He pointed at the doctor who quickly entered a code for the last door. It opened and they sprinted into the hallway beyond.
Several minutes later they stopped their mad dash, just outside the living quarters section of the station. They stopped in the middle of a tee junction. The station had brightly lit hallways, just like a hospital should. The walls were grey with a vertical light running from floor to ceiling every ten feet or so. In addition, there was an unbroken ceiling light running the length of the passage. They hadn’t spotted anyone else. Dr. Moore was breathing hard and leaning forward, resting his hands on his knees.
“Did you sense anybody alive in those rooms?” Aaron asked Susan, motioning back the way they had come. He still held out hope that some of the other volunteers were still alive.
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t sensed anyone.” That was depressing news. All, or at least most of their fellow volunteers must already be dead.
Turning his attention to the doctor, Aaron had to resist the urge to throttle the man. “Doctor, which way to the power plant?”
Dr. Moore looked up, already starting to breathe easier. He motioned to the hallway to the right. “That way. It’s not far.”
Aaron nodded. “Come up here with me. You can lead the way.” The doctor slowly obeyed and Aaron glanced over at Jessica. “You okay?” he asked. Jessica nodded but he wasn’t sure that he believed her. She was pale and sweaty, and looked like she might be sick at any moment. Creating the image of an empty hallway must have taken more out her than he had suspected.
Russell moved over and stood beside her. “I’ll watch her.” Jessica hesitantly smiled up at him, still looking like she might get sick.
Aaron motioned for Dr. Moore to lead on and they began moving through the passages. The doctor, Susan, and Aaron walked in the front, while Adam walked immediately behind. Russell and Jessica brought up the rear. Unlike their run from their quarters, they were moving now at a brisk walk. These passages all looked the same, except when a doorway broke the otherwise sterile smoothness of the walls. They turned first left, and then right, right again, and then left, and they kept turning. Most people would have lost track of their directions but Aaron knew exactly the way they had come. He wondered if that was due to his being a cyborg.
“How much farther?” Adam asked from just behind the doctor.
Dr. Moore raised his right hand and pointed, they were approaching a four way intersection of the corridors. “We’ll turn left and it’s immediately on the right.”
“Good,” Aaron started to say, but Susan spoke over him.
“There’s two people around the corner. They’re not aware of us yet. I think they’re guards.”
Aaron turned, looking back at Russell and Jessica. “Jessica, you up to causing a disturbance?”
She hesitated and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“Okay,” Aaron said after a moment of quiet consideration. “Susan, you and Jessica keep an eye on the good doc. Russell, you and Adam are going to take the farthest guard and I’ll take the nearest. Got it?” Both men nodded. “Russell, you have to make sure that neither of those men raise the alarm. It should be clipped to the shoulder of the uniforms.”
Russell nodded again. “Understood.” He turned his attention to Adam, “If these are guards, then they’ll have shock sticks. You get in close and I’ll keep him from using it. Okay?” Adam only nodded.
“Good,” Aaron said. “Let’s go.”
They approached the corridor slowly and quietly, not wanting their footfalls to give them away. They were counting on surprise to help them.
Motioning for Russell and Adam to wait, Aaron moved right up to the edge of the corner and then he began slowly leaning forward. Inch by slow inch, until he could make out the form of the nearest guard. Just like the doctor had said, there was a doorway on the right side of the passage. Two men, in guard’s uniforms, stood to either side; they both held a shock stick. The farthest one was staring at the floor, while the nearest was absently fiddling with the shock stick. They were maybe ten yards down the hall. Aaron leaned back away from the opening and retreated to where Adam and Russell still waited. “Two guards, ten yards down the hall, on the right.” They both nodded. “Count of three.” Both men nodded again.
They approached the opening and stopped. Adam and Russell on the left, with Aaron on the right. He held up one finger, then two fingers, and then three fingers.
Adam and Aaron sprinted around the corner of the passage and Russell jogged behind them. His job didn’t require speed.
The two guards jerked in surprise at the sight of two men charging them, but true to their training, their first response was to hit the alarm button on the small communications devices clipped to their shoulders. Their hands had barely moved, when both communication devices pulled loose of their uniforms and flew down the hall. Russell grinned, appearing to enjoy his telekinetic abilities. The first part of his mission was done, now to help Adam.
Aaron slowed as he approached the nearest security guard. The guard, who hardly seemed taken aback by his communicator flying away, now held the shock stick out in front of him, eyeing Aaron warily.
“It won’t work,” the guard said, betraying his fear by swallowing hard. “I’m armed and you’re not. You’ll only get hurt if you try this.”
Aaron didn’t answer, instead he moved forward slowly. As he walked, he assumed a Telithian fighting stance. The humans on Telith had developed their own powerfully quick form of martial arts and even though Aaron had never studied it, or if the truth be told, he had never even heard of it, he knew exactly what to do—the details being supplied by the organic program in his head.
He edged closer to the guard and suddenly the guard lunged forward, trying to hit him with the bulbous end of the shock stick. Blindingly fast, Aaron’s left foot shot up and to the left before sweeping back in and arc. His foot caught the shock stick on the far side of the bulbous end, right where the guard’s hand was holding the handle. The guard cursed as the shock stick went flying, but Aaron had already leaped forward. The guard threw up his left arm trying to shield his face, but it didn’t help. Aaron caught him with a vicious left handed blow to the throat, three times in quick succession. The guard fell to his knees, grasping his throat. His eyes looked like they might pop out of their sockets and the only sound he could make was a choking gasp. Aaron scooped up the fallen shock stick and touched it to the man’s head, mercifully putting an end to the drowning gurgles.
The guard that Adam had fought was also on the ground and unconscious, but he did appear to be in better shape than the one that Aaron had taken out. Adam was staring at the man, frowning.
“What’s the matter?” Aaron asked, afraid that something had gone wrong.
Adam glanced back at him. “I don’t know. It just seemed too easy.”
Russell joined them and grinned. “These aren’t soldiers, they’re just orderlies. Count your blessings.”
Bending down, Aaron grabbed the right arm of the guard he had disabled and pulled him over to the door. Just to the right of the door was a small electronic device that served as a door lock. The small device was a fingerprint reader, with a small red light on the right side. Aaron took the man’s hand and placed the guard’s thumb in the reader; after a moment the light turned green and the door slid open. “Quick, get them inside.”
Together, the three men dragged the two guards inside. The room was a computer room with row upon row of computers and electronics devices. The left side of the room was a clear wall; on the other side of the wall, the reactor that powered the station could be seen. The reactor was shaped rather like an onion, with the wider circular part at the bottom and the pointed part at the top. It was grey, and lights blinked all along the bottom. Currently all the lights were green.
Aaron looked at Adam but motioned toward the guards. “Restrain them and see if any alarms have been set off.” He turned to Russell. “Come with me.”<
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Russell and Aaron moved deeper into the room, past the rows of computers. Lights flicked on as they walked. At the very back of the room there was an arch that led into a cavernous plant room. Backwards and to their left was the onion shaped reactor but they completely ignored it. The floor in front of them was full of machinery for a variety of different tasks. They were looking for the tractor beam controls and it didn’t take long to find them.
The tractor beam apparatus was a tall hexagon-shaped structure that had to be fifteen feet high and another twenty feet long. Massive cables came up from the floor on their left and entered the structure, more cables entered from the far side on their right.
Russell moved straight for the entrance hatch but Aaron reached out and grabbed him. “Wait. Will they notice when we deactivate it?” Aaron asked.
“No sir. At least they won’t unless I do something wrong. These systems have a circuit that monitors to make sure everything is in good running order. I have to rewire that circuit so that it constantly gives a green light.”
Russell’s tone was just a little off, like he was a little irritated at having to explain himself—Hicks undoubtedly knew his job. “All right.” Aaron said after a moment. “Get to it. I’m going to check on Adam.”
Adam was almost exactly where they had left him. Aaron noted that the two guards were tied up with cables before he moved over to the desk where Adam was sitting. “Any alarms?”
Adam glanced up and then right back to the screen. “No sir, but there is something you need to see.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Aaron said, moving around the desk to look over Adam’s shoulder. “What am I looking at?”
Adam typed on the keyboard for a moment and then the display changed. A two dimensional display of the solar system showed the star and the four planets that orbited around it, but there also was another dot on the display.
“What’s that?” Aaron asked.
“That,” Adam said with a sigh, “is the SS Ryan.”
“Oh shit,” Aaron said moving closer. “Are you sure?” Adam nodded. The SS Ryan was a Commonwealth Cruiser and its presence would complicate their escape. If they took off in a shuttle then the cruiser would be on them before they could get away. The shuttles that this station would be equipped with would be capable of interstellar flight, but the cruiser would intercept them before they even got the chance. Before a ship could create the wormhole that was necessary for interstellar travel, the ship must be past the Hasan point. The Hasan point was the point where the star’s gravitational field had dropped off enough so as to not interfere with the wormhole. It was a variable point that depended on the star’s gravitational field. Undoubtedly, in these slow military shuttles, it would take several hours before they could even reach the Hasan point. Plenty of time for the cruiser to track them down.
“Think they’re here to keep us from escaping or to destroy the lab?” Adam asked. He sounded quiet, like a man who was trying to hold out hope even in the face of absolute hopelessness.
Even though he didn’t say it, Aaron guessed both. It made sense to destroy the lab and making sure no one escaped would be a bonus; probably the only reason they hadn’t just bombed the lab from space was that they still wanted the research materials. He placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Don’t give up yet. Come on, let’s see how Russell’s doing.”
Adam hadn’t even got up from the chair when there was a soft knocking on the door. Both men froze, afraid that the guards’ absence had been noticed.
Aaron picked up one of the shock sticks from the desk and moved towards the door. He hesitated just short of the door, unsure how best to proceed.
“Open the damn door!” The words hadn’t been spoken, but they had both heard them sure enough. It was like someone had whispered them, but neither of them had actually heard anything—had to be Susan.
Slumping, the tension seemed to drain out of him, Aaron reached forward and opened the door.
Susan, Jessica, and Dr. Moore quickly stepped inside.
“Everything okay?” Aaron asked, suddenly on edge again by their behavior.
“Yes,” Susan answered immediately. “I sensed a group of guards passing in the hall and it seemed prudent to get out of sight.”
“Coming this way,” Aaron demanded, hefting the shock stick and unconsciously tensing.
“No, they were passing in the next hallway over.”
Aaron exhaled deeply. “Good.” Jessica still looked pale, so he motioned towards the chair. “Take a seat.” He turned his attention to Susan. “Try and find us the quickest way to the hangar.” He waved towards the back of the computer room. “We’re going to check on Russell.” He pointed at the doctor while he looked at Susan. No words were necessary, it was obvious that he wanted her to keep her eyes on the doctor. The look that she gave him didn’t require any words either and grinning, he led Adam off past the rows of computers.
They reached the tractor beam controls but the only sign of Hicks was his feet hanging out of the open hatch. Muffled banging sounds, and the occasional curse, were coming from inside the structure.
Stepping up close, Aaron stuck his head through the narrow hatch. “Where we at?”
Russell was lying on his back on the small walkway down the middle of the structure. He had removed the underside of a computer system and computer cables hung out in all directions. He glanced over as Aaron’s head appeared. “We’re good. I couldn’t just deactivate it so I rewired the circuits. When they go to engage the beams, it should short itself out.”
“Should?” Aaron repeated, feeling a little anxious. “We don’t have much room for error here.”
Sitting up, Russell stretched his back. “I’m positive it’ll work. When they try to engage the beams, the worst case situation is that it will short itself out. Best case is that these computers will short out and start a fire. Either way, it won’t work.”
Aaron considered for a moment, undoubtedly Russell knew what he was talking about. “All right, but we have another problem.”
Russell looked from Aaron to Adam, noting the worried expressions on their faces. He quickly climbed out of the hatch, pausing only to push the hatch closed. Sighing, he turned to face them. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a cruiser in the system. We won’t be able to get past it in a shuttle. Any ideas?”
Russell leaned back and crossed his arms, looking down. He was a quiet for a moment, lost in thought. Finally he looked back up and sighed. “Well, the shuttles can’t outrun the cruiser, so we have to disable or distract it.”
Aaron was surprised, he hadn’t thought of trying to distract the cruiser. Perhaps, with the right distraction, maybe they could buy the necessary amount of time to get away. “What did you have in mind?”
Shaking his head, Russell straightened back up. “Perhaps we could remotely fly several shuttles out of the hangar at the same time that we take off, you know, try to confuse them. With multiple shuttles, the cruiser will have to make a choice on which one to pursue first. The problem is that they might pick our shuttle first.”
“What if we flew several decoys out of the hangar, then waited until the cruiser picked a shuttle before we took off?”
“Might work,” Russell agreed. “Do we have any idea how many shuttles are currently in the hanger?”
“I’m on it.” Adam called as Aaron glanced his way.
Aaron watched the younger man jog back up toward the entrance, funny how much more animated he seemed now that they were working on a plan.
Adam wasn’t gone long, but he returned looking dejected. “The station computer says there are only two shuttles currently in the hangar.”
“Is two enough?” Aaron asked, looking at Russell. He felt sure it wasn’t.
“No,” Russell responded. “We would need at least four or five. With only two, the cruiser can catch the decoy quickly and then hunt us down before we could reach the Hasan point.”
There was silence for
several moments and then Adam looked up excited. “How about if we rigged the decoy shuttle to explode?”
Aaron glanced quickly at Russell. “What do you think?”
Russell considered the idea for a moment. “It might work, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong. The cruiser would have to use its tractor beams to pull the shuttle into its hangar bay before the explosion, otherwise the explosion wouldn’t stop the cruiser. We won’t be able to trigger the explosion remotely, so either we set a timer or–”
“One of us goes on the decoy shuttle,” Aaron finished for him, noticing that Adam looked troubled. “I’ll do it if it comes to that, but I would prefer not to.” Boy was that an understatement. “Any other ideas?”
“What we really need is a way of attacking the ship.” Russell said, looking down as he strained to find an answer. His hands balled into fists, as he fought with the feeling of helplessness.
Aaron knew how the man felt. They were military men and were used to attacking, not trying to run and hide. Only if they had a legitimate weapon. His thoughts trailed off as a new idea came to him. It was risky and might not work, but there was a chance. “I have an idea,” he said quietly and then he began to explain the complicated plan that had just occurred to him.
A Gathering of Armies Page 35