“If I thought any good would come of my giving myself up to the Nomen, I would,” Tonka said when Salene was finished. “If you think it’ll help, I’ll do it anyway.”
“No,” Salene said firmly. “We do not offer up anyone as a sacrifice. Ever.”
“Agreed,” Talus said, equally adamant. “Besides, you’ve already experienced exactly how much you can trust a deal made with the Nomen.”
“That’s true,” Tonka conceded. “I just want you to know it’s a risk I’m willing to take if you think it will help.”
“I appreciate the offer, and I admire your bravery and your commitment to the oaths you made to Oberto,” Salene said. “But trust me on this, Tonka, please. It wouldn’t help.”
“I do trust you, Salene,” he said. “Enough that I will go along with any plan you come up with.”
“It’s not easy to plan when there are so many things we don’t know,” Talus said. “We need you, Tonka, to get us into the silo, then help us round up all of the people held there. We’re not going to have enough time to convince them to trust us, so we’re counting on their familiarity with you to make them understand we’re trying to help. They need to know that anyone who chooses not to leave the silo will die when it’s destroyed.”
“I will be sure they understand,” Tonka said. “What will we do if some do not believe and choose to stay?”
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do about that short of forcing them to leave, and we don’t have the right to do that,” Talus said reluctantly. “Part of being free is exercising the right to make your own decisions, Tonka. We have to focus on those who do believe, and get them as far from the silo as possible as quickly as we can.”
“I understand, and I agree, Talus,” Tonka said, sighing as he rested his chin on his paws. “I shall do my best to convince them, but I will accept their decisions.”
Talus nodded, then continued. “Jinjie will focus on the computers and getting as much data from them as possible. By the way, Jinjie, I have a dozen memory crystals in my pack to store the data on.”
“Do be good,” Jinjie said. “Me do be worrying on that.”
“You can stop worrying because you’re covered,” Talus said. “The rest of us will help the people gather what belongings they can carry and then we’ll get everyone out as quickly as we can. We know that the satellite will take out the entire place so we don’t need to worry about trying to destroy the clones and hybrids being stored there, which will speed things up a great deal.”
“We need to get into the food and supply lockers,” Salene said. “There’ll be up to a hundred people there and some of them will be children. They’ll need food, clothing, blankets, tools, and other supplies.”
“Yes, but only enough to last a day or two,” Jon said. “Once our ships arrive those things won’t be problems.”
“Why not?” Tonka asked. “The people will still need to eat while they seek shelter and try to figure out how to live from the land.”
“Tonka, once we free the people from the silos, they won’t be able to remain on this world,” Salene said. “If they do, the Doftles will simply round them up and put them back to work, or kill them.”
“Then what is the point of freeing them?”
“We’ll take them away from this world, to wherever they wish to go,” Salene said. “I’ve no doubt at all that the Khun of Garza will happily welcome all those who wish to live a peaceful life. Garza is a beautiful world now, but only a few hundred people live there and those people know very well what it is to be enslaved by the Nomen. They’ll have all the help they need to get settled, learn how to build shelters, and grow food.”
“That is very generous,” Tonka said, surprised. “I cannot speak for all of the people, but I can say that those I’ve lived and worked with these past months will probably leap at such an opportunity.”
“That’s good,” she said. “Hopefully everyone who doesn’t have another place to go will feel that way.”
Chapter 15
It was just past sunrise when the party broke camp and stepped outside. They’d eaten breakfast, dressed in full survival suits and were ready to go. For the first couple of miles Jinjie used his magic to hide all signs of their passage. After that, he moved over to ride on Tonka, using his magic to hide the small areas of the gigantic Brun’s body that weren’t covered by the thermal fabric as they raced at full speed toward the silo.
Less than two hours later Tonka paused at the top of a low hill that looked down on the valley where the silo was hidden. “Those trees, over there?” Salene asked him.
“Yes,” Tonka replied. “That’s where the emergency escape hatch is located.”
“You said the silo is as big as this valley?” Jon asked, surprised by the size.
“In width and length, yes.”
“Where do the transports enter?” Talus asked.
“There’s a set of bay doors camouflaged beneath the grass and soil at the north end of the valley.”
“Where’s the main entrance?” Salene asked.
“Near the bay doors. But shouldn’t we use the escape hatch?”
“If our arrival was anticipated, they might assume we’d use the escape hatch,” she said. “But they probably won’t expect us to sneak in through the front door.”
“You think they did something to the back entrance?”
“Yes, I do,” Salene replied.
“I agree,” Talus said.
“I would not have thought of that,” Tonka said, shaking his head.
“I could be wrong,” Salene said. “Jinjie? Do you think you could determine whether or not an entrance is safe without risking yourself?”
“Yes, Jinjie do be can.”
“All right, let’s get down there and check it out then.”
“Camo everyone,” Talus said. “Stay close together.”
A few minutes later they all stood quietly near the spot Tonka had identified as the location of the escape hatch, waiting for Jinjie to finish his inspection. When he opened his eyes and looked at Salene, she knew what he was going to say. “This door do be explosion if opened.”
“Let’s check the other one,” she said. They went to the middle of the valley only to find that the main entrance had also been rigged.
“Are there any other doors or vents, something we can use to get in?” Salene asked.
“Bay doors,” Jinjie said, surprising everyone. “They do be not rigged.”
“Why not?” Salene asked, frowning.
“Because only someone with access codes can open them,” Tonka said. “The Nomen would have used the bay doors to fly out of here. They probably chose not to rig them because the people inside the silo can’t open them anyway.”
“Jinjie?”
“Do be need moment,” he said, his eyes half closed as his hands moved gracefully in front of him, giving off the usual orange sparks. A minute later they all heard the noise as the double bay doors began to rise. “Jinjie do be glad Lady Bear teaching of computers,” he said with a smile.
“I’m glad too,” Salene said. “We’ll have to remember to thank her when we get home.”
Once the doors were opened enough for them to reach an access ladder, Jinjie stopped their progress. They climbed down to a catwalk that Tonka was able to leap down to, and then made their way quickly down several flights of metal stairs.
“Close it up, Jinjie,” Salene said when they were half way down. “If any Nomen decide to fly by we don’t want to give them a reason to investigate.”
The doors swung shut above them, making them all a little tense. At least it wasn’t dark. In fact, it was almost too brightly lit, making them feel exposed.
By the time they reached the floor of the launch bay they’d all added worry to their tension. Aside from a constant, low thrum of machinery, they hadn’t heard a single sound not of their own making since the doors had shut above them. Tonka led them across the bay which was disappointingly empty of vehic
les, to the locked and armored door that would take them into the main part of the silo. He gave Salene the code and she entered the numbers into the keypad, but it didn’t work.
“I think we need to assume they’ve changed all the codes,” she said, standing back so that Jinjie could work on the door. Within moments the door slid open and stayed open, as did the next three doors they encountered as Tonka led them in a circular path from the launch bay to the area where the workers had their living quarters. It didn’t take long to determine that there were no people there at all, neither living nor dead.
From there Tonka led them into the enormous silo tank room. They all stared at the rows of tanks stacked from the floor to the ceiling, nine rows high above them. Some of the tanks were a normal human size, but there were many…too many…that were several times larger, and they all had nightmarish creatures inside of them. Salene tore her eyes from the horrific sight, then hurried forward to where Mali stood, staring with wide-eyed horror.
“Stop looking,” she said sharply. “Right now, Mali. Stop looking.”
Mali’s face was pale, her lips colorless, and she was breathing in short, uneven pants, all indications of shock. Salene picked her up and, placing one hand on the back of the little girl’s head and gently urged her to turn her face into her neck. Once Mali’s eyes were safely hidden, Salene turned, her eyes searching frantically for Tab. Relieved to find him in Jon’s arms, his face turned away from the tanks, she hurried to catch up with Talus, Mali trembling in her arms. “It’s all right, honey,” she said. “We’re only going to be in here for a little while, then we’ll never come back again. Just don’t look any more. All of this will be destroyed in a few hours.”
“Really?” she asked in a small voice.
“Yes, honey,” Salene said. “I promise.” She was glad to have Mali to hold onto because it helped her to not look into the tanks any more herself. She’d seen more creatures with Rayne’s features, which were her own features, and some that were only partially formed, but which looked too much like Talus, Jon, and Kar for her peace of mind. Afraid of who else she might recognize, she was careful not to look any more. She glanced up at Talus, noting his tight jaw and the tense set of his shoulders, and knew that he had seen the same things she had.
“You didn’t mention that the children hadn’t seen these tanks, Tonka,” she said mildly.
Tonka’s ears flattened and his tail drooped as he turned to look at her over his shoulder. “I apologize, Salene. The only way to the area where the computers are housed is across the tank room. It was careless of me not to warn you, though. Are they all right?”
“Yes,” Salene said. “Just a bit upset is all. Is there another route we can take to get out of here?”
“I’m afraid not,” Tonka said. “I’m very sorry Tab and Mali.”
“It’s okay, Tonka,” Mali said without lifting her head. “Mom says this place will be destroyed soon.”
“There are few promises I can make to you Mali, but one that I can make is that you can always trust your mother. If she tells you something, you may believe her, every time.”
“I know,” Mali said on a long sigh as her body finally relaxed.
Finally they reached the far side of the silo and Tonka stopped before one of several doors. Jinjie leapt forward and used his magic to open it, then they all passed through quickly, relieved to be out of the tank room and the sight of the monstrosities it held. A few minutes and several doors later, they found themselves in a wide, narrow room with a bank of computers lining the entire back wall. Jinjie leapt over to a desk with a vid terminal and, using his magic, began tapping on a keyboard while Tonka crossed to a door on the far end.
“I hear people beyond this door,” he said tensely, his ears and tail stiff and straight.
“Yes, so do I,” Talus agreed. Jinjie broke off what he was doing and joined them at the door, while Salene let Jon guide her to the opposite end of the computer room. He set Tab down next to Salene and stepped in front of her and the children, guarding them with his body. Kar stood beside Talus, watching in silence as Jinjie worked his magic on the door. A moment later the door opened, but all they could see was darkness.
“Switch on the wall, just inside.”
Talus reached around the door jamb and thumbed the light on. Then they all stared into the narrow corridor filled with people, each one of them bound hand and foot on the floor. Even the children.
Salene patted Mali on the back, then set her down. “I want you and Tab to sit right here,” she said. “I need to go help those people. Jinjie will stay with you while he works on the computers.
“Okay, Mom,” Mali said, turning to look at the people lying on the floor through the doorway. She sat down against the wall and pulled Tab into her lap. Salene gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile, then she and Jon hurried to join Talus, who was watching Tonka step carefully through the people, telling everyone who they were and why they were there.
Once the people understood they were there to help, they entered the corridor, careful not to step on anyone, and began trying to free them. “They’re tied using something I’m not familiar with,” Talus said from where he knelt sawing at the bindings on a little boy’s legs. “I can’t seem to cut it.
Salene went down on her knees next to a young woman with short brown hair, removed one of her Kunian steel knives and sliced through the bindings with ease. Then she handed the knife to the woman, who smiled and nodded before she began cutting the bonds off her fellow prisoners. Salene handed knives to her men, then got another one for herself and they hurriedly freed everyone.
When they were finished, Salene took a rough count of the people while collecting her knives. “Tonka, there’re only about fifty or sixty people here. Where are the others?”
“This is all that’s left,” Tonka said grimly, his lip curling up to bare his fangs. “Apparently the Nomen made a game of executing the others one by one before they grew tired of it. They bound the rest and left them here early this morning after taunting them with the information that the silo would be completely destroyed in a few hours, and them along with it. We missed them by about an hour.”
Salene felt sick as guilt washed through her. “If we’d moved faster,” she began, but Tonka shook his head so hard that his front paws left the floor.
“No,” he and Talus both said firmly at the same time.
“We came as quickly as we could, Zerura, and because we did these people have a chance. We are not responsible for the crimes of the Nomen and the Doftles.”
“You’re both right,” she said, nodding. Then she took a deep breath and focused on the living. “We need to get the food lockers open and everyone needs to grab whatever they can carry as quickly as possible. I don’t want to stay in this place one moment longer than necessary.”
Some of the younger people looked dazed, but the majority of them began moving with a purpose. Salene went back into the computer room and watched Jinjie for a moment. “How’s it going?” she asked, unable to decipher a single character on the bank of screens that covered the wall before them.
“Encryption do be strong but me do be breaking,” he said without looking away from the screens.
Salene nodded, then left him to it, thankful that Rayne had taught him so much. She walked over to where Mali and Tab sat and knelt down. “Everyone’s moving as fast as they can. We’ll be out of here in just a few minutes, all right?”
Mali nodded. “We’re okay, Mom. We just don’t want to look at the monsters anymore.”
“Neither do I honey,” Salene agreed. “We’re going to have go through that room again though, but this time we’ll be ready for it.”
As Tonka had warned, most of the people of the silo were reluctant to face a world outside of all they’d ever known. But the Nomen had made it excruciatingly clear that they would all die in just a few short hours, so no convincing was needed, and no one elected to remain behind. Overall, they considered themselv
es lucky. Going out into an unknown world was much better than lying tied up on the floor in the dark waiting for a death that they’d never be able to see coming.
It took less than twenty minutes for the fifty eight men, women, and children to gather what little they had in the way of warm clothing and blankets. The passcodes to the food stores had been changed, so Talus and Kar broke the doors down rather than interrupt Jinjie’s work on the computers. Within minutes the shelves were emptied, with even the children carrying a bag or a blanket wrapped bundle of freeze dried food and concentrates.
Ninety minutes after they’d entered the silo Jinjie finished his work with the computers, and everyone was assembled and ready to leave. Tonka led them back the way they’d come, this time pausing to warn everyone to hide the children’s eyes before entering the room filled with hibernation tanks. They’d just reached the launch bay when Talus stilled, raising one hand for quiet. He listened for a moment, then turned around and spoke with Salene who was right behind him with Jinjie on her shoulder, Tab in her arms, and Mali at her side.
“They’re out there,” he said softly. “The moment we open those doors, they’ll start blasting.”
Salene nodded her understanding, then turned around in a slow circle as she examined the enormous launch bay. “We need to move everyone up there to the control room,” she said, gesturing toward a transparent panoramic window that overlooked the launch bay floor three stories above where they stood. “That’s got to be armored.”
“Yes, that’s good,” Talus agreed immediately. They turned and began ushering the people quietly back the way they’d come, then up three flights of switchback stairs and into the armored control room.
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