by Mark Lingane
“What’s dangerous to them could be dangerous to us too. Let’s move on.”
“I say we have a look.” Andana pointed his small blade and the cyborg gun at Michael. “We got hardly no weapons. And I ain’t losing all these men just so’s you can escape.”
Michael looked at the makeshift blade. It was small, but obviously sharp; blood was dripping from Andana’s tight grip.
Michael went over to the dark opening and looked down into the shaft. He reached out and touched the chain with his fingertips. It swung slightly. He tapped it again and it swung further. Several more taps and he grasped it in his palm as it arced toward him.
He moved back into the center of the corridor and started to heave on the chain. His face reddened as he pulled. “If one of you lazy donkeys wants to help me …” he said through gritted teeth.
A couple of men joined him at the pointed encouragement of Andana. They heaved until they heard the sound of water in the depths. As they hauled the object above the opening in the floor, its shape became clear.
“It’s a cage,” shouted one of the men.
After several more pulls, they managed to winch the cage level with the floor. They released the chain and stood back. There was a body lying on the bottom of the cage.
“It’s just a kid,” one of the men said, panting heavily.
“I know this boy,” Michael said. He touched the cold, wet steel. “We escaped together from his village when the cyborgs arrived. He was important. The cyborgs had come for him. He had some kind of ability that meant he could sense and freeze them, just with his mind. It was like nothing I’d seen before, a completely unique talent. After all this time, it looks like they finally got him. Pity, he could have been incredibly useful in getting out of here.”
“Well, he’s dead now,” Andana said.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Michael said. “Hand me your gun.” He held out his hand.
Andana stood defiantly.
“I don’t have time for your games, give me the goddamn gun.”
It wasn’t a shout, it was a command, and Andana found himself unexpectedly reacting to the authoritative tone. He had yielded the weapon before he realized it.
Michael aimed the gun at the lock and fired. The bullet bounced off the metal and hit the roof. He quickly and repeatedly fired the gun. Andana lunged after his weapon, and Michael elbowed him away before handing back the gun and prising open the lock.
“Is he dead?” Andana said.
“Yes, but I can do something about that,” Michael said.
“We don’t want no zombie around here.”
Michael rolled the boy onto his back and started to compress his stomach. The boy’s muscles convulsed and a combination of bile and swamp water erupted out of his mouth. Michael looked into his eyes and examined his pupils. He placed two fingers on the boy’s throat.
“Damn, no pulse.” He pointed to the heavyset youth. “What’s your name?”
“Peter.”
“Okay, Peter, look for a power source, like a light toggle or switch or something. We need to kickstart his heart.”
While Peter searched the corridor methodically, Michael frisked the cyborg’s body. He turned it over and examined the backpack. He ran his hand over the dark object, found a small button, and pressed it. The backpack came away from the body. He twisted it in his hands. It was heavy. He examined the base and spotted a fine wire. He ran his fingers around the outside of the pack, then the inside. He felt a small latch and pressed it. There was a quiet click.
Michael turned the pack upside down and several items, including a small tube and a long thin object, fell onto the floor. He held them up triumphantly and dashed back to the boy.
Down the corridor, Peter waved.
“What’s those for?” Andana asked Michael.
“One’s an adrenaline shot, and the other is a battery that will regulate the power. Uncontrolled current going through his body will kill him.”
“More than him being dead already? How come you know all this stuff? You said you was just an animal doctor.”
“I listen to everyone, Andana, including our captors. Now help me bring the boy down to where Peter is.”
The two men carried the motionless body down the corridor and laid him on the floor.
Peter pointed to a small piece of square metal beside them. Michael ran his hands over it, but it was fastened securely to the wall. Without tools, they had no way of getting at the power source within.
3
MICHAEL TURNED TO Peter. “Do you think you can rip off the cover?”
Peter examined the plate and the rivets holding it to the wall. “I’ll do my best,” he said.
He pounded at the small plate until his fist started to bleed. It started to bend inward. He wedged his strong, thick fingers into the sliver of a gap and wriggled until they had purchase. He heaved against the plate until his face turned red. Veins throbbed in his temples. The plate creaked, then sprang free. He looked down at his hands. They were covered in blood.
“They don’t make ’em like they used to,” Peter mumbled as he threw the plate to the ground.
Michael thrust his hand into the dark space inside the wall and pulled out a handful of thick wires. He sorted through them until he found the thickest and dragged it out into the corridor. He cut through the wire and handed one end to Peter. He knelt down by the boy, and opened the tunic and shirt to expose his skin.
“Hold the end against his chest,” he told Peter.
Peter knelt down and placed the frayed end against the boy’s skin.
“It’s vital you don’t remove that end, understand?” Michael said.
Peter nodded.
“And do not, under any circumstances, touch anything else. Especially me.” Michael locked eyes with Peter. There was another nod. “And don’t let him touch you, either.” He took a deep breath. “Everyone stand clear,” he shouted.
He looped the wire around the long battery, touching the exposed metal prongs, and jammed his end of the wire against the boy’s chest. There was a loud buzzing. The body twitched violently for several seconds. Nothing happened. The body remained limp and lifeless.
“We do it again,” Michael told Peter. “Clear!”
The body convulsed. His arm flicked out and hit Peter. Peter convulsed and was thrown across the corridor, where he crashed heavily into the wall.
Michael locked his arms and pressed down on the boy’s sternum.
Peter staggered back to Michael with his hair standing on end.
“One last time,” Michael said. When Peter had placed his end of the wire back on the bare skin, he called, “Clear!”
The boy’s body convulsed violently. His arms flailed, but this time Peter ducked out of the way. Michael removed his frayed end and dropped the boiling battery.
The boy sat up with a wild expression in his eyes. He gasped for air, then collapsed back onto the floor. He looked up into the smiling eyes of the doctor. “Dr. Filbert?”
“Welcome back, Sebastian.”
Sebastian’s mind flashed back to the memory of the man before him rescuing him on horseback from the cyborgs, and then sacrificing himself so Sebastian could escape. The relief at seeing the veterinarian from his old village, a man who had acted so selflessly, swept through him. Sebastian wrapped his arms around his hero and Michael patted him gently on the back.
Sebastian staggered up before collapsing to the floor again. He pointed toward a door. “@summer,” he rasped. His face was ashen, and he seemed barely able to appreciate what was happening around him.
“Whoa, take it easy, Sebastian.” Michael removed the top of the tube he had taken out of the cyborg’s pack. He jabbed the small needle protruding from the end of the tube into Sebastian’s neck.
Sebastian flinched. “She must be here.” His head swam as he fought for balance.
“Who? You’re the only one left,” replied Michael. “All the cell doors are open.” He indicated th
e open doorways.
“Yes, all the cages are up, and they’re all empty,” Peter said. “We’ve checked them all.”
“She must be somewhere else. I must find @summer,” Sebastian said. He went to stand up.
“Who is @summer?” Michael asked.
“She is my girlfr … my friend. She got us in here, into the Hive.”
Michael placed his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “We don’t have time to look for her. The cyborgs will be regrouping. We need to get out of here.”
“But @summer can lead us out. She knows the way.”
Michael paused and looked thoughtfully at Sebastian. “How?”
“She was one of them,” he said. “She was a cyborg. But she turned,” he added quickly when he saw the expressions on the faces around him.
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” Michael said. “Not completely, anyway.”
“But she’s different,” Sebastian said.
“Ain’t they all,” Andana said, flashing his demented smile at Sebastian.
Sebastian looked at Andana, who was leaning casually against the wall. He turned to Michael and mouthed, Who is he?
Before Michael could answer, Peter said, “I hear footsteps.”
Agitation spread through the assembled prisoners.
“Where are the guards?” Sebastian asked Michael.
“That’s a mystery. And one I don’t really want to solve. Can you walk?”
Sebastian nodded.
Michael grabbed the battery and put it in his pocket. He helped Sebastian up and the two stood together, nearly nose-to-nose. He patted Sebastian on the shoulder. “My, you’ve grown since I last saw you, Sebastian. How old are you now?”
“I’m going to be seventeen.”
Michael gave him a skeptical look. “Yes, but how old are you now?”
“Nearly fifteen, Dr. Filbert. Fourteen.”
Michael smiled. “I think it’s time you started calling me Michael, don’t you?”
“Where we heading, doc?” Andana said.
“I don’t know.” Michael pursed his lips and looked in both directions down the corridor.
Sebastian indicated the shorter passageway. “That’s the way they dragged me in. Are you sure there’s no one else down here?”
“Peter, you checked, didn’t you?”
Peter nodded.
“I’ve got to find my friends,” Sebastian said.
“We’ll do our best, but given a choice, most of these men would rather be out of here.” Michael leaned toward Sebastian and said quietly, “They’re not the most generous of people.”
Peter led the group toward the next intersection. A scraping sound came from around the corner. Peter flattened himself against the wall and held his breath. The others flattened themselves along the opposite wall.
Heavy laser fire erupted from around the corner, making everyone dive to the floor. Not moving quickly enough, Andana froze as the laser fire impacted all around him.
4
SEBASTIAN LUNGED TOWARD the terrified man, his instinctive reaction overcoming his fatigue, and pulled him to the ground just as the black figure of a cyborg rounded the corner.
Peter leaped forward. His hefty fist swung around and flattened the cyborg against the wall. The cyborg’s head crumpled under the force, popping an eye out of its socket. The eye fell to the floor and rolled in circles. It stopped, turned and glared at Peter, who slammed his boot down on the sphere, cracking it. A combination of blood and oil sprayed out and coated Andana’s face.
“Creepy,” said Peter.
Andana stood up shakily. His head was lined up with a dark scorch mark from the laser. He swallowed nervously and gave Sebastian a slight nod.
“We’d better get out of here before the tough ones turn up,” Sebastian said. The others gave him a quizzical look. “You haven’t seen the sullivans yet?”
They looked at him blankly.
“Sullivans are much worse than the cyborgs,” he said. “They’re great big mutated things, all muscle and teeth. Part bear, part reptile, part worst nightmare. I hope they’re somewhere else. Let’s go.” He turned to make his way along the corridor.
“Where we going?” Andana said. “I hope it’s not to ‘somewhere else.’” His voice remained calm and emotionless, but his eyes blinked uncertainly, the fear radiating through the dirt on his face.
Sebastian led the way along the corridor until he came to another intersection. He fought against the exhaustion coursing through his body. His lungs still burned. He paused.
“What’s up?” Andana said.
“This is as far as I know,” Sebastian said. He took a couple of deep breaths, looked both ways, and then indicated the left-hand passage.
The group made their way uncertainly down the corridor.
“Andana?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a free agent in the collection, distribution, and delivery of cut-price merchandise.”
Sebastian looked at Michael, who glanced at Andana and then back at him.
“He’s a sky pirate,” Michael said.
Andana gave Michael a dark glare.
“How did you all escape?” Sebastian asked.
“I was hoping you could tell us,” Michael said. “One minute we were all locked up, the next there was some fighting and the cell doors opened. We banded together to make our way out.”
“How did you know the way?”
“Each person who shared my cell had a bit of information. I talked to them, put it all together and gradually built up a picture of the place,” Michael explained. “I have a mental map, but we’ll have to see if it works out in the real world. It sure didn’t extend down this far.”
Ahead, the corridor opened up to reveal a dark space ahead. They stood at the opening, with the darkness before them, infinite and impenetrable. A small metal walkway stretched ahead of them. On the other side of the walkway was a brightly lit corridor, but beneath the walkway was only darkness. They all imagined an impossible drop beneath it.
“I know where we are now,” Sebastian said. “This is a bad place.”
“Don’t look too bad to me.” Andana pushed past him and walked out onto the walkway. He jumped up and down. The metal boinged and the wire handrail vibrated. “Seems solid.”
“Don’t do that,” Sebastian protested.
The walkway suddenly rocked violently and Andana lurched to one side, grasping onto the thin rail. His hand slipped and he half fell over the edge. He clawed desperately at the smooth metal. Sebastian leaped forward, grasped Andana’s arm, and hauled the small man back onto the walkway.
Sebastian looked down into the impossible depths and shuddered. “This is a bad place,” he repeated.
They all stood looking down into the darkness. As their eyes became accustomed to the gloom, the proportions became more apparent. But still, the metal walkway hovered vertiginously over the vast space beneath. Taking tentative steps, they began to make their way across, with Sebastian in the lead and Michael behind him.
“I’m glad you know where we are, Sebastian. I’m literally in the dark,” Michael said.
Sebastian was quiet for a moment, then he said, “I ran into Oliver Stephenson a while back.”
“Oliver? From Talinga? Your teacher?”
“Yes. He was my friend, and my mother’s. He helped us through a difficult time. He was the last person I spoke to back home. It makes me feel sad to think about that because, well, he was lonely, and we didn’t give him the friendship he wanted. That’s why he turned on us and became one of them of them. A cyborg. He sold out the Academy in a deal that was supposed to give him a happy ever after.”
“Poor man. You’d think he would have been smart enough to know that getting what you wish for always ends badly.”
“In the end, he may have discovered that. He made a choice. We all have to live with our decisions. I’ll miss him. He had a great mind, and some fantastic
inventions, but it all fell apart.”
It occurred to Sebastian that Michael Filbert was the one person who knew what he had gone through. The veterinarian had been there at the start, and even before. And most of all, Michael had saved him. Right now, it was important to remember that fact.
“I wonder why someone would choose that road,” Michael said.
“Maybe it was because Mr. Stephenson never really fitted in,” Sebastian suggested. “They offered him popularity and he took it without thinking about the consequences.”
“Hmm, maybe. But popularity’s really only important when you’re still at school.”
“He was a school teacher,” Sebastian reminded Michael.
“I meant when you’re young.”
They fell silent as they continued inching their way across the walkway, one hesitant footstep at a time.
“When I was at school,” Michael said, “I remember other kids who felt it was so important to be with the popular kids, but all that happened was they got into trouble. You know what makes someone popular?”
“Good looks? Being thin?” Sebastian said.
“In a way,” Michael said. “Good-looking people usually have confidence. People love a strong leader, because leaders are confident. Have confidence in what you do, Sebastian, and the world will love you for it. But use it for good.”
Michael stopped abruptly. “What’s that ahead?”
He pointed to where a body was lying motionless in the center of the metal walkway, eerily outlined by a red glow that emanated from the depths below.
As Sebastian approached the figure, his heart sank. “Oh no,” he whispered.
5
HE RAN FORWARD and collapsed beside Melanie. He ran his hands over her body. Something moved under his fingers, making him flinch. His hands came away wet and dark.
“Michael, help me, please.”
Michael knelt down beside Melanie. “She’s bleeding very heavily, Sebastian,” he said. “She’s been shot. I’m sorry.”