Aegis Rising

by S. S. Segran

  51

  The villager whom Aari had been covering had already switched clothes with the miner he had captured. He secured the unconscious captive with an active vine that coiled around the worker’s wrists instantly, binding them together, then stuffed a cloth into the man’s mouth.

  At the far end of the main tunnel, two groups of five miners each worked on either side of the rumbling tunneling machine, scooping ore into mounds behind them for the Bobcats to collect. But the machines were not returning. A man working beside the tunneling machine wiped the dust off the visor of his air-supplying respirator. Though he could barely see over the mounds, he caught sight of the Bobcats’ yellow roll cages where they idled. He nudged the worker beside him and the worker looked up inquiringly, not wanting to remove his ear plugs and ear muffs and expose his ears to the jarring sound of the tunneling machine.

  The first worker pointed to the Bobcats and turned his hand palm-up in a questioning gesture. The other man shrugged disinterestedly and returned to his job. The first miner contemplated asking the tunneling machine operator’s assistant about the Bobcats, but decided not to bother her as she circled the machine, constantly inspecting it to make certain that everything was running as it should. Casting another look at the Bobcats, the miner returned to work as well.

  There was no way he would have been able to spot the six outsiders—four of whom wore coveralls identical to the miners’—as they crept deeper into the tunnel and approached the tunneling machine with packs on their backs, bent double so they wouldn’t be spotted over the ore mounds.

  The team reached the mounds and stayed hidden. One of the villagers, concealed by Ashack, peeked over the top. “We will have clear shots at three miners on the left, and three on the right,” he informed the others.

  Aari and the men wound their miniature crossbows, specially designed for close-quarter combat. They set immobilizing darts on the weapons’ grooves, then stood up and took aim over the mounds. The darts were released, each one penetrating the workers’ coveralls successfully. Within seconds the six men had all dropped like flies. The group grinned at each other and ducked down as the other miners spun around and caught sight of their fallen comrades. The workers noticed the protruding darts and went on the defensive, as though they knew there was an imminent threat nearby.

  The villager who Aari had concealed earlier smiled as he pulled a respirator mask over his face. “Do not lose me this time, lad.”

  Aari shuffled his feet, embarrassed. “I’ll try.”

  The four men bounced on their toes, then leapt up and somersaulted, landing on the far side of the mounds with perfect form. The workers caught sight of them but were befuddled. All they saw were other workers in coveralls with hardhats and respirator masks. But the second they spotted the bows the men hoisted, they recognized the threat. The miners faced the villagers, shovels in hand. With the lights from their hardhats shinning directly at the four men, Aari and Ashack carefully peered from behind the mounds and deflected the light. The men shimmered, then disappeared.

  One of the workers nearly dropped his shovel. “What?”

  The remaining miners and the machine operator’s assistant stared at where the intruders had stood just a moment ago. “What happened?” the assistant stuttered. “Where did they go?”

  No answer was given. The workers only felt the stab of the darts into their arms before the numbness spread throughout their bodies and to their heads, causing them to black out.

  The operator’s assistant froze, clearly wanting to flee to safety but didn’t know where the ghosts were lurking. She needn’t worry much; a dart pierced through her protective clothing and into her skin. A moment later, she fell limp and an invisible force caught her, gently placing her to one side of the machine.

  The bald villager with the long scar strode up at the deafening tunneling machine, glad for the earplugs and earmuffs. The operator of the machine worked on a platform at the back of the drill, oblivious to what had happened to his colleagues. As the villager watched, the operator suddenly arched and reached behind his shoulders where a dart was lodged, then collapsed in a heap on the platform, unconscious.

  Someone tapped the villager’s shoulder and one of his friends appeared at his side. Understanding that they were no longer being concealed, he gave a thumb’s-up. The other villager pointed to either side of the machine where two men equipped with back-pack sprayers and respirators were drenching the rocks and dirt in front of the tunneling machine. The workers, clad in smooth suits covering their entire bodies, had not yet noticed that the mammoth machine, though still running, was no longer moving.

  The villager with the long scar crept up behind the worker on the left side of the tunneling machine and paused behind the man, observing the worker as he nonchalantly sprayed some kind of liquid onto the tunnel walls and ground. So this is how the contaminant gets into our waters, he thought. He wound up his arm and balled his right hand into a fist. “Maggot,” he muttered, and delivered a compact punch to the side of the worker’s head, knocking him unconscious. The worker fell on his side and the clang of the back-pack sprayer against the ground resonated across the tunnel.

  “I do not think we were supposed to handle this in that manner,” one of the other villager said, chortling.

  The big man shrugged. “Okay.” With a satisfied look, he roughly jabbed an immobilizing dart into the worker’s shoulder. The nozzle of the back-pack sprayer was still spurting; he had to tinker around with the mechanism before he finally managed to turn the nozzle off. He smiled. “So far so good.”

  Ashack and Aari climbed over the ore mounds to help the others drag all the workers into the abandoned tunnel and bind and gag them. Once done, they returned to the main tunnel where Ashack handed out the cube-shaped explosive gels. “Get with it,” he said curtly.

  At the top of the mountain, Nageau said, “Ashack’s team has secured the main tunnel. They have just begun to place the explosives.”

  One of the men rubbed his hands together, “Excellent.”

  “Has Saiyu moved in with her team?” another asked.

  “They did, about the same time as Ashack,” Nageau answered.

  Kody, who was lying stomach-down beside his mentor, murmured, “I can see Elder Saiyu leading her team back to the trees.”

  Nageau frowned. “Did they plant the explosives on the cauldrons in front of the tunnel?”

  “Uh . . . no.”

  “She must have forgotten. I will remind her.” Nageau probed the novasphere for Saiyu’s presence. When he found it, he asked, Saiyu, have you installed the detonation gels onto the large cauldrons?

  Oh no, Saiyu groaned. We missed that in our haste. I will send someone right away.

  As Kody watched, he saw the shape of a girl running nimbly out from the trees toward the vats, cradling a bag of explosives to her chest. She weaved around the vats, planting the explosives and setting the timers.

  “Tayoka’s turn,” Nageau said.

  Kody combed his fingers through his short afro. Things are going well, he thought. Maybe we really will be in and out of here without a hitch.

  Jag’s eyes darted back and forth as he looked around a young evergreen tree behind the cluster of lunch tables. According to Tikina’s map, to his left was the workshop and to his right was what he figured to be an infirmary, judging by the red cross painted on it.

  As he looked up at the mountain’s peak, trying and failing to discern Nageau’s and Kody’s observation post, he heard his name called softly. “Jag!”

  Tayoka waved him over to join the rest of the team. He loped over to the Elder, who checked for the umpteenth time that everyone remembered their roles.

  Who knew Tayoka was such a stickler? Jag thought, amused, as a woman rapidly translated his mentor’s words for him. While easier said than done, their plan wasn’t difficult to grasp. He and Tayoka were to take down the four guards on shift so the others could plant the explosives on three targets: the beasts’
steel enclosure, the workshop, and the vehicles in the vehicle shed. The Elders had made it clear that no explosives were to come in contact with the medical building or the mess hall that stood side by side, nor were they to rig the workers’ barracks.

  Jag was near to losing his patience as he waited for his mentor to dismiss the group. When the villagers rose to their feet, he straightened. “Finally,” he murmured. He shadowed Tayoka as the Elder prowled along the tree line, searching for the guards who continuously circled the site. They watched for a few minutes, but only found one guard patrolling.

  Tayoka swept his hand behind him, halting his apprentice, and created a telepathic link with Nageau. Old friend, I do not see any of the guards.

  Kody tells me he observed one walking into the workshop a while back and never came out. Nageau paused. Ah, and there is another rounding the vehicle shed.

  I already saw him. But what of the other two?

  I believe they went into the mess hall.

  Is that not where you said the head guard who controls the beasts went?

  He left a while ago to retire for the night.

  So we have three guards occupied indoors, and only one is out and about. Is that correct?

  Yes.

  Alright. Thank you. Tayoka returned to the team

  “Slight change of plans, my friends,” he said, gathering them into a huddle again. “There is only one guard on active duty at the moment. Two have entered the dining building, and one has disappeared into the workshop.”

  Jag chuckled to himself. “Slackers.”

  “Continue as if we have already taken down the guards,” Tayoka told his group. “But be mindful that they may come out at any time, so do not make a sound. Am I understood?”

  The villagers dipped their heads and split off. Tayoka signaled for Jag to follow him again.

  The seventeen-year-old girl weaving around the enormous vats and planting the explosives stopped dead when she heard footsteps. Forcing herself not to panic, she ducked behind one of the vats and crouched, holding her breath. Stealing a look around the cauldron, she saw a slightly pudgy guard patrolling around the vehicle shed from her right. He walked without purpose and seemed to be in his own world.

  Must be tiresome to walk the same path every day, the girl thought. If that truly was the case, then that would work to the villagers’ advantage.

  She willed the guard to move faster but he kept to his slow amble as if taking a leisurely stroll in a park. Stifling a sigh, the girl hunkered down and waited for him to pass.

  A young man from Tayoka’s group—a tanned, light-haired youth—had volunteered to fix the explosives to the beasts’ building. He had them all in a small bag over his shoulder and approached the steel structure with great care; Elder Tikina had made it all too clear how powerful the beasts’ senses were.

  Pausing ten feet from the building to steady his nerves, he absently scratched his ear, feeling where part of the cartilage had been bitten off by an aggressive yearling wolf. What a memory that was. Though a piece of his ear was gone, he remembered how he had boldly fought off the creature. If you could handle a wolf battling you in the open, then you can surely do this with beasts in their cages, he reassured himself.

  Just as he was about to step forward, a door banged open across from him. He froze, his breath caught. With his omnilinguistic ability he could make out a groggy but irritated voice yelling out. “Am I the only one in this entire damn place who knows when the tunneling machine has been idling for too long?”

  The flustered young man instinctively dove out of sight behind the beasts’ enclosure. Staying absolutely still, he prayed the beasts had not heard him. Apparently they hadn’t; all was quiet in the building.

  More shouting ensued. Had the youth peeked around the corner of the building he would have seen a man wearing black pajama bottoms and an untied robe running out of his private sleeping quarters. By his tone, the villager knew the man was in charge of the mining site.

  “Where’s the security team on shift?” the man barked.

  “Here, sir!” a voice chimed, sounding nearby.

  Must be the guard from the workshop, the youth guessed.

  “Get to the tunnel and get those slugs back to work. I thought you knew it was part of your job to sniff out slackers.”

  “We’ll get right to it, sir!”

  The villager got up, thankful no one had noticed him when he had been in between the buildings. Moreover, he was thankful that the beasts hadn’t heard him when he’d plunged behind their fortified enclosure. He took one of the explosives out of his bag and stepped forward.

  A twig he hadn’t seen snapped under his foot, sounding like a gunshot to his ears. Immediately, an eruption of roars broke the silence.

  What have I done?

  52

  Nageau heard the tumult from the beasts’ enclosure and stiffened when he saw the auburn-haired man in the robe turn to face the building. “No, no,” he muttered as the man started toward the steel structure.

  A shape behind the building could be seen sprinting into the trees. If the robed man had remained standing at his earlier position, the escaping figure may have had a chance to go unnoticed, but the man now had a wider field of view as he approached the building and saw the fleeing villager.

  “Intruder!” he bellowed. “We’ve been breached—again!”

  The two guards who’d gone to check the tunnel spun around and stampeded back toward their supervisor.

  Caution! Nageau blasted to all the Elders. One of us has been spotted!

  He felt someone poking his arm repeatedly and looked at Kody beside him. “What is it, lad?”

  “That big guard who was handling the beasts . . . he’s coming back out.”

  Hajjar stomped out of the miners’ barracks, pulling a sweater over his head. As the Marauders’ primary handler, he was particularly sensitive to their roars and guttural barks. Even though he and the animals hardly ever got along, he needed to know if something was bothering them.

  He glanced toward the security post on the far right. He expected to see one guard through the big glass windows but found it empty. Wrath flared in his veins. This seemed to happen constantly with the graveyard shifts when he wasn’t present.

  He heard the door of the mess hall on his left burst open and two of the guards stumbled out, fumbling with their AR-15 rifles. When they saw the head of security, they visibly wilted. Hajjar, his lip twitching as if he were about to snarl, gave them a withering glare. He stalked up to them and snatched one of the rifles. He was ready to rip into them when they heard Ajajdif’s shout. “We’ve got an intruder! Where are the other guards, dammit?”

  As Hajjar and the two men from the security team headed toward Ajajdif, a series of loud booms broke out from the mining tunnel. The trio halted mid-step and looked at each other, then at the tunnel. A rumbling that rapidly grew louder suddenly materialized in the shape of the massive tunneling machine. It thundered out of the tunnel like an out-of-control locomotive and struck a glancing blow to the platform holding the huge refining vats, crushing the stand, causing three of the five cauldrons to topple.

  Hajjar and the two guards barely managed to bolt clear of the machine as it rolled past them and snapped the support posts all along one side of the vehicle shed. The unsupported roof came crashing down, throwing dust and debris into the air. The massive machine continued its course and the three men watched, agape, as it barely missed the infirmary and then barged right through the mess hall, demolishing anything and everything in its path. Some of the miners inside the mess hall managed to jump aside in time, but others were not so lucky and were mercilessly plowed under.

  One of the cooks at the back of the building heard the commotion and turned around only to face the oncoming death machine. He didn’t have time to run. As the engine barreled toward him, he impulsively grabbed a handle on its front and held on as it smashed out of the building and into the trees.

  Having crashed t
hrough several obstacles, the machine lost momentum as it neared the edge of the mining site. The cook tried to stop the engine by digging his heels into the ground but knew his actions would be fruitless. The machine rolled halfway off the edge of the clearing and came to a stop, hanging precariously over the steep drop. The cook let out a choked cry. “T-t-thank you,” he whimpered to no one.

  The massive machine see-sawed and began to tip downward. The cook babbled in terror and tightened his hold on the handle. He didn’t want to look down and, instead, stared up at the ninety-ton tunneling machine, eyes opened wide in mania. He begged the machine to stabilize but knew his time had come as the engine’s balance shifted, sending both itself and the cook plummeting to their ends.

  All over the mining site, there was a moment of stunned silence as the workers tried to grasp what had occurred. Then bedlam ensued. There were yells for help and cries of pain from the workers who had been struck by the tunneling machine. Several had broken limbs, others lay unresponsive.

  Miners rushed to help friends who hadn’t escaped the mess hall in time. “We need medics!” yelled one of the guards.

  Ajajdif had seen the tunneling machine ram straight through the building. Still in his pajama pants and robe, he ran toward the mess hall to help his men. As he passed the workshop, a series of thundering explosions shook the site. Ajajdif instinctively threw himself behind one of the two trucks in the shed, and not a moment too soon. A massive piece of metal smashed into the truck, tearing away its roof. Ajajdif squirmed under the vehicle for cover as other chunks of debris rained down.

  He stared at one particularly large piece that landed where he had stood only a moment earlier. It seemed too familiar. He turned to look at where the vats should have been but saw instead rubble and black dust scattered far and wide. He gasped. “No!”

  As he lay prone, bemoaning the loss of precious mineral, a piercing screech arose from the tunnel area. The noise swiftly transformed into a roar not unlike a jet engine. A bright phosphorescence caught Ajajdif’s attention. His gaze moved to the crushing operation. A blinding flash, as brilliant as the sun, illuminated the entrance beside the mining tunnel.