catch Lance and Fuller.
Without warning, an alien attack vessel buzzed overhead. Two bright spotlights at the front of the vessel fell on the group.
“Helicopter!”
Collin pointed skyward. Xttra at once cast his eyes where he pointed.
“Keep your eyes open,” Xttra said.
Kevin raised his car keys and repeatedly clicked a small remote as he ran. He led the group toward a parking lot next to a series of half-oval shaped buildings, which both rangers called barracks.
A pair of car headlights suddenly flashed in the lot. Kevin beckoned toward the others.