“I don’t get it,” said Mark. “How is it that there is just a door and nothing else?”
“Makes it harder to find doesn’t it?” replied Dex. “There are one hundred fifty-two of these underground facilities on Numaria. All of them are identical; no fences, no parking lots, no lights, nothing but a single door set in a hillside. It makes it difficult to figure out who is being stored where. Employees always report for work at night and shift schedules are random so we shouldn’t encounter anyone outside the door. Donnally and his team worked on this mission for over a year before they determined where all of the facilities were located and where Centorians were being kept. Tomorrow morning, we get them out.”
One hour before dawn, team one left the hotel walking west before turning east and following a zig-zag pattern to the hills. Once there, Blackie led them on a direct path to the facility. Fifteen minutes after team one’s departure, Dex, Nita and Mark followed, but when they reached the hills, Dex led them slightly north of the checkpoints so they would end up in position north of the door.
Finally, Wayne, Amelia and Joe left the hotel. Amelia wore a light jacket to cover the stun gun she had strapped to her side. When Dex had offered them stun guns, Amelia mentioned having taken shooting lessons at a gun range near her home and being proficient with pistols, rifles and shotguns. She had just started learning how to shoot a bow the week before visiting The Getaway Bar and Grill where she met Wayne.
When Dex heard that, he gave one stun gun to Amelia and laid the other gun on the table, suggesting Wayne and Joe figure out who should carry it. Wayne thought he was probably more capable mano-a-mano than Joe and offered him the stun gun.
Wayne led them to the hills and veered south when they reached the decrepit square, staying within eyesight of the path Blackie had taken. Before reaching the power station Wayne suddenly brought them to a halt and motioned for them to hunker down behind some brush. He put his finger against his lips just as the soft squelch of a communicator drifted through the morning air.
Amelia motioned that she was going to go have a look. In front of them, mostly concealed by a small stand of trees stood someone in camo clothing; their communicator squelched again and they spoke something Wayne couldn’t quite make out. Amelia angled to the right so she could approach whoever it was from the opening on the other side of the trees.
“Excuse me,” she said, “could you help me find my way? I’ve gotten turned around.”
“Go that way to the path,” said the man.
“I think I was trying to hike that direction,” said Amelia, pointing down the trail toward the next marker in the direction of the warehouse.
“You can’t go that way,” said the man flashing a security badge, “my partner and I are tracking three suspects going that direction.”
“Are they dangerous?” asked Amelia with a fake tone of concern.
“We’ll know shortly. Now, you should go before we catch them.”
“Okay,” replied Amelia who turned and started to walk away. “Just one more thing,” she said turning back toward the man, and before he could react she shot him in the chest with the stun gun.
Wayne saw what happened and started in her direction, but Amelia put her hand up signaling him not to approach. She retrieved the man’s communicator and squelched it twice. A voice responded. She squelched twice again then she signaled to Wayne that she was staying there. Amelia moved to a clear area where Wayne and Joe could see her better, and laid down on the ground and squelched the communicator two more times as they heard someone approaching from the brush west of the clearing.
Joe signaled he was going around the brush then back to the clearing. Wayne nodded and motioned he was going left just as the second guard entered the clearing and saw his partner on the ground. Keeping an eye on Amelia he ran to his partner and tried to rouse him. When he didn’t respond the guard stood up, pulled a weapon and moved toward Amelia.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Wayne as he entered the clearing with his hands in the air.
The guard whirled around to face Wayne. “Get on your knees,” he yelled.
Wayne complied immediately but before the guard could advance there was a sound behind him like someone clearing their throat. As he turned, expecting to confront the woman who had been on the ground Joe, stunned him with a shot to his side.
“Nice shot,” said Amelia as she got to her feet. “Now what do we do?”
“We’re going to drag them into that stand of trees,” said Wayne. “We’ll bind and gag them then we need to alert the others. I’ve got cord in my bag,” he finished as he sprinted back to their hidden equipment bags.
As they finished tying up and gagging the two guards Wayne could tell Amelia was uncomfortable with leaving them in the woods. “Once we’re through at the warehouse we can send the local authorities their location. They will be fine, Amelia.”
She nodded then said, “I’ll get my things.”
When she was out of earshot Joe remarked, “If some wild animal doesn’t eat them before they’re found.”
“Don’t say that in front of Amelia,” warned Wayne, “she’ll want to drag them with us.”
When they arrived at the warehouse they proceeded immediately to the location of the entry door where Blackie and Joules were waiting for Guzzle. Dex knew something was up and his team quickly joined them at the door where Amelia explained what had happened.
“We need to hurry it up,” said Dex. “Try to signal Guzzle.”
Guzzle had slipped through the door five minutes earlier and once inside he decided to walk halfway down the hall to make sure no one was lurking close by. When he returned to the door there was a rapping sound coming from outside.
“That’s wicked cool,” said Mark as Guzzle’s hand and arm, then body and legs came through the door seam.
“No one inside Joules, you’re up,” said Guzzle.
“This isn’t ordinary steel.” The concern in her voice was unmistakable. “My dad showed me some metal doors just like this at the defense department; this is Usilite steel. I don’t know if I can burn through this.”
“Give it a try, Joules,” replied Dex. “If we don’t get in, we don’t get in. We can monitor the warehouse and come back when Arton gets the security codes.”
Everyone including Joules understood what that meant. The two bound and gagged security guards would tip them off that someone was trying to get into the warehouse. It wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out whom – Centorians were the only ones bold enough to even think of assaulting a Numarian cryogenics facility.
That virtually guaranteed a second attempt would be nothing like the first; they would have to storm the site and assail heavy guards to gain entry, and bring enough Centorians to hold off an attack until they had completed the reanimations. If that wasn’t enough, there would be the problem of how to evacuate people through a single door that would most certainly be under a barrage of gun fire.
“You need to stand back,” Joules said to everyone, “it’s going to get really hot.” She positioned herself about ten meters from the door and within seconds she was surrounded by a gyrating energy shield. A beam of energy twelve centimeters in diameter burst from the field to within a meter of the door and slowly advanced. As it did, the beam’s radius grew smaller and smaller until it was one and a half centimeters when it touched the door. The glow surrounding Joules intensified as did the energy beam, but there wasn’t so much as a mark on the door.
Movement of the gyrating energy field around Joules sped up and the beam’s diameter narrowed to one centimeter. Air surrounding the beam was so hot the group, who had been standing about five meters behind Joules, had to retreat another ten meters. Still there was not a mark on the door. Joules narrowed the beam to half a centimeter, then slowly the field around her began to slow and diminish in strength as the energy beam intensified.
“What’s going on?” asked Dex. “What is she doing?” he asked as he shield
ed his eyes from the white-hot beam.
“She’s diverting energy from her protective shield to the beam,” cried Amelia. “She won’t be able to stand that heat Blackie, tell her to stop, please.”
Blackie pulled his jacket closed and zipped it. Then before anyone figured out what he was about to do and tried to stop him, he walked up and stood next Joules. The protective field was completely gone and Blackie’s face felt like he was standing next to an electric arc furnace when the molten metal was poured from its kettle.
He looked at Joules but didn’t say a word. She tossed her head indicating she wanted him to retreat; rivulets of sweat were pouring down her burned face. Blackie stepped closer and put his arm around her shoulder and proffered a slight smile then nodded at the door. Joules turned her head back toward the energy beam and focused it again, driving the energy into a diameter of ten millimeters. From behind them, the waves of heat coming off the beam distorted their images, making them appear to flex and bend slowly in the air.
“Look, look at the door,” yelled Mark.
A red hot dot had formed and within seconds molten metal was dripping down the front of the door to the ground. Joules guided the beam around the door being careful to leave a four-centimeter space between the beam and the door seam. When she finished, molten metal had puddled on the ground like lava from a volcano.
Blackie looked at Joules and nodded toward the group. Joules understood and the energy beam instantly disappeared as Blackie gave her shoulder a squeeze and they retreated to join the others. Nita quickly grabbed two bottles of water from her pack for them and offered tissues to wipe the streams of perspiration pouring down their faces. Everyone stood there looking at the door and listening to the metal creaking and groaning.
“That was bloody brilliant,” exclaimed Joe. “What do we do now?” Just as he finished, the center of the door collapsed onto the ground and sprayed hot metal everywhere.
“Now we go in,” said Dex. “I think Joules should rest a moment. Wayne, Mark and Nita can go with me. When Joules is ready let me know you’re coming in. Guzzle, you should probably go with us too, we may need you. Mind the hot metal,” he said, stepping toward the door.
As they entered the facility Dex looked at the door and uttered. “Unbelievable, that steel is at least fourteen centimeters thick.”
As they started their advance into the facility the others moved back into the trees for some shade. Joules quickly finished her water and indicated she was ready to go. Blackie chugged the rest of his and agreed, indicating he would rather be inside than out.
When they reached the entryway, Blackie stopped momentarily to look at what was left of the metal door. He turned to Joules with a somber look on his face, then said, “You’re hot.”
Joules giggled and may have turned a little redder, then shoved Blackie through the door. Once they were inside Amelia called Dex to let him know they were on their way.
There was an eerie quietness in the hallway that made Blackie extremely uncomfortable. It was the kind of quiet he remembered growing up, when Mark would suddenly burst from the bedroom closet and send him to the edge of cardiac arrest. But nothing jumped out. Nothing moved or clinked or whirred. There was just a dreadful quiet, and a feeling that in spite of the lack of noise, all was not well.
Finally, ahead of them they could see the first group standing just beyond where the hallway opened into a large room. When they reached them, they understood why there was no noise. Row after row of cryogenic units with people suspended inside stretched out in front of them like a small ocean. It was so unnatural. All those people, but no one was talking, there was no laughter, no crying or sighing, no movement of any kind. No anything. The unnaturalness of it washed over them like a plague capable of infecting its host with only one thing, sadness.
“We need to move,” said Dex whose words brought them out of their comas and back to why they were there. “Let’s find the staff and get started.” Joe had approached one of the cryo units to take a closer look. “Joe, you ready?”
“The sooner the better,” responded Joe.
They moved down the central aisle toward the far end of the building where the staff offices, lab, the cooling equipment and the print vault would be located. There was no room for them anywhere else, the cryogenic units spanned the entire width of the gigantic building except for aisles that separated them into grids.
As they neared the main entrance to the staff offices Dex motioned for them to follow him as he turned right on a crossing aisle then left on the next aisle. The main door of the staff offices opened and they heard someone speaking to another of the employees.
“None today or tomorrow,” said the voice. “I know, this never happens. All it means is we’ll get slammed two days from now. I’m going to the print vault; I’ll be right back.”
They heard a door close and footsteps leading away from where they were hiding. The offices appeared to be located in the center of the facility with a large mechanical area to the right and a climate-controlled vault to the left. They heard a door buzzer in the distance then the sound of a door opening and shutting.
“We got lucky,” whispered Dex, “there should be fewer employees here today; probably just a skeleton staff. We don’t want that guy surprising us so we’ll wait until he returns from the vault.” Less than five minutes later the employee returned to the main door. They heard a buzz and the door opening and shutting. “Let’s get to that main door. Guzzle, time for you to slip through and let us in.”
Much to everyone’s surprise, except Dex, when Guzzle opened the door from the inside there was no audible security alarm. “No alarm?” asked Guzzle as he held the door open for them to enter.
“It’s a silent alarm,” cautioned Dex, “someone will be here momentarily to check it out.”
No sooner had he said that than a security guard came bursting through a side door into the foyer. He reached to retrieve a weapon at his side but as he unlatched the strap Blackie swept the guard’s legs bringing him crashing down and sending his gun rattling across the floor. Wayne reached down to pick up the weapon as the guard rolled onto his feet and threw a punch. Blackie deflected his fist, stepped into the guard and rolled him over his hip hard to the ground.
“Don’t use that gun,” shouted Dex at Wayne just as Amelia drew her stun gun and shot the guard who was struggling to get to his feet. “It’s fingerprint activated,” he told Wayne, “if it doesn’t recognize the shooter the shell explodes in the chamber.” Wayne looked closely at the gun and found a tiny scanner embedded on the trigger.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said as he tossed the gun into a small rubbish bin near the door. “What’s next?”
“We need to move quickly,” replied Dex. “We’re going through that door Guzzle,” he said pointing to the door in the middle of the foyer.
Guzzle walked over to the door and pressed his hand against the seam. Then he hesitated, withdrew his hand, reached down and opened the door and shrugged at Dex. “It’s wasn’t locked.”
There was a receptionist’s desk just inside the door but no one was there. Office cubicles were located on both sides of a center aisle that led to the back of the room where a glass door provided access to a viewing room. On the other side of the viewing room was the processing chamber, and on the back side of the chamber there was a lab, control room and several offices.
“There are two men back there beyond that first room,” said Nita softly, pointing to the chamber where they were working on the equipment.
The center door at the end of the aisle led into the viewing room. A door to the left appeared to enter the processing chamber.
“Mark, Wayne, Nita, check that middle room and make sure no one is in there. Guzzle, go with them in case the door is locked. I need someone to stay here and make sure no one comes in behind us,” finished Dex.
“I’ll do that,” said Nita.
“Everyone else follow me. Joe, give Nita your stun gun.”
>
Guzzle slipped into the viewing room and opened the door while Dex, Blackie, Joules and Joe opened the door to the processing chamber and walked in.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in here?” said one of the scientists working in the chamber.
“This is Dr. Joe Everston,” replied Dex, “he invented the biologically active fluid you are illegally using.”
The employee ran to the nearest wall and pushed a large red button.
“That won’t do any good,” said Joe. “Your guard is bound and gagged and asleep in the foyer closet. By the way, that nice chap in the viewing room there, the tall one, that’s Dr. Higgins, he holds all the patents to these programmable ceramics,” he said as he patted the ceramic extraction chamber.
“What exactly do you want?” asked the other scientist looking about frantically.
“Yes, that’s the key question isn’t it?” said Joe.
“And the answer is simple,” replied Dex. “We’re here to recover every Centorian in this facility and all of the people brought in with them. And, we want your help doing it.”
“That’s absurd,” said one of the scientists, “there is no way we are going to help you. Can you imagine what would happen to us if we did?”
“If you don’t want to help us that’s fine,” said Joules. “Dr. Everston and Dr. Higgins are perfectly capable of hacking your systems to find where the Centorians are stored, and Joe is familiar enough with your system operating criteria; he can run your equipment. We’ll start by reanimating a few criminals for practice.
Of course, we can’t have them running around the place, they ARE criminals. So, we’ll put them in a room with the both of you, and introduce you as the guys that tore them in two and put their parts in storage. I wish I had time to listen-in on the conversation that follows THAT introduction and watch what happens. I can’t imagine what they will do to repay you. But I’ll have to miss it, I’ll be really busy helping free the innocent people you’ve helped imprison.”
There was a moment when absolutely nothing was spoken. Then Dex broke the silence, “What’s it going to be, help us or share a room with the Voigeht brothers, Dexter and Johann?”
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