by Tony Healey
"Yeah. Smaller chunks similar to the one I'm holding, but nothing intact like this." Delta ran her hand along the smooth surface.
Click.
Max jumped backward. "What was that?"
Delta waved the torch around until a glint behind the obelisk caught her attention. "Another booby trap. I must have tripped it somehow."
"Uh . . . it's ticking."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it." Delta propped the torch against the obelisk for light, and unfurled her toolkit. "Relax, it's the same type of trap from the bridge. I'll have this baby disarmed in a snip." She giggled. "Get it? A little wire-cutting pun for you there."
Max groaned.
Delta slipped the flat end of a tool through a thin opening between two panels. With the flick of her wrist, the panel popped off. As with the other traps, a series of colored wires and flashing glass bulbs filled a circuit board. She spread the wires apart in search of the false bottom protecting the kill switch. "Uh oh."
"Is it bad?" Max said.
"Have you ever known ‘uh oh' to be followed with good news?"
Max knelt down beside Delta. "What's the problem?"
"You see this trap door down here beneath the circuit board?" Delta tapped the metal surface with the tool in her hand. "That's where they hide the wire I need to cut."
"Where? I don't see anything?"
"Exactly, and that's the problem."
"But I thought you said it was identical to the traps on the bridge?" Max said.
"So they must've upgraded or something!" Delta growled. “I don’t know!”
Max's cheeks flushed. "Can you still disable it?"
"Well . . . yeah . . . I mean, I just need to find where they've stashed the compartment." Delta wiped her slick brow. "Give me a second to check the connections. I'll find it."
Max stood and gave Delta some elbow room to toil away inside the device. Another click sounded from within the contraption every few seconds, as though counting down. To what, Max had no idea, nor was he eager to find out.
"How's it looking down there?" he said.
Delta slammed her tools down beside the trap. "I don't get it! Everything is the same inside with exception to the kill switch location. Why?"
"Maybe they wanted to ensure this one couldn't be tampered with."
"If that's the case, I reckon we've only got a slim window to get away before this thing does whatever it's going to do."
Horns sounded from the device as it rumbled on the ground. Delta picked up her toolset and resumed poking around inside.
"What are you doing?" Max said. "We need to get out of here."
"There's no time, Max. Our best chance of survival is to disarm it."
"But you don't know where the correct wire is hidden."
"And you're not helping by pointing out the obvious." Delta reached her hand out toward him, offering one of her tools.
"What? Me?" Max collected the pick and sat back down in front of the device. "I don't know the first thing about booby traps."
"You're an engineer, flyboy," Delta said. "So, engineer."
"But – "
"No ‘buts,' Max. Either we figure this out, or we're dead. It can’t get any simpler than that."
Max took a deep breath and peered inside the device, trying his best to ignore the blaring alarm horns. At its core, the circuitry consisted of both crude and advanced rigging. The craftsmanship reminded Max of something akin to an inferior science project, one where the teacher took pity on the student and completed the work themselves.
The flawed design didn't make sense. He followed each lead to its end, finding them connected to another point on the circuit. The solder had corroded with age, and the wires could be pulled out manually with ease. However, he agreed with Delta's assertion that disconnecting the wrong lead could have disastrous results.
I can't make heads or tails of this thing, he thought. Someone with engineering knowledge would've never done it this way. Unless . . .
On a hunch, Max dug the umbrella-hinged pick under the main circuit board and lifted it.
Delta's eyes widened. "You trying to get us killed?"
Max didn't respond, instead applying more pressure to dislodge the circuit. Pop. The board came loose. Beneath it, a mint-green wire emerged.
"You found it!" Delta patted him on the back, and swooped in to cut the wire. The alarm ceased, and the trap stilled. "How did you know the circuit itself was the false bottom?"
"I don't know . . . it was just a jumble of wires all connected to the board, but not serving any kind of function that I could detect – as if put there for the sole intention to deceive." Max handed the pick back to Delta. "I took a shot in the dark."
"And if you'd been wrong?"
Max thought about his answer for a moment. "My spirit would’ve returned to the Maiden to haunt Kirby."
After a moment of silence, the two friends burst into laughter. Delta stood, and helped Max to his feet. "What do you say we find the relic and get out of here? I think I've had my fill of excitement for one day."
"Best idea ever." Max winked.
23
At the heart of the Hailstone Caves lie the end of Max and Delta's journey: a mountainous vault of immaculate black stone; the same kind Delta held at her side. Max whistled. The sheer size of the structure impressed him in its own right, but considering the effort it would've taken to construct something so elaborate deep underground boggled his mind.
Who were these pioneers of Quaris? he thought.
Although Max didn't consider himself a masonry expert, he recognized quality craftsmanship when he saw it. He circled the front pillars, noting the precise measurements, and pondered what kind of tools the early settlers would've used to accomplish it.
Between the pillars stood a hinged, metal door. A circular piece of brass acted as a handle. Given the copious placement of booby traps throughout the caves, the pioneers went to great lengths to protect whatever secrets lurked behind the door, and Max anticipated they hadn't seen the last attempt to keep intruders out.
"We should probably – "
"Two steps ahead of you," Delta said. "This is too easy, which means it's a trap. Tread lightly, flyboy." She punched a sequence into the keypad on her EPD. A cone-shaped light emanated from the camera lens. A grid appeared on screen, displaying a 3-D rendered version of the vault. A graphical user interface (GUI) scanned the architecture in real-time, adding a text-based readout to points of interest on the rendered image.
"What's it doing?" Max said.
"I'm taking a reading of the vault and looking for any sign of booby traps," Delta explained. "The ‘gooey' will display everything from temperate fluctuation to stability flaws in the construction."
"Wow, that's a pretty powerful application."
Delta winked. "Thank Juke."
"Of course."
Delta's EPD beeped, signaling completion of the scan. She double-tapped the screen to enlarge the image, paying close attention to the GUI. By sliding her finger across the screen, she maintained the high fidelity zoom, and used the graph lines to scrutinize the image in sections. Once satisfied with the reading, she held her finger down on the grid for three seconds, dimming that particular section of the image – no need to focus on areas deemed clear. After completing a thorough analysis, six anomalous readings remained.
"How's it looking?" Max said.
"Hmm . . ." Delta tucked her hair behind her ear. "I think we can safely disregard a couple of these readings as drafts created by cracks in the foundation, but I’m not thrilled about that heat signature above the door handle."
Max looked at the door. "I don't see anything."
Delta sighed. "Of course you don't, numbskull. If you could see it with your naked eye, we wouldn't need the EPD, would we?"
Max's face warmed. "Oh, yeah. Right."
Delta had an uncanny ability to vocalize just enough condescension without outright calling someone daft. He'd seen her do it countless times to
Kort, and she'd busted his chops with it every so often as well. Max wondered if it was some kind of super power – albeit a boring one – that only she possessed.
"What's your recommendation?" Max asked.
Delta held up her toolkit and gave it a shake. "I want to get a better look at it."
___***___
After thirty minutes of careful dissection, Delta removed the heavy door handle. She rubbed her hands together in celebratory fashion, and stashed her tools back inside the kit. "Moment of truth, Max. Last chance to turn back."
Even though she'd presented it as an option, he knew she'd already made the decision. "Is it safe?" Max said.
"It's a bit premature to say, since we have no idea what's on the other side of the door, but at the very least, I've disabled the security measures on this side." Delta laid her palm against the door, and turned back toward Max.
His heart thumped inside his chest. He couldn't decide if it was more from anxiety or excitement, but he knew one thing for sure. They'd overcome many obstacles to reach this point, and he had to know what it was all for. What secret could be so big that pioneers thought to hide it, and relic hunters were willing to kill for it?
Max put his hand on the door beside hers and nodded. Together they pushed on the thick steel. The hinges creaked. A smattering of dust and crushed rock spilled down from the top of the door.
Inside, the stone radiated a beautiful shade of blue, the same color as the tundra's icy road. A raised pedestal at the center of the room displayed a cross-shaped object. A rainbow of ornate jewels complemented the thin, onyx frame. Veins of shimmering gold ran through the object from top to bottom. An ivory ridge outlined the object. Stars accented the top, left, and right ends, while the bottom extended to form a sharp, pointed edge.
"It's . . ." Max said.
"Gorgeous," Delta added. A tear trickled from her eye. "After all these years . . . I finally found it." She looked at Max. "We found it."
"And now it's mine," a male voice said.
Delta turned, ready to throw a punch. "Karr . . ."
"Excellent work, Delta." Karr applauded with a slow clap. "I knew you'd be the one to locate it. It almost makes tolerating your boorish and uncivilized persona worth the effort. Almost."
The armored relic hunter stepped inside the vault. He raised his hands to his head and removed his cracked helmet. Karr didn't appear at all the way Max had pictured him: shaved ginger hair, blue eyes, unblemished skin, pouty lips.
This is the mighty Demon of Sohlm? Max thought. A cold-blooded killer? But he's so . . . ordinary.
"Wait . . ." Max said, snapping away from his thoughts. "Where's my uncle?"
"The old man?" Karr pinched the tips of his gloves and pulled them off. "Quite dead, I'm afraid."
Max's chest heaved. He breathed through his teeth. His stomach twisted in knots.
"I wouldn't fret too much about it, though," Karr said. "You're about to join him, unless you hand over the relic."
Delta threw her shoulders back. "No way. There's not a snowball's chance on the sun of you leaving here with this thing."
"Bold, but foolish, my dear," Karr said. "I find it interesting that you're willing to die for this object, yet you don't even know what it does."
"And I suppose you do?"
"Naturally." Karr smiled. "It makes you disgustingly rich . . . once you've secured the right buyer."
Max's fingers curled. He stared down at his trembling hands. In his head, he flashed back to the last time he saw his mother, and felt sorrow. Next, he recalled watching his home world crushed to rubble, and felt sorrow. Visions of Kort entered his mind. However, feelings of indescribable rage – unlike any he'd experienced before – overshadowed any guilt or remorse he felt from leaving his uncle behind. Now wasn't the time for sorrow. Now was the time for vengeance.
Uncle Kort . . .
With fury swirling deep in his gut, Max acted on instinct. He didn't have a plan. He didn't brandish a weapon. Pure, seething hatred propelled him forward. A guttural roar – almost primal – erupted from his throat as he bounded toward the Demon of Sohlm, teeth gnashed.
Karr dodged the charging boy with a calm sidestep, and rained down a heavy counterblow against Max's jaw. A painful explosion rattled his eardrum. Max hit the ground, not yet realizing what had happened. He spat the taste of dirt from his mouth.
"Be honest with me, kid. You couldn't possibly have believed that was going to work, right?" Karr raised his boot over Max's head.
Delta drew her blaster. "Don't move another inch, Karr, or so help me . . ."
Karr laughed. "Or what? You'll shoot me for stomping this runt's head?"
"No, I won't." Delta swung the blaster around and pointed it at the relic. "But I will destroy this."
"You're bluffing," Karr said. "You've spent years of your life in pursuit of that payday. There's no way you'd throw that all away for him."
"No?" Delta pressed the tip of her blaster against the relic. "You sure you want to make that wager?"
Karr smirked and lowered his boot. "Wow. Tanzin must be rolling over in his grave right about now."
"Shut your mouth!" Delta aimed the blaster back at Karr's head. "You don't get to talk about him! Not ever!"
Pain stung the entire left side of Max's face. A loud ringing noise filled his ear. Voices sounded as though underwater.
"I mean, you let him die to save yourself, yet you risk your life now to save this one," Karr said. "I wonder how Tanzin would feel about being bumped down to number two. We could hold a séance and ask him."
"I said shut up!" Delta's hands trembled on the blaster.
"What do you think happens next?" Karr stepped forward and raised a finger. "Even if you were to somehow make it out of this place alive, you should know that about an hour ago, an ‘anonymous source' tipped off the Union about their stolen prototypes. You're finished, Delta. They know everything."
Delta turned the blaster sideways.
"Oh, come now. Really?" Karr grinned. "We both know you're incapable of that."
Delta wiped her eyes. "You sure about that?"
"One hundred percent. You broke the cardinal rule of engagement."
"Oh, yeah?" Delta closed one eye. "And what's that?"
"You hesitated."
Karr extended his fist, gripping his bicep with the other hand. Two iron spheres tethered by a steel chain shot out from a compartment on his gauntlet. The diamond-shaped link pins hit Delta across the throat and wrapped several times around her neck. She dropped her blaster and attempted to get her fingers between the steel and her skin.
Karr stepped over Max's prone body and tackled Delta. With a knee pressed against her chest, he grabbed the ends of the steel chain, wrapped them around his knuckles, and pulled.
Get up, Max thought.
Max turned himself around and slithered toward the battle. Delta's face purpled, nearly matching the color of her dyed hair. She gasped for air, her tongue jutting from the corner of her mouth. Balled-up fists pounded in futility against Karr's arms, but she couldn't free herself from him.
Max crawled, sinking his nails into the dirt and inching forward.
Come on. Get up. You have to!
An uncomfortable pressure jabbed Max's abdomen. He reached down to move aside what he believed to be a rock, but instead found the blunt handle of a dagger protruding from his waistband. He’d forgotten all about the energy blade he'd taken from a mercenary back at the mining facility.
Fighting against his equilibrium, Max made his way to his feet. He staggered forward, his sights set on Karr's exposed neck. With the press of a button on the handle, the dagger's energy blade ejected. "She may have hesitated, but I won't."
Karr looked over his shoulder just as Max plunged the searing blade into the relic hunter's flesh. The odor of singed tissue assaulted Max’s nostrils. He'd missed the neck and struck the trapezius area, but it did the trick. Karr released his hold on the chain and reached for the dagger.
"No." Delta rubbed her throat and coughed. "It'll haunt you for the rest of your life, Max."
"I don't care!" Max's eyes welled with tears. "He has to pay for what he did to my uncle."
"I know." Delta unraveled the chain links from around her neck. She scooted forward and placed a gentle hand on Max's arm. "And I want justice for Tanzin, but not this way."
"Go on, kid," Karr said. "Become the Demon. I can already see him in your eyes. You know you want this."
Max's muscles tensed. He did want this.
"Please, Max . . ." Delta said. "This isn't who you are."
Max knew she was right, but a louder voice screamed inside his head, begging for satisfaction. Karr deserved it for everything he'd done – every wrong he'd unleashed upon the world – but killing him wouldn't change any of it. Max resisted temptation and retracted the energy blade into the handle.
"I'm nothing like you, Karr. I will never become a demon." Max looked at Delta. "You have my word."
Delta smiled.
"Touching, but here's the reality: no matter where you go, I'll never stop looking for you," Karr said. "I found you before, and I'll find you again. Only next time, I'll kill you both. Slow and painful."
Delta exhaled through her nose. "He's right, you know." She picked up her blaster and bashed the grip against the back of his head. "But at least he won't be conscious when we leave this place."
Karr's body fell to the ground. Delta spat on him, and wiped her mouth. "Piece of garbage."
Max shook his head. "Kort . . ."
"Max, I . . ." Delta reached for him, but let her hand fall to her side. "I'm . . . I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
"No. We made the decision to come here together. He'd be proud of us."
"Max . . ."
"Let's not have it be in vain, though." Max smeared warm tears on his cheek. "Grab the relic, and let's go. I never want to see this place again."
Delta frowned and turned toward the relic. Etched characters and symbols beneath the base depicted a story. She snapped a photo of it with her EPD, and removed the object from its pedestal. A click echoed through the small chamber.