“Good question,” Vick added. “I’d rather not wind up in a cell myself.”
“You’re all out of your minds,” Hayden grumbled.
“Quiet,” Maya snapped. Gareth nudged his pistol against the officer’s temple to enforce the order. “As soon as we arrive Mazrah’s going to lock down the block, shut off the emergency alarms, and freeze surveillance feeds. Fooling scanners and a camera here and there is easy, but once she does that the researchers analyzing Kale’s hand-terminal will become aware of her infiltration and cut her out.”
“How long do we have then?” Vick asked.
“They’ll be blind for about five minutes. Enough time to grab the prisoners and get into these tunnels. According to Mazrah they’re listed as being held in row C, but with all surveillance feeds down we’ll have to find the exact cells ourselves.”
Our car suddenly flipped 180 degrees to realign us with the station’s rotation. I withheld the contents of my stomach.
“What about any guards?” I said.
Maya grabbed the pulse-rifle from Hayden and removed the empty clip. Our bag was floating from the car’s spin, and she snatched it out of the air, then refilled the clip with the loose bullets. “We do what we have to. They aren’t expecting us, so we’ll have the jump.”
“What happened to sneaking in? That was the plan.”
“What do you think we’re doing?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think—”
“Wake up, Kale,” she interrupted, using the same harsh tone she had with Hayden. “You wanted into Pervenio Station and you did your part. Now let us do ours. This isn’t like robbing some shop in the Darien Uppers.”
My head sunk, and I didn’t dare respond. Maybe I was going to be leader one day, but I wasn’t yet. She made sure everybody knew that, and I knew that I’d have to trust her if I had any hope of freeing Cora and the others. Whatever it took.
“It’s either us or them,” Vick said softly. “Get used to it.”
“I’m trying,” I replied. I looked back up to see Hayden staring at me, probably realizing that I was the weak link. All I could do was hope he didn’t try anything that would challenge Maya to keep her word.
The tram started to decelerate.
Maya sighed. “You escort us in and then hop back on here and get as far as you can,” she said. “Understand?” He nodded, eyes still fixed on me as if he could read the lines of concern riddling my face. I thought about thanking her for showing mercy, but the tram screeched to a halt. “Good. Everyone ready. Stick tight. We get out of this together, or not at all.”
We were let off at a tubular platform, where Gareth left our supply bag. Hayden led us into a long corridor, or at least it felt like one to me. The detention block reminded me of the Q-Zone waiting room. White and chrome everywhere, with bright lights that made me dizzy. I could hear our footsteps echoing as we approached the main lobby and the group of three officers manning the area. They matched the thumping of my heart.
“Walk faster,” Maya said to Hayden. “Eyes forward.”
Hayden was unarmed except for a mostly useless baton at his hip. Gareth remained directly behind him with the pistol and Maya behind him concealing the pulse-rifle. Vick and I took up the rear, unarmed. Four Ringers in staff uniforms marching upon one of the most secure detention centers in the solar system.
Nobody had ever gotten as far as we were, because nobody’d ever bothered trying. There was no reason to. Hundreds of meters of rock surrounded us on one side, and the great vacuum on the other. There was only one way in or out without passing through the security headquarters itself, and usually enough officers at any given time to fill a troop transport. Except for that very moment, when most of them were dispatched to Titan to handle an unprecedented situation. Half a century since the Great Reunion, and there had never been a day before when the sum of Pervenio’s might was required. We were indebted to the Collectors who had apparently stumbled upon the Children of Titan’s secret hideout and caused all of it.
We stepped into the lobby after what seemed like forever. Three officers inside stood behind a desk, eyes glued to a small view-screen. It faced away from us, but I could hear that whoever was on the newsfeed was discussing the Q-Zone invasion. Word about protests in the Lowers was starting to trickle through.
“What do you have here?” one of the officers asked as we approached the desk.
“Four Ringers off the Ring Skipper,” Hayden replied. “They were caught—”
He was cut off when the lights suddenly dimmed, the result of Mazrah initiating a power surge. Gareth jumped forward and shot one of the officers in the throat. Another reached for his pistol, but Maya unloaded into his chest before he could get to it. The third officer ducked down behind the desk and fired blindly. I dove to the side.
“Intruders in the detention block!” the officer shouted. “I repeat, intruders in the detention block! They’re armed!”
I scrambled across the floor, spurred on by pure adrenaline. Gunshots resonated along the unadorned walls. It was deafening. I rolled over and saw Maya creeping around one side of the desk and Gareth the other. The latter fired, earning the officer’s attention, and then Maya popped around the corner.
“Nobody can hear you,” she said before putting a bullet between the officer’s eyes. I stared as the blood spilled out across the glossy floor.
“Kale, watch out!” Vick groaned.
Sometime during the firefight, Hayden made the mistake I’d hoped he wouldn’t. The pistol of the first officer Maya shot had skidded across the floor right into his hands. Vick lay on the floor with a bloody lip after being punched, and before I could do anything about it Hayden grasped my slender Ringer body by the collar, heaved me to my feet, and held me at gunpoint.
“Nobody move or I’ll blow his head off!” he shrieked. His strong arm wrapped my throat so tight I gagged. I pawed at it, but the layer of sweat on both it and my hands made it too slippery.
Maya and Gareth took aim at him. I’d seen her angry plenty, but her eyes had never smoldered with the rage that they did then. “Drop him!” she snarled.
“You Ringers think you can just do whatever you want. No!”
“Gareth?”
He couldn’t reply, but the end of his pulse-pistol flashed and a bullet traced across the room. It grazed my face before blasting through Hayden’s skull. As he toppled backward, I slipped from his grasp, angling myself away from his weapon.
Maya ran over, caught me, and helped me to my feet. “Are you all right?” she questioned.
I reached for my face, not sure if it was still there until I felt only a shallow scratch along my cheek. “I’m fine…” I panted. “Did Gareth just…?”
Gareth hadn’t moved from his position. His pistol was still aimed, hands steady as a surgeon’s, one eye closed.
“He used to work Lowers Security before the Sunfire. Best shot on the Ring.”
I released a mouthful of air and glanced down at Hayden’s twitching arm. “Thanks.” Gareth nodded, and then retrieved two loose rifles. He kept one for himself and brought the other over to Vick, who was struggling to get to his feet.
“Vick, you okay?” Maya asked.
“Wonderful,” he groused, rubbing his cut lip.
Maya checked her hand-terminal. “Area is secure. Just have to help open the cells.” She rushed behind the desk and stopped at the console there. Her fingers flew across the keys while her gaze darted between the screen and her hand-terminal. “There we go. Thanks, Maz.”
Three corridors branched off the lobby in addition to the one we’d arrived from. The doors into two of them slammed shut. Heavy footsteps echoed down the one remaining open hallway.
“Everyone down!” Maya whispered. She leapt over the desk and ducked behind it. I scrambled over Hayden’s body, struggling not to gasp as I caught a glimpse of the gruesome hole in the center of his face. Vick and Gareth joined us.
“Wait,” she said.
The foots
teps grew louder. I heard two officers conferring, obviously having heard our disturbance.
“Wait.”
They entered the room slowly. “By Earth…What is this?” one said. “Coms are down.”
My three partners sprung up and fired. By the time I joined them the officers’ innards were splattered all over the wall. The few shots they’d gotten off had sped harmlessly into the other side of the desk.
“All right, let’s go!” Maya ordered. “It’s all on us now. Less than five minutes.”
They sprinted down the unblocked corridor. I stopped for a moment to choose between a fallen pulse-pistol and a rifle. I didn’t have any experience shooting guns, so I settled on the pistol, figuring I’d be more useful with something small. Then I quickly caught up to the others.
The corridor led to a fanning passage with sealed doors running along one side at a tight interval. Each was labeled, and the numbers of those we passed were all preceded by an “A.”
“Row C is two floors up,” Maya said.
A curved staircase ran along the back wall in the center of the lengthy passage. She sent Gareth up first, and he crouched at the top, his footsteps light as a feather. Feet scuttled past row B’s railing, and he swept them with his arm. As a Ringer he probably wasn’t strong enough to knock an Earther over face-to-face, but the officer was caught unawares and tripped. Gareth shoved his rifle against the man’s neck and fired, letting his flesh muffle the shot. Three years on a gas harvester in the heart of Saturn, and now I knew what they’d been practicing the whole time.
He waved us up, and we followed. They may as well have been towing me on a leash, I was so flabbergasted by what was happening. We reached the top of the stairs, and Gareth shot another officer down the row. Footsteps loudly descended the stairs from the next level up. Vick fired his rifle between the risers, and when two bodies tumbled down Maya finished the job with two clean shots through their heads.
We rushed up the next flight of stairs when gunfire erupted from behind us. An officer had emerged from one of the row B cells at our backs. I almost tripped face-first in my attempt to duck. A bullet caught Gareth in the meat of his thigh, and he groaned in the only way his tongueless mouth could allow before Maya leapt over the side of the stairs and rushed the cell. The officer cowered inside, and Maya tossed a stray gun across the opening to draw his fire. She then poked around the corner, and I knew that the screams emanating from within the cell could mean only one thing.
“Can you walk?” Vick asked, wrapping his arm around Gareth’s back to help him stand. He grunted in response, and when Maya caught up we continued to row C, blood dripping from Gareth’s leg in our trail.
“Wait,” I said. “They’ll be able to follow us later.” My uniform was well-made, so I pulled it loose and shot through the fabric with my pistol. It was technically the first time I’d ever fired a gun. The rip allowed me to tear off my sleeve, and I wrapped it around Gareth’s leg. He grimaced in pain as I pulled it tight, but didn’t fight me. “Ready,” I said.
Vick went to help him walk again, but Gareth shrugged him off and raised his rifle. ‘Let’s go,’ he signed.
“I opened every cell in row C,” Maya said as we reached the top of the stairs. “No time to check who was where, so find the ones you came here for, Kale, and then we leave. We don’t have the supplies for any more.”
“If they’re open, then where is everybody?” I asked. The cells extended in both directions from where we stood, each of the thick steel doors raised. I’d expected to see my friends strolling through the halls, confused, wondering why they were free. I didn’t. No officers were left on the top level, either.
Gareth and Vick stayed by the stairs to keep guard while I stowed my pistol in my belt and hurried ahead with Maya. I checked every cell we passed. They were clean metal boxes, four meters by four meters at the most with ceilings barely tall enough for a Ringer to stand at full height. The far wall was almost entirely transparent, with a view of Saturn’s rings that would’ve been beautiful if I couldn’t see the thick, circular frame wrapping the glass, denoting them as airlocks.
The first three cells were empty. In the fourth, I found a Ringer curled up in the far corner, facing out into the void. He was shaking uncontrollably. I edged into the room slowly, my pistol hand dropping to my side.
“Hurry, Kale,” Maya said, waiting by the entrance.
I got close enough to reach out and touch the man, and then he turned to face me. Even through a thick coating of bloodstains, I recognized his face right away. Desmond’s eyes, usually filled with fervor, regarded me, but it was as if I weren’t there. Like he could see right through me. For a moment he stared blankly, then he cowered backward as far as he could go.
“Don’t…Don’t touch me!” he moaned. “No more. P…p…please.” He extended a trembling hand, his fingers twisted and gnarled as if they’d each been broken in a different direction. They were missing their fingernails, and as he spoke I could see that most of his teeth were missing.
“Desmond,” I whispered. “Desmond, it’s me.” I went to grab his arm, but he recoiled and held his shaking hand against his chest. “It’s Kale.”
Hearing my name seemed to awaken something in him. His gaze focused as much as possible, and when I reached for him again he poked my arm as if to make sure I wasn’t a hallucination or some cruel trick being played on him by his captors.
“Kale?” he muttered weakly.
I’d considered him a pest for a long time, but he’d always been ready to pick a worthy fight or spit out some witty comeback. Now he could barely speak. I choked back tears. I couldn’t even imagine what Pervenio had done to break him so thoroughly and so quickly. It hadn’t been even two days since the last time I’d seen him. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m here to get you out.”
His eyes widened. “I can’t! They’ll—”
“You’ll be fine, I promise. They can’t touch you anymore.” I leaned in and wrapped an arm around him. He didn’t fight it, but as I tried to lift him I realized how little help he could offer me in return. One of his legs was bent awkwardly at the knee. We made it two steps before it gave out and his body folded. He would’ve collapsed to the floor if Maya hadn’t lunged forward to help me.
“By Trass,” she whispered. “I hope the others aren’t this bad.”
“Hold him,” I said.
I ran to the next cell and found it empty. I kept going. By the end of that row my heart pounded against my rib cage. The last cell was as vacant as the others. I left it and sprinted back toward Maya and Desmond.
“Anyone?” Vick hollered. I ignored him. Every cell I passed in that direction was vacant as well. Empty. All empty and sparkling, as if they’d just been washed. My chest felt like it was going to explode. There was only one woman aboard the Piccolo, and I didn’t see her anywhere. I ran back to Desmond so fast it felt like I was flying.
“Cora!” I seized him by the shoulders and shouted. “Where is she?”
He winced as if he thought I was going to strike him. Then he raised his hand and pointed with a crooked finger to the cell next to his: C-031. It too was hollow. I raced in and checked the flat, metallic walls for ways out. A vent…something. But the cells shared walls and there were hardly even seams in the surfaces.
Maya and Desmond stood by the exit watching me. “Where is she?” I yelled.
“The Director…made us watch,” Desmond said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. His hand lifted again, and he pointed at the transparent outer seal of the airlock behind me. “He said…he said we’d receive the same fate our people granted his if we didn’t tell him what he wanted to know.”
“What did he want to know?” I forced through quaking lips. “What are you talking about?”
“The Piccolo…Something about a hidden Q-Zone. They didn’t stop. They started sending us out one at a time. I was next, but…but then they all left for some reason.”
“You’re lying. You’re lying!” I tack
led him out of Maya’s arms. My fingers squeezed his throat. “You’re lying!” I cocked my arm back to punch him, but just before I did, I stopped. His hands covered his face as he shrunk away from me, as terrified as a child left alone in the bottommost level of the Lowers.
“I didn’t know anything,” he whimpered. “I didn’t know anything…”
I fell off him and crawled back toward the empty cell C-031. A piece of frozen rock drifted by the airlock, but there were no bodies lost in the blackness. Nothing. No proof that anyone had been ejected to die. I scanned the cell one last time, and noticed a lens built into the small area of wall above the entrance.
“Maya,” I said, my throat dry as sandpaper. “Did your sister know?”
Maya shook her head. “Only that they were here. I told you, she had to deactivate all surveillance feeds to get us in. From the hall the cells looked empty. She—”
“Is she still connected?”
Maya sat upright and withdrew her hand-terminal. “Yes, but not for long.”
“Can she pull up the last day of recordings from this cell?”
“Probably…Kale, we don’t have time. They’ve found her bug. We have to go.”
“Ask her.”
“Kale…”
“Ask her!” I boomed.
She reluctantly obeyed. She entered communications with Maya, and I gazed out of the C-031 airlock. Lights from distant ships danced across the blackness. Ice-rock glistened against the swirling, rouge atmosphere of Saturn.
Maya extended her hand-terminal in front of my face for me to take. “Here,” she said gravely. “We don’t have long.”
I took it without a word. Frozen on the screen was a silent feed facing the inside of the cell. Cora sat silently in the corner, staring expressionlessly at the wall, her clothes and face clean. I swiped my hand across the screen to fast-forward through the time. Once, security officers came to take her away. She was gone for hours until she limped back in, her face as bloodied as it was when I’d left her, her right arm broken, snapped at the elbow like a twig. Twice more the security officers came for her, and each time when she returned to her cell her limp was more pronounced and her body more densely covered in red.
From Ice to Ashes Page 24