The Space Between

by Scott J Robinson

  Meledrin counted down slowly in her head, as seemed to be expected, but did not follow Kim into the conflict when the time counted down. She followed slowly and saw the woman kick a man in the stomach twice in quick succession. Dongoske had the other man against a wall with a weapon pointed at his face.

  "Kim, stop. Roger, step back with your hands on top of your head or I shoot."

  "You won't shoot." The man, hunching over slightly, stepped away from Kim with his hands up.

  "Try me."

  Meledrin sat down in a cold metal chair, straightening her dress. Changing. It was a small room with lockers around the walls and a pair of metal doors almost completely filled the far wall of the room. There were two buttons nearby.

  Meledrin watched Tuki standing in the corner, clutching the skyglass protectively. Keeble started talking to himself again. He was examining the wall. His fingers touched at the stone delicately.

  "I could Sing a Song and walk out of here," he said softly in his own language. "A moment, and I would be away from here, on my own. I could tunnel as far as I wanted in a moment, and just walk away."

  Meledrin listened as Keeble started to hum tunelessly. He slowly built a wall of sounds, clicking and tapping and making other strange noises. As the sound grew, Meledrin thought she could feel a pressure in her head, a tingle down her spine.

  Meledrin watched, spellbound, as Keeble raised his left arm. But when the metal of his mechanical hand touched the stone, he shuddered, convulsed, and took a step back. The wall of sound he had been building collapsed. He looked at the stump of his hand. "No," he said eventually, shaking his head. "There is nothing I can do."

  Meledrin shuddered as well, shaking off the feeling of power. "I know I have been in bad company too long when I start to imagine dwarfish magic."

  Kim and Airman Dongoske had been talking, but when Meledrin spoke, Kim turned to face her.

  "What was that?"

  "Pardon?"

  "What did you say?"

  "I merely stated that I need to rest, because I am suddenly imagining strange things."

  "You noticed it too?"

  "What?"

  "I'm not sure. I didn't really notice it until it was gone. It was like a cool breeze on my consciousness."

  "We both need to rest, it would seem."

  "Or maybe we both really felt something. What was it, do you think?"

  Meledrin was reluctant to voice her opinion on the matter. It was ridiculous. But Kim seemed to like ridiculous ideas. "I was under the impression that whatever was happening was caused by Keeble."

  "Keeble?"

  "That is correct."

  Meledrin watched as Kim called to the dwarf. He did not reply. He seemed to take no notice at all, continuing to talk to himself in his own language.

  "Mel, what's he saying?"

  "In the first instance, he said that he could construct a tunnel in but a moment and be away from here. But most recently he stated that there is no action that he is able to take. Since then, it seems that he has been arguing with himself."

  "Ask him?"

  "You are capable of asking. He speaks the language of the moai."

  "But he doesn't appear to be listening. Ask him in his own language."

  "Question him of what?"

  "About how the hell he was going to dig a tunnel in a couple of seconds."

  When she turned, Meledrin discovered that Keeble had sat on another metal chair. He was examining his mechanical hand, winding the gears. He adjusted the leather straps that held the contraption to his arm.

  "Keeble cannot be trusted," Meledrin told Kim. "It would be a more sensible course of action if we followed Airman Dongoske."

  "Ask him."

  Meledrin sniffed. She did not appreciate being spoken to like a saveigni. "Keeble, are you able to get us out of this place?"

  He looked up for a moment. "Maybe." He wound the gears on his hand. "But..."

  "Our world is being attacked, Keeble, and these Americans worry only about themselves."

  "And why shouldn't they worry about themselves? Dwarves have never been too worried about helping other people, either. Nor elves, from what I know of them."

  "You can facilitate our escape if you wish, and yet you refuse to do so?"

  "Well, maybe I was just going to do it later when you weren't around."

  Kim interrupted. "Well?"

  "The breeze on your consciousness was not Keeble. Merely coincidence. He can do nothing."

  Kim turned to glare at the dwarf. "Keeble, can you get us out of here?"

  "No."

  Kim sighed. "Well then, we'll just have to follow the good Airman here. He says that when we get off the lift, we'll be about fifty meters from the surface, but there's another guard station in the way."

  "Will we be able to make our way past?"

  "Without being seen?" Kim said. "No. Wouldn't be a very helpful guard post otherwise. But we have guns, so we are just going to run out there and threaten to kill somebody."

  "Will that prove to be successful?"

  "In most circumstances it wouldn't, but in this one it will."

  Dongoske had finished tying the two guards with sticking tape and turned to join the conversation. "Why is that? Why will it work?"

  It was a moment before Kim answered. "Because we're coming at them from behind. They won't be expecting an attack from inside the complex."

  Meledrin could tell she was lying, but Dongoske nodded grudgingly. "Of course," he said. He picked up a weapon and handed it to Kim, who did something to it, releasing a small section and snapping it back into place. The American continued. "Let's go then. When the lift doors open at the top, you all stay out of sight. Well, just stay by the door and watch silently. All right?"

  "Wait," Kim said. "I have a better idea."

  "What?" Dongoske asked.

  Kim stepped smoothly forward and pointed her weapon at the American's head. "For a start, you put down the gun."

  "What? What the hell are you doing?"

  "I want to thank you and General Hilliard for your help, but I'll be able to take it from here."

  Meledrin tried to work out what was going on. Was Kim suggesting that General Hilliard knew of the escape and approved?

  "I have no idea what you’re talking about," Airman Dongoske said.

  "Don't bother." Kim motioned with her chin. "Mel, get the tape for his hands."

  "You won't shoot me."

  Kim did something and the weapon made a loud click.

  "Is that supposed to scare me?"

  Meledrin didn't think he looked scared at all, but he was slowly crouching down to discard his weapon. Except that was not what he was going to do. Meledrin saw the movement a moment before Dongoske lashed out with the handle of his weapon. She called out, softly, but Kim was already moving. The woman twisted away from the blow aimed at the top edge of her hipbone. She grunted with pain, but struck back, attacking Airman's Dongoske's jaw with the heel of her hand. Neither of them was willing to use their weapons in the intended method. Kim used the handle, as her opponent had, and he fell limply to the floor.

  Meledrin smoothed out her dress as if she'd been the one involved in the combat. "The escape was a ruse?" Meledrin said.

  Kim nodded. She was breathing heavily and sweating.

  She collected the tape that Meledrin had ignored earlier and used it to bind Airman Dongoske's feet. He started to struggle before his hands were secure as well, but Meledrin stepped in to assist, even going down on her knees to grab his flailing fists. She grabbed one of his wrists in both her hands and twisted. Not too much, but just enough. He went suddenly still, grimacing with pain but not willing to react lest she decide to complete the maneuver.

  "You do not lay your hands on a woman without her permission," Meledrin hissed in his face. "Under any circumstances."

  Kim bound his wrists while Meledrin spoke an Ending.

  "How stupid do you think I am, Dongoske? Jesus, did you and the Genera
l really think I'd fall for it? And do you really think I'd go around attacking elite American soldiers if I thought they'd be serious about fighting back?"

  Airman Dongoske grunted and laid his head on the floor. "You're just making it hard for yourself, Kim, and you know it. How far do you think you'll get?"

  Kim shrugged. "I guess we're about to find out. Come on you lot, let's get out of here." She taped the mouths of the three soldiers and pressed one of the buttons on the wall.

  The two big doors slid open and they entered the lift. Kim was swearing before the doors had even closed.

  "What is the matter?"

  Kim sighed. "We want to go down, but we need a key for that."

  "Down?"

  "Yes."

  "But are we not trying to escape from this complex. Going down will merely take us further from the surface."

  "Yeah, well apparently I have a problem with authority even when it's making me do exactly what I wanted to do." She hit the wall. "Stupid damn lift. Up it is then."

  But as she was reaching out to press one of the buttons on the wall, Keeble reached past and pressed a different one. The doors opened, and Keeble marched back out into the room.

  "Keeble, where are you going?" Meledrin asked. She wanted to be away from this place. She wanted to see the sky. She wanted to breathe fresh air.

  "Come on, Keeble," Kim said, stabbing at a button to keep the doors open. "I want to go down, but up is the second best option."

  The dwarf stepped over airman Dongoske, who rolled onto his back to watch, and started going through some cupboards. He didn't find what he was after, apparently, for he went out the door into the hallway. Meledrin noticed that Kim was staring after him stupidly. Apparently chasing him was not part of her plans, but she had just started to do so when he returned with a small plastic box in his hands.

  "There's a utility closet just down the hall," he explained. He returned to the elevator, set the box down, and opened it up. There were all manner of tools inside. He selected one, waited for Kim to release the button she was still holding, and went to work on a small panel close by. "I think we are going to have some company very soon." He was seemingly more lucid than he had been for a long time. Perhaps the prospect of manual labor had calmed him.

  Kim swore again, and Meledrin waved her fingers in a Greater Changing.

  24: Deeper

  Kim watched for a couple of minutes as Keeble worked on the elevator. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?" she asked. She could imagine half the personnel in the complex gathering in the small room outside.

  The dwarf had a screwdriver in his mouth but answered anyway. "This is just like a computer. I pulled one of them apart in Colin's office. And I talked about them on the plane."

  Kim shook her head. "I could pull the thing apart too, doesn't mean it would do anything after I put it back together."

  But Keeble snapped the panel closed and pushed the down button. The lift started to move. Kim smiled and stopped herself just before she ruffled his hair. "Way to go."

  "So why do you wish to go down?" Meledrin asked from her spot in the corner.

  "Three reasons. A spaceship, a captured alien, and because Hilliard didn't want me to."

  Meledrin sniffed and Kim shrugged in reply.

  The journey down didn't take long. When the doors opened, Kim expected to be confronted by a dozen armed men. There was only one, and he looked slightly surprised. Hadn't they worked out what she was doing?

  "Ahhh, hi," Kim said. "Don't move." The problem was, she said it in Tuki's language. She said everything in Tuki's language unless she thought about it first. While she raised the gun, she gave the instructions again in English. "Don't move."

  It didn't look as if the young man was about to disobey.

  "Take me to your alien," Kim said.

  He swallowed. "I can't."

  "Why not?"

  "I've only been beyond this room a couple of times. I don't know where the alien is, exactly, but I know there are more guards and more security systems to get through before you can get to it."

  Kim shrugged. "Well, this next door will have to do for now."

  The guard nodded before using a key and scanning his hand on a panel beside the door. Kim took the key and led the others through into the hall beyond. Still no people. Tuki didn't say anything but nervously adjusted the pack on his back while he gazed into the gloom. Kim knew how he felt.

  Keeble was still carrying his toolbox, gripping it in the metal prongs of his left hand. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

  Kim looked over her shoulder at the guard and asked the question in English.

  "They have better things to do than stand around in hallways, I suppose," he said.

  "But that's what guards are made for," Kim said.

  He shrugged. "If you can get through everything above, a couple more down here won't make all that much difference."

  "How long until some arrive?"

  "A couple of minutes." He looked over his shoulder as the elevator doors closed and the lift started to go back up. "Or less."

  Kim let the door close. "Right." She looked back down the hall and hefted her gun. Surely this wasn't part of Hilliard's plan. How was she supposed to tell? "Damn it. Can you fix this door, Keeble?"

  The dwarf immediately set to work, awkwardly working his hand loose so he could put the tools down. He undid four screws on a panel beside the door and carefully placed everything in a pile on the floor. He scratched his head and muttered to himself as he looked carefully amongst the wires and circuits in the wall. Then he took up some pliers, reached carefully into the hole, and ripped out and cut everything he could grab in one go. For good measure he smashed a circuit board as well.

  "Huh." Kim was so hyped up and expecting everything to be nearly impossible that she wouldn't have thought of something so simple. "Will that work?"

  Keeble shrugged. He didn't look particularly happy. "Can't see why not." He looked into the hole as if thinking maybe he could have found the one correct wire to do the job. "I'm not an expert on that type of thing."

  "You fixed the elevator."

  "Yeah, but it took me a few minutes. I didn't have time for fiddling here."

  Meledrin sniffed, though Kim thought it was probably more out of habit than anything else.

  "Right," Kim said. "Of course. Come on then."

  Heart pounding, she led the way quickly down the hallway, stalking through the soft light. Tuki and Keeble, tool box in hand again, crept along behind like boys playing hide and seek while Meledrin came at a leisurely stroll. Colors and patterns swirled through the walls, and there was a slight rut along the center of the floor. The air was heavy and still. There were no people.

  "There should be more people," Kim muttered.

  "Is it night time?" Tuki asked softly, looking around as if he expected the missing people to magically appear at any moment.

  According to Kim's watch it was just after midnight, but she would've expected this place to be buzzing with activity at all hours. With the war going on above there was no time for resting.

  There were Tuki-sized brown metal doors off either side of the passage, and Kim checked a couple at random. She didn't expect to find anything significant in such a nondescript location and wasn't disappointed. Quiet, dark offices. Neat storage rooms. A kitchen.

  Before she closed the door on this last room, Kim called Tuki forward. She took the pack off his back, tossed out most of the clothes and filled the newly created space with tins of nonperishable food and bottled water. The odds of them needing the supplies were slim but it was no use getting onto the spaceship if they just had to let Hilliard in tomorrow when they got thirsty.

  Kim could hardly lift the pack, but the moai had no trouble.

  When they finally saw someone else, they found the spaceship. A tired looking woman with wisps of loose hair and a crumpled white coat stepped out through a door. She was examining papers on an overloaded clipboard and didn't see t
hem as Kim ducked down a branching passage with her companions close behind. And when footsteps came in their direction, they opened another door and slipped into the room beyond.

  Holding her breath, Kim listened at the door. "I don't think she's coming this way," she whispered. For a moment, nobody replied.

  Eventually, Meledrin said, "I am wondering if that is the ship for which we are searching."

  Kim turned to look around her. There was no spaceship. "Pardon?" The room was long and narrow, barely two meters across and almost completely filled by a gallery of chairs that looked out through a window. Tuki had taken off the pack and was sitting, but Keeble and Meledrin were both standing beyond that.

  "I have never seen a spaceship," Meledrin said, "unless those bats count. But I believe that could well be one." The elf pointed out through the window.

  "I think she could be right. It's a bit like a plane, but not really."

  But by that stage Kim could already see. She leaned against the window as if every centimeter could make the difference. Tuki went to stand a small distance away, looking silently down into the room. The ship was about the size of a small bus and shaped something like an egg sliced length wise, small end forward. There were two stubby wings and a tall pointed tail. It squatted low to the ground on four articulated legs. Spotlights and scaffolding tied it in a web of shadows.

  Kim thought it would have people crawling all over it, but the room was empty of life.

  "It isn't very big, is it?" Keeble said.

  "No, not really."

  Meledrin sniffed. "It is large enough."

  "Are we going to steal it?" Keeble wound the gears on his hand.

  "Steal it? How the hell would we get out?"

  "Well, they got it in there," Keeble said.

  "I do not believe it is a good idea to give her any ideas, Keeble."

  Kim followed the dwarf's gaze upwards. Far above, probably at ground level, she guessed, was what looked like a trapdoor. She smiled.

  "Come on. We can spring the alien, then steal the ship." Why not?

  Keeble was nodding as if it were all a foregone conclusion. He collected his tool kit from near his feet and headed for the door.