In his peripheral vision, Nika absently wound her way through the middle of a group of three Administration officers cycling from one monitoring station to another. Unable to stand it any longer, he intercepted her course and placed a hand on her arm. “Is everything all right?”
She stopped and stared blankly at him, almost as if she didn’t see him. Abruptly she blinked, and a flood of emotions broke across her expression. Her voice emerged in a cracked whisper. “If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what else to do. I fear we’ll lose Namino forever.”
He gave her the bravest, most confident smile he could conjure. “Then let’s make sure it works.”
“Right. Okay. The Concord fleet is standing by. The Kat fleet is standing by. Our tiny little DAF fleet is standing by. Even a few hundred Taiyok vessels are standing by, gods thank them for their overwrought sense of honor. Perrin and Katherine are standing by to receive a new influx of refugees. Every weapon in our arsenal is standing by.” She leaned in to rest her forehead on his. “It’s time.”
NAMINO
Camp Burrow
“It’s time.”
Nika lifted her shoulders into an unofficial command stance. “Joaquim, Ava, Selene, Dominic, grab as many large bags as you think you’ll be able to carry when they’re full. We’re going to raid the DAF Command armory one last time. If we expect to make it across the city to the Rasu compound a second time, we need weapons. Lots and lots of weapons.”
Ava returned from the supply room carrying a tall stack of empty bags and tossed them in the middle of the floor as Marlee hurried up to Nika. “You should take me with you. I’ve been to the armory before. I’m familiar with where the various weapons are stored.”
“I appreciate the offer. But I need you and Grant to help all these people get packed up and ready to move out to the Siyane.”
The muscles framing the girl’s mouth twitched in displeasure; her lips parted, but she said nothing.
Nika tracked the variety of purposeful movements across the bunker, mentally checking items off overlapping lists. “What is it?”
“Grant and I…” Marlee’s chin dropped to her chest “…well, we aren’t exactly getting along so great right now. But it’s not a problem. If you need me to work with him, I’ll do it. I want to help everyone get to safety.”
She started to brush the girl off, but stopped herself. “You know, Grant’s a good man. A good man with a couple of deeply buried demons. If I could remember what they were, I might be able to help him, or at least tell you how you could try to do the same.”
The girl’s face screwed up in perplexity. “What?”
“Never mind. Make certain to take all the remaining food and water as well. I’m not confident the Siyane is stocked to support fifty people for very long.”
DAF Command
The instant they crept off the lift into the DAF Command lobby, Nika sensed something was wrong—something beyond the generalized occupation of the planet by a terrible enemy. Shadows moved on the street outside of the blown-out entrance. The rumble of too-close machinery echoed threateningly off the damaged walls.
She leaned in close to Joaquim. “I thought you said they’d abandoned this location?”
“They had. I guess they’ve come back for another helping of secrets.”
Joaquim had destroyed the primary server, but it didn’t mean there weren’t other secrets worthy of stealing in these halls. She listened to the insistent rumbling for several seconds, then made a decision. “Let’s get to the armory.”
“And if the building is crawling with Rasu?”
She handed him an archine grenade. “Then we’ll shred them and run.”
“Works for me.” He pivoted and checked with Selene, who motioned them forward, and they headed into the interior of the complex.
Whatever nefarious deeds the Rasu machinery were up to, they were up to it on the top floors, and the group only had to dodge a single Rasu patrol on the way to the armory…the entrance to which was blocked by a solid wall of rubble. She muttered a curse through gritted teeth, but Joaquim grabbed her hand and guided her through a door just short of the rubble.
It led to a nondescript storage room. On the left wall, a jagged crack wound up almost to the ceiling, across and back down to the floor. She glanced at Joaquim. “Your handiwork?”
“Yep. The server room explosion blocked off the entrance, so when we came for the rocket launcher, I had to improvise.” He walked up to the wall, placed both palms on the center of the cutout, and pushed, and a section of wall fell through to the adjoining armory. “And since we’re vacating, we don’t need to patch it up when we leave.”
Nika strode through the opening, her eyes scanning the shelves upon shelves. “Everyone, stock up. Assault rifles, grenades, military Glasers, combat drones, power spikes. Whatever you think you can use to slow down Rasu attackers in the field or at the compound.”
She went off in search of power spikes and electricity grenades. Her archine grenades were a preferable weapon in virtually any scenario, but her supply was already dwindling away. After emptying several cabinets her bag remained only half full, so she took a combat drone and two assault rifles to pass out to the others.
Five minutes later they all met at the jagged hole in the wall, bags stuffed and weighing down everyone’s posture. “I know moving both fast and quiet is bound to be difficult while lugging thirty kilos of bulky gear, but let’s do our best to get back to the lift unnoticed.”
The trip back was nearly as uneventful as the journey to the armory, and she was almost about to relax a little. Then a deep, throbbing noise caused the walls, floor and ceiling to shake as they stepped into the lobby.
All her senses screamed in warning, and she locked eyes with Joaquim. “Run!”
They took off for the lift as a wide violet beam lit up the lobby for an instant before impacting two floors above them. The ceiling rained debris down on their heads and clogged the air, making it all but impossible to see where they were going. She felt more than saw a second strike impact the building, and the front half of the lobby began crumbling apart beneath the weight of the collapsing floors above it.
She motioned Ava onto the lift, then spun around just in time to see a huge chunk of ceiling slam into Dominic’s back, knocking the man to the floor.
Joaquim was moving toward him before she could—another, larger section of ceiling collapsed, crushing Dominic fully beneath it when Joaquim was less than two meters away.
“No!”
Selene was acting as rearguard, and she grabbed Joaquim by the shirtsleeve as she ran past him. “Come on, you idiot. We have to get out of here!”
Still, he fought her for half a second before relenting and letting her drag him to the lift. Nika leapt onto the lift with them, and the lobby vanished beneath an avalanche of rubble as they descended.
Camp Burrow
As soon as they returned to the bunker, Joaquim hurled his two full bags toward a vacant corner, then kicked them the rest of the way against the wall in an explosion of anger. Nika watched Selene watching him carefully for a moment, but the Justice Advisor didn’t go over and try to calm him down. Instead, she dropped her bags in the center of the room, dragged his two bags beside hers and opened them all up.
Grant touched her arm, and she jerked in surprise.
“Sorry. What happened?”
“Dominic isn’t coming back. And the Rasu finally blew up DAF Command, so we’re going to need another exit route.”
His expression flickered briefly. “The closest one is near Bunker #5. The exit will put us on the surface about three blocks from the Curio Market.” He sighed. “It’ll be slow going moving all these people through the tunnels.”
“It’s our only option. I’ll get the updated coordinates to Alex.” She scanned the bunker; it was much less crowded now that everything had been packed up, and most people were either double-checking the contents of their assigned bag or fidgeting quietly. “Is
everyone ready to move?”
“I think so. Alex is helping Marlee bundle up the rest of the food from the refrigeration unit, and it’s the last item on my list.”
“Great, thank you. Let’s plan to move out in five minutes.”
Grant headed down the hallway to the kitchen, and Nika finally approached Joaquim. “We get home to Mirai, and Dominic will be back up and running in no time. But first we have to succeed today.”
“About that. Nika, you know I try never to question you—”
“Are you kidding? You’ve basically done nothing but question me since the day I met you.” She punched him lightly in the shoulder. “It’s why you were an excellent second-in-command.”
“True. In that case, I’ll question you now. Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, what you’re planning to do is…impossible.”
“I’ve done the impossible before.”
“With eight thousand copies of yourself, yes. Now there’s only one of you here.”
“Yes, but…” she stretched out an arm and studied the pale glow radiating off her skin “…it’s a superpowered one of me. Also, this time I have you to watch my back.”
He nodded soberly. “Yes, you do.”
67
* * *
NAMINO
Beneath Namino One
“It’s only a little farther now, don’t worry.” Marlee patted the distressed woman on the back and gently nudged her to the left as the tunnel diverged in three directions.
She checked over her shoulder to confirm no one had fallen behind. Grant was taking up the rear of their subterranean convoy, though, so she needn’t worry. He’d been friendly and kind to her all day, which only made her feel worse about yelling at him. And soon, if everything went according to plan, they’d be going their separate ways, perhaps forever.
But now was hardly the time for a heart-to-heart conversation to clear the air, so she let it go. If they didn’t have an opportunity to talk before all this was over, she’d send him a note containing a proper apology in a few days. It might be the best she could do.
Bodies bumped into one another as they reached the exit and the front of the convoy came to a halt. Marlee nudged her way up toward the front until she reached Caleb. Beside the hidden door, Alex conferred in furtive murmurs and gestures with Nika and Joaquim.
After another round of murmurs, Nika nodded, and Joaquim broke off to say something to Ava. The woman scowled, and they argued in hushed tones for a moment before Joaquim squeezed Ava’s shoulder then came up to her and Caleb.
Joaquim’s chin dropped low, and his voice remained quiet. “Listen, if this goes the way I believe it will, I don’t expect to walk back out of the Rasu compound.”
Caleb frowned. “If you don’t think this plan is going to work—”
“That’s not what I said. It will work.” Joaquim glanced up the tunnel toward Nika. “She will succeed in her mission, because I will spill my last drop of blood making certain she does. My point is, if I go down the way I expect to, when I see either of you again in the future, I won’t remember you. So let me say this now: thank you. Thank you for helping us, and for sticking with a fight not your own. I’m not sure we’d be here doing this today if it weren’t for the two of you.”
Caleb offered Joaquim the most genuine smile Marlee had seen him display since bursting into the bunker more than a week ago. “You’re most welcome. Thank you for helping to save Marlee’s life. As far as I’m concerned, we’re both still in your debt.”
“Nah. Slate’s clean.” Joaquim shook each of their hands in turn, then headed to rejoin Nika. A few final murmurs followed, and the two of them headed off into the shadows of the right tunnel.
As Marlee understood the plan, they intended to stay in the tunnels for as long as possible, though the closest exit to the Rasu compound would leave them with several kilometers to traverse on the surface. The little scene between Joaquim and Ava made more sense now. He’d been breaking the news to her that she’d be staying with the main group instead of going to the compound. Hopefully they wouldn’t need the woman’s firepower, but Marlee found she was glad the people heading to the Siyane would have it in reserve.
She, Caleb and Alex were planning to create a distraction at the compound to help Nika’s team slip in unnoticed, but not until they got everyone from the bunker on the ship and away from ground zero. She’d hadn’t been briefed on the details of this distraction, but she was game for anything.
The device Alex had brought with her—she’d called it a ‘walkie-talkie,’ which was so silly a name that Devon Reynolds had to have made it up as a joke—emitted a static-filled squawking noise, and Alex held it up to her ear. “Understood. Two minutes, but no sooner. I don’t want the Siyane sitting around like a giant, invisible target.”
Apparently Alex had brought someone along with her to pilot the Siyane while she was groundside, since Valkyrie wouldn’t have been able to penetrate the quantum block. Marlee hadn’t thought to ask who it was.
Alex went up to Selene. “The ship’s ready to land at the intersection above us. Are we ready?”
Selene’s gaze passed across the huddled group of bedraggled refugees. “As ready as we can be.” She raised her voice. “Everyone, it’s time to move to the surface. We’ll head up in groups of five, so no one has to stand around on the street exposed for longer than a few seconds. I’ll stay at the top of the lift to help everyone out. The ship is stealthed, so once you’re outside, wait for Caleb or Alex to guide you to the boarding ramp.”
Marlee stared back down the tunnel in the direction from which they’d come. She most definitely wasn’t sad to be leaving the claustrophobic, oppressive haven the tunnels and the bunker had provided, but she did feel a bit of wistfulness over it. The days she’d spent down here with these people would stay with her for a long time.
Caleb squeezed her hand. “Up we go.”
Namino One
A hazy layer of dust hung in the air as they emerged from the storefront that hid a secret entrance to the tunnel network. The sidewalk was fractured into pieces every few meters, in several cases exposing the dirt below. The two streets meeting at the wide intersection had faired yet worse…the image that popped into her head was of a giant worm burrowing through the streets on its way to its next meal. A skeletal frame of a façade hung tattered and broken across the street, metal beams dangling off it like charms on a Khokteh headdress.
Alex came up beside her and Selene. “Hold here for one minute.” Then she strode forward—and disappeared.
Marlee clutched her Mom’s hand in a vice grip as they left the building lobby behind and walked toward an empty intersection.
Caleb stood in the middle of the intersection; when he saw them, he turned and started walking away—then vanished!
She gasped in surprise. Where did he go? Had the evil attackers opened up a giant hole and sucked him through? Had something—
—he reappeared out of thin air wearing a grin. Behind him, a ship shimmered into existence.
Marlee’s eyes widened to giant bloodshot orbs as she let out a squeal of delight and ran to him. “Is this your ship, Uncle Caleb?”
He crouched to her level. “Nope. It’s my girlfriend’s ship.”
That drew her enchanted gaze from the ship to him. “You have a girlfriend?”
“I do.”
She considered him skeptically. “Is she pretty?”
“She sure is—almost as pretty as you.”
Marlee giggled, covering her mouth with her uninjured hand in temporary embarrassment as she leaned against his shoulder.
He tousled her dust-covered hair playfully. “Do you want to go for a ride in it?”
Marlee chuckled to herself; Caleb really had been saving her ass ever since she’d been born. She reminded herself to continue being properly appreciative…and to repay him by helping him however she could once this was finished.
Alex reappeared a minute later, out of thin air, and
motioned everyone forward. “The ramp’s been extended. You’ll be able to see it once you get inside the stealth bubble, so just watch your step.”
Marlee had done this part before, so she stayed at the base of the ramp to help steward the groups of bunker refugees on board the ship. When only she, Selene and Ava remained, Caleb and Alex having gone ahead inside to organize what should now be a very full cabin, they headed up the ramp as well.
At the airlock, she took a last look outside to confirm the street was empty. “We’ve got everyone. You can close up the ramp now.”
“Gotcha.”
The familiar voice sent an electric shock racing through her, and she spun toward the cockpit. “Morgan?”
The woman sitting in Alex’s chair glanced over her shoulder, and her brow furrowed. “Marlee, right? Caleb’s niece? You’ve grown up.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’ve got a cut on your cheek. You should get it patched up.” Morgan spun the chair around and set to retracting the ramp and attending to pre-flight checks.
Marlee fumbled her way backward into the main cabin, sank against the cockpit half-wall, slid down to the floor and buried her face in her hands in abject shame. ‘Uh-huh’? Uh-huh? For years she’d fantasized on an almost weekly basis about seeing Morgan again, and when it finally happened, all she could say was ‘Uh-huh’? She might as well march right back outside and let the first Rasu she found kill her straightaway.
Inversion (Riven Worlds Book Two) Page 38