Sniffing the air, an affectation since olfactory cells covered his whole body, Tomar followed the scent of his prey through the maintenance area, all the way to the entrance of a dark tunnel. He squinted to peer in the dark. “We’ll need some light to get in there. Find us flood lights, flash lights, any kind of light with a battery pack.”
The Juzzaar, slightly smaller than the one killed by Riggeur’s friends, looked up from the robot he had bashed against the wall to dismantle. He held a mean-looking chainsaw and smiled crookedly below dark glasses. “I don’t need light. I can guide you through.”
Tomar couldn’t stand the idea of letting someone else steer his gang or have the advantage of sight over him. As the leader, Tomar couldn’t make himself vulnerable. “I can smell them. You can’t. I must show the way." He turned to the others. “Keep looking for light and weapons." Tomar wished he had more men. “Gramps!”
“Yes, Fierce Leader.”
“Get back to the main floor, find more of our friends, and bring them here. The guards have phasers. We need more numbers in our ranks.”
Gramps bowed slightly then cleared his throat. “But aren’t we wasting precious time?”
“Then you’ll have to hurry." Tomar shot him a ferocious glare and enjoyed seeing Gramps cringe. “And don’t scare them by telling them about how I’ll remove their locator chips.”
“As you wish, Fierce Leader." Gramps still looked concerned. “You won’t leave without me?”
Tomar laughed. “Don’t worry, we have time on our side. Now we now where the guards have gone, and they are not far at all. Besides, Riggeur is bound to slow them down." Tomar could almost taste his revenge. “We want them to show us the way out before we kill them." Revenge would feel sweeter for the wait.
The Juzzaar stepped confidently into the black tunnel, alone and removed his dark glasses to look ahead. His pale gold skin almost glowed in the dark. “I wonder where this goes.”
Tomar accepted a light from one of his men, hung it on his chest from a chain around his neck and tested the battery. “I’ll bet they’re going back to their cozy little Garrison." He envisioned a comfortable, luxurious place with all the amenities he’d lacked during his internment. “We’ll follow the grays straight to freedom.”
*****
Maintenance tunnel - Crimson Zone
Cole must have lost consciousness for a while. As he came to, he cursed the jarring of Rhonda and Javel’s quick steps. Cold sweat made him shiver, and he felt weak. If only the pain in his chest could stop for a few seconds.
Struggling to remain conscious, he tried to focus on Rhonda. Grateful for her resourcefulness, he marveled at her unsuspected strength. What a wonderful woman. Something about that didn’t sound right. Was he delirious? He tried to remember why he used to dislike her, but the process made his head hurt, and the thought eluded him.
The tunnel seemed to waver under his unsteady feet, but as he faltered strong arms caught him around the waist. The blur running in front of him must be Xerna. The surrounding walls seemed to soften and melt. Sinister wheezing sounds and soft moans surrounded him. Then he realized the noise came from his own breath and groans. How he despised being weak, unable to control even the sounds he made.
In a moment of clarity, he saw the walls shrink then expand, as if they were made of soft dough. Probably a hallucination. After a few painful steps down an incline, the jarring suddenly ceased as the four guards paused.
Like in a dream, Cole stood at the threshold of a vast cavern with stalactites and stalagmites, like stone pillars of irregular shapes. As the moving floodlights cast shadows on the high vaulted ceiling, the place reminded Cole of a ruined cathedral.
The sounds of the guards’ conversation echoed and bounced against the bare stone, but the meaning of the words escaped Cole.
Feeling strangely remote from the rest of his companions, he admired the natural wonder. He heard water drip from the cavern vaults, but he must be hallucinating. A frozen planet had no dripping water.
Cole’s back slid against the rough stone as Rhonda and Javel eased him down to a sitting position. When Rhonda’s deft fingers opened his uniform, Cole shuddered at the contact of her warm hand on his skin. He wanted to thank her but the words wouldn’t form on his tongue and he moaned instead.
Rhonda spoke to him but he couldn’t make out her words. When she brought a canteen to his lips, Cole realized how thirsty he felt and drank thankfully. Rhonda seemed upset as she changed the dressing on his wound.
Why had she insisted in taking him along? The three guards would stand a better chance without him. He never realized Rhonda cared about him that much. Was it pity or compassion in her soft brown eyes? Or could it be something more?
Somehow Cole hoped Rhonda felt more than dutiful loyalty toward him. He liked the determination in the set of her jaw. The stubbornness he’d once resented had become somewhat endearing to him. How brave she looked, how strong.
The respite didn’t last and soon the painful trek behind Xerna resumed, jarring Cole almost beyond human endurance. But he set his legs in motion and walked like an automaton. Soon, he felt himself drift into a blissful state of semi-consciousness where he couldn’t feel the pain anymore.
*****
Maintenance Tunnels, Level Nineteen - Crimson Zone
Did the tunnel start to melt, or did Tomar have nightmarish visions from Styx withdrawal? In the unstable torchlight that swayed with each of his hurried steps, it seemed that the walls would soon close upon him. His lumbering companions didn’t seem to mind the melting floor and walls, but they also foamed at the mouth and rolled their eyes at the slightest excitement. The scorching breath in the tunnel and the insidious smell of hot rubber from his soft shoes told Tomar the unusually violent quakes may have triggered some natural disaster more dangerous than he previously thought.
What had started as a perfect opportunity to create havoc and escape suddenly escalated into a potentially dangerous situation. What was happening to Zurin Five? Tomar took comfort in the fact that the galactic prison was indestructible. But with the increasing rate of earthquakes, could it be that the inhospitable planet had grown stronger than the durancrete walls? If that were the case, the underground facility could become a death trap for thousands of prisoners, and Tomar didn’t intend to figure among the casualties.
As he stopped at a main junction to search the warm air for the scent of his prey, Tomar heard sharp clicking sounds advancing on his group from several connecting ducts. Something else inhabited the tunnels, something mechanical with no biological scent. “Robots!” he yelled and leapt to the ceiling, forming suction cups on his hands and knees to avoid getting trampled by several caterpillar-powered machines rushing full speed toward them.
Gramps, who followed close, threw himself against the wall and screamed at the contact of the hot surface. Tomar had to keep shifting shape to avoid exposing the same part of his skin more than a second at a time to the burning ceiling. The smell of seared flesh filled the tunnel.
The big Juzzaar yelled and charged the first robot in a brutal confrontation, chainsaw hulk against machine. He grappled with the short automaton, sawed off one of its arms, lifted the robot and threw it with such force that it shattered in several pieces. Parts flew, and the caterpillar treads, couched on the side, kept turning with an awful squeaking sound, trying to regain traction on the smooth surface.
When the other robots reached the scene, they stopped to clean up the mess. Ignoring the escaped convicts, the automatons set out to pick up all the broken pieces and carry them away.
The rest of Tomar’s gang, a Karatzin and four humans, laughed and clapped at the Juzzaar’s victory, some patting him on the back, others jumping for joy, dancing and hooting in homage, as they maneuvered clumsily around the working robots.
Tomar dropped down from the ceiling and watched the robots leave toward the maintenance platform. He didn’t like the idea of the little monsters charging from behind later on,
but he must take chances. Good thing his keen sense of hearing had given him enough warning.
Around him his men’s victory glee degenerated into a mad frenzy as they activated the power weapons in mock challenge.
“What’s so funny?" Tomar yelled to end the craziness spreading among his gang.
His companions immediately stopped laughing and turned off the power tools.
“Bunch of idiots,” he mumbled then, following the scent, he turned into an adjacent tunnel to resume his hunt for the guards. With such a fresh scent, they couldn’t be too far ahead.
*****
Mineshaft above the natural cave, leading to Level Sixteen
Rhonda felt past any caring about the overload inflicted on her body. She pretended to be one of the maintenance robots and kept going up the steep incline, no matter what her body tried to tell her. She felt so tired, each step up the slope seemed like the very last she could possibly take. But her survival and that of the Captain depended on her ability to keep up with the fast pace set by Xerna and Javel.
To get her mind off the muscle pain, she focused on the gritty surface of the wide stone shaft they traveled. Fifty years ago, massive boring bits had stripped rock and rubble to dig their way to the deep veins of Styx crystal. Remnants of railway tracks and old conveyor belts attested to the mining methods, when robotic carts took away the newly mined material to be separated then refined. The automated mines had required little supervision. How Rhonda wished she had one of those carts right now to carry the Captain.
It felt as if they’d been walking uphill for over an hour, but Rhonda knew otherwise. “How far until we reach the passage to Level Sixteen?”
“Almost there." Xerna showed no sign of weakening, and Rhonda wondered how she could remain so calm in the midst of such turmoil.
As for Javel, his carefree attitude remained an enigma. Rhonda didn’t get these people at all and concluded that mixed Karatzin DNA offered more differences between the races than she previously assumed. All she needed to know was that Xerna and Javel had come to rescue the Captain, and for that, she felt grateful. Rhonda performed another check on her compad. “At least, no one is following us." The realization gave her comfort and hope.
Finally, Xerna stopped on a flat landing indicating the branching of an adjacent tunnel. Rhonda and Javel lowered the Captain gently against the stone wall of the intersecting horizontal shaft.
Xerna went to assess the connecting tunnel and returned immediately. “It looks clear as far as I can see, but it could be collapsed further on. I still don’t think it’s a good idea to take the Captain back into that mad house.”
Rhonda sighed. “Surgery and blood transfusion are his only chances of survival. He’ll never make it to the Garrison otherwise.”
As Rhonda saw Xerna and Javel exchange a mysterious glance, she wondered what passed between them. They stared at the Captain and so did Rhonda. He seemed focused as he stared back at them, but she couldn’t tell whether he could see them or not.
Javel cleared his throat. “If the Captain is this far gone, I think we should just leave him here and you should come with us and save yourself.”
“Leave the Captain? Are you crazy?" Rhonda couldn’t bear the thought.
“If, as you implied earlier, the lava flows are this close to the surface, this shaft could become a lava pipeline. We can’t outrun a lava flow if the Captain is slowing us down. And if the planet is going to blow sooner than we expected, we better get back up and find a way off this rock as quickly as possible.”
Their argument made sense. But Rhonda just couldn’t abandon the Captain, especially after all he had done for her. If she left him here, he would die, and she couldn’t bear the thought, even less the responsibility of his death. She had the ability to save him, so she must at least try. “I will not leave him here!" Her loud voice echoed in the cavernous shaft.
The Captain moaned and she knelt next to him, holding his hand. He seemed conscious and tried to speak. She moved closer to hear what he wanted to say.
“Save yourself,” he whispered. “All of you... Too late for me.”
Xerna and Javel had come near and caught his words.
Rhonda balked at the thought. “I can’t just leave you here. I’m a medic. I must do whatever I can to save you.”
“Get out of here,” the Captain said with unexpected strength. “It’s an order.”
Although visibly upset, Xerna nodded. “Come, Rhonda. We must go.”
Javel encircled Xerna’s shoulder. “Quickly. There is little time.”
A hot breath from below told them the magma was getting closer as it worked its way up the mineshaft, but Rhonda didn’t budge. “I’m staying with him. I don’t always follow orders, and this is one of these times. You should go. I’ll meet you later, hopefully with the Captain.”
“Wait!" Xerna freed herself from Javel’s grip and came to Rhonda. “You have to take the first tunnel on the right, then the second branching on the left, then you’ll emerge on the maintenance platform of Level Sixteen.”
“Thanks. Both of you, for all you did for us." Rhonda smiled but couldn’t help the tears in her eyes. “Because of you we are alive and I hope we all stay that way. I wish you luck."
“So do we." Xerna stepped back reluctantly then turned and walked away, slowly at first.
Then Javel guided Xerna ahead of him, one hand on the small of her back. Rhonda saw them hurry up the slanted mineshaft to the bounce of their floodlights. Definitely a strange breed those mixed Karatzin.
After they disappeared around a bend of the shaft, only darkness reigned beyond the small sphere of Rhonda’s single floodlight. She shivered. God she hated dark spaces.
Now alone with the Captain, Rhonda wondered why she jeopardized her life for his, but one look at him confirmed that she had made the right decision. If he didn’t survive, she wasn’t sure she wanted to live.
Looking back at her life, Rhonda had already lost her sister. Although she loved her very much, she was powerless to save her. Now Rhonda refused to lose another person she cared about. Not if she could help it. She swore she would save Cole, or she would die trying.
But how would she carry the Captain by herself? Cole Riggeur seemed to understand her dilemma. He smiled feebly and attempted to stand up. Rhonda offered her shoulder for support and helped him up. As he leaned heavily upon her, she heard him whisper, “Stubborn.”
She would have smiled, had she not been so worried.
*****
Maintenance shaft - Level Sixteen - Yellow Zone
Each awkward step inside the yellow tunnel seemed to take all Rhonda’s strength. She suspected the Captain made a costly effort just to remain standing. He was losing so much blood, he would soon faint from lack of it. And if he did, Rhonda couldn’t possibly carry him all the way to the infirmary along kilometers of labyrinths, across a rioting floor. The seed of an idea started to take shape in Rhonda’s mind.
Cole’s grip on her shoulder held urgency, as if he knew they only had each other and a very slim chance of survival once they re-entered the prison complex.
“Lots of convicts,” he managed to say.
Rhonda knew the main floor of Level Sixteen would be buzzing with loose inmates. Although they weren’t quite as violent as those on Level Nineteen, they still presented a serious threat, mainly with Styx withdrawal. Rhonda shuddered at the memory of their encounter with the raping gang. Were they still at it?
But Rhonda figured the inmates must realize by now that the quakes only worsened with time. It wouldn’t take long before they understood their predicament and feared for their lives. Then they would become insanely violent. Desperate people did desperate things, she’d heard the Captain say many times.
Rhonda noticed that the yellow tunnel leading to Level Sixteen didn’t seem as hot as the deeper ones. She took it as a good sign. Following Xerna’s directions, Rhonda progressed slowly. A sudden clicking sound behind her reminded her of the robots
going about their automated tasks.
Insidious panic threatened to seized Rhonda. She had to get Cole out of the way. He couldn’t afford to sustain further injury. As she looked back, she saw the speeding caterpillar rushing toward them through the center of the tunnel. In desperation, Rhonda shoved the Captain to the side.
As the automaton whisked by, its arm hooked onto the floodlight clipped to Rhonda’s belt. She tried to hold on to it as she ran alongside the robot, but the light slipped through her sweaty hands. She went on running after the speeding automaton that carried the light along the tunnel, but she couldn’t catch up with it. When she stopped, out of breath, Rhonda saw the robot turn into a connecting passage, the one she was supposed to take, the one leading to the maintenance platform. Then the light disappeared, and she stood in complete darkness.
A dreadful shiver raised the hair on Rhonda’s spine. “Captain?”
She heard a faint moan in response and directed her hesitant steps in that general direction. Now she understood what the blind must have gone through in the older days, before science could restore eyesight.
“Captain?" Her extended hands found the wall and she followed it back. Why in heaven did it have to be so black? Heart pounding, legs shaking, all senses in alert, she whispered, “Cole? Where are you?"
Chapter Eight
Mining Shaft, between Levels Nineteen and Sixteen
Following the guards’ scent, Tomar crossed the cathedral cave and found the ascending mining shaft. He smelled the strong emanations from the two Karatzin guards along with those of Riggeur and Alendresis, but when Tomar and his gang reached the level of a smaller passage branching out, the scents diverged.
Alien Lockdown Page 10