Vanessa left the dead man as he lay in the street, and ran back to her building. She ran up to the elevator door and almost ran into it. It slid open at the last second.
“He can’t be dead.” She repeated to herself. “He just can’t be.” Her voice quavered and her hands shook as the door opened into the apartment. She stumbled inside, as she tried to decide what she should do. She ran to the video wall, which was still red. The same words, remain calm, continued to scroll across. She reached out to tap the comm link on the wall, but hesitated. She reached out again and tapped the depression that activated the device. A window popped up on the video wall with a message. Contact whom? She hesitated as she thought about it a moment. Who should she call?
“Lily.” She said. The message changed to read, contacting. Suddenly, the scene switched, and now in the window, she could see a street view. Lily’s face was off center in the screen.
“Help!” Lily screamed. The image shifted jerkily, as her distraught face appeared and disappeared in view. “Hello! Hello! Help me!” She screamed again.
“Lily! It’s me, Vanessa!”
“They’re after me!” Lily yelled into her comm unit, breathlessly. The scene continued its jerky movements, as Vanessa saw flashes of metal behind Lily.
“I’m right here!” Vanessa yelled back, as suddenly the scene shifted dramatically, with a flash of blue like the sky above, and then a crash. The scene was now sideways.
“Lily?” Vanessa said hesitantly. No response. “Lily?” She yelled, as she realized that in the bottom corner of the screen she could see her friend. She lay on the ground. Her eyes were closed. Her mouth was open. Behind her head, Vanessa could see the metallic legs of a Guardian, which began to move as she watched. She heard the clank of its foot steps become louder as it stepped over her friend. With a squelch of sound, the comm link went dead. “Oh my God. Oh my God.” Whispered Vanessa to herself. “Oh my God.” She began to pace in circles. She stopped and looked at the video wall, then began to pace again. She stopped again and ran up to the wall, and activated the comm link again. “Alonzo!” She yelled at the wall. Contacting, read the window. The scene shifted to that of the interior of Alonzo and Lily’s apartment. No one was visible. No sound came from the device.
“Alonzo!” She yelled. “Alonzo! It’s Vanessa!” Still no response. “Alonzo! Hey! I think Lily’s been hurt!” She yelled, as a Guardian walked past the view. It dragged an inert Alonzo behind it. Vanessa’s eyes went wide. She gasped and slammed her hand at the comm unit, as she desperately tried to disconnect it. On her third stab the scene went blank. She began to pace again. “Oh, my God.” She said. “What is going on?” She reached out to the comm unit again, hesitated, and then stabbed the button. “Roger.” She said, as her voice shook. This time the window read, not found. She slammed the wall, “Roger, damn it! I said, Roger!” Again the window read, not found. A sob escaped her, and she stepped away in frustration. Then suddenly, she had an idea. She touched the comm link again. “The Premier.” She said. The window read, contacting. She breathed a sigh of relief as she waited. Seconds ticked by, and she paced a few steps before she realized the window now read, unauthorized contact. Disconnected. She screamed in frustration, and slammed her hands to the table. She slammed her hand on the comm unit again. “Charles.” She said expectantly, and shifted her weight from foot to foot as she anxiously waited. Contacting, read the window. Then, connected.
“Hello!” She yelled. “Charles! Are you there?” There was no video in the window, which read, image disabled. “Hello?” She called again.
“This is Charles.” Came the reply, in almost a whisper. She released a sigh of relief.
“Charles, this is Vanessa. You may not know me, but-”
“I know of you, Vanessa. Look, I am quite busy at the moment, Might you call me some other time?” He asked. The impatience in his voice was quite clear.
“But I’ve got to tell someone.” She said quickly. “They’re dead!” She yelled, as her voice broke again. Silence ensued from the other side.
“Dead?” Charles asked.
“Dead!” She replied. The man across the street. And Lily and-”
“How do you know this?” He asked, as he interrupted her.
“I saw it.” Again seconds ticked by with no response. “Hello?”
“I’m here. Are you in your apartment now?” He asked. She looked around.
“Yes.” She said.
“Listen to me carefully, Vanessa. Remain there. Do not leave your home. Do you understand me?” He asked.
“Ye….yes.” She said reluctantly.
“And stay off of your comm unit.”
“But, sir, they’re dead. Really dead-”
“I heard what you said, Vanessa. Can you do as I have asked?” She paused, not sure how she should answer.
“But-”
“Can you do as I have asked?”
“I guess.” She said. “But my husband-”
“Ask him to do the same.” Charles answered, as he cut her off again.
“But he’s not here.” She said. “He’s left.” She continued. “He’s with those people you are looking for.” She blurted out.
“People?” He asked. “What people?”
“The people. Oh, what did Jonah say you called them. Uh…intruders, I think.”
“Jonah?” Asked Charles. The concern was quite plain in his voice. “You’re certain that was the word he used?”
“Yes. Intruders.”
“And you say he’s left. With them?” Charles surveyed the room from his vantage point, still on the skid. He had seen a man and a woman. Two people. His two intruders, he thought. Was there a third here?
“Yes…” She hesitated. “With them.” She paused. “He wants to help them.” She finally said.
“Help them?” Asked Charles, with disbelief. “Help them how?”
“To get away. To go away.” She answered, and then added. “He knows, Charles. They all know.”
“Know what?” He asked.
“About rejuvenation.” She answered. His mind whirled as he digested her words.
“You stay right where you are, Vanessa. Stay right there, and you will be safe. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.” She said quietly. He keyed his comm unit, disconnected the call, and took a brief scan of the room again. He had seen the two, the man and woman, as they fought the group of Guardians. But he remembered that there had only been four Guardians in that group. The two from the front of the skid had not joined them. He counted the ones that lay on the ground from the battle, the one he sent to the door, and the one that stood beneath him. He was missing a Guardian. He had brought six from the other side, he was certain. He keyed his comm device.
“Yes, Charles.” Roger answered.
“Sir, I have them cornered.” Charles replied, not able to see that Gabrielle, having scrambled for cover earlier, had made her way close enough to his location on the skid to overhear his conversation. She could not believe that Vanessa had told this man, the one shooting at them, the one that had directed the Guardians, that Jonah had helped them.
“It’s about time, Charles. Where are they?” He asked.
“Sector two, sir.”
“I’m on my way.”
“And sir?”
“Yes.”
“We have an issue, sir.”
“What now, Charles?” Roger asked with obvious contempt in his voice.
“Jonah, sir.”
“Jonah? What about him?” Charles paused before he replied.
“His wife just called. He knows, sir.” Charles said reluctantly. “And he may be helping the specimens.”
“What?” Roger answered in disbelief. “Knows?” He asked. “And helping them? How-”
“Sir, I don’t know how. But I know they were in his apartment. His wife confirmed that, sir. And that he knows about rejuvenation, sir.” Si
lence was the response from the device.
“Where is he now?” he asked.
“I think he might be here with the specimens, sir. We have them trapped, but it’s difficult to know for sure that he’s here.”
“And his wife? Vanessa?”
“In their apartment, sir.” He answered.
“You keep them right where they are, and you wait for me. I’ll take care of Vanessa.”
“How long should I wait, sir?” Charles asked. “We can move on them now.”
“You wait until I get there. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Roger disconnected the link and keyed in a query to locate their apartment. The response was instant. “Good.” He said to himself as he picked up his pace. He wasn’t far away. Charles stowed his comm device, and scanned the room again. Two or three, it didn’t matter. They were out there.
“I’m here to help you!” He yelled out. “My name is Charles! I am the Chancellor.” Gabrielle was motionless, in her hiding spot near the skid. She could hear him, but not see him, nor the Guardian at the edge of the skid. She remained silent. Jericho, on the other side of the skid, slowly crawled along the floor towards the skid. As he approached, he could see that Jonah hid behind a stack a ways back. Jonah signaled to him that there was one Guardian on the far side of the skid, the same direction that the voice had come from. Jericho acknowledged this and continued to crawl. He reached the Guardian that had been slammed into by the skid when it had entered the room. He picked up the control stick that lay on the ground and stuck it to the Guardian’s chest. Blue sparks flared, as he applied pressure to the stick, and drove it inside the chest plate as it melted the hard exterior. Chunks of molten metal sparked off as he continued. Suddenly he gained his feet, and sprinted towards the rear of the skid. A loud explosion rammed into the front of the skid, and lifted the front off of the ground. The whole thing slammed into the doors of the tunnel, which slid partially open just as the skid bent them inward. They screeched to a halt, and left the skid askew on its track.
Charles lost his balance from the explosion, and tumbled off of the skid to the hard floor below. The Guardian posted there, moved to the front as it followed the sound of the explosion. Jericho vaulted up and onto the skid, and around to where Charles had stood, and watched as Gabrielle leapt from her hiding place, and as Charles rose, she gently touched him on the back with a control stick. His knees buckled as he fell. She looked up. Jericho had picked up the gun that Charles had dropped. The Guardian came back around the corner of the skid, and Jericho pointed and fired. The Guardian exploded in a flash, as pieces flew in every direction. The smoke began to clear, and Jonah, peeked from around the stack where he had hidden.
“Wow!” He said, as he trotted across the room towards them. “You guys, don’t play.” Gabrielle, knelt beside Charles, and carefully checked to make sure that he stilled breathed. She was disturbed that she had brought him down. That she had harmed another human. She stood up slowly, the concern evident in her face.
“You okay?” Jericho asked her. She looked into his eyes a he stood on the skid above her. She told herself that she had done what she had to do. That she had not wanted to hurt the man. She had just wanted to stop him. She nodded up to Jericho as Jonah came up beside her.
“Is he dead?” He asked her. She shook her head.
“Just unconscious.” She answered.
“That’s what was different.” Jericho said.
“What do you mean?” Jonah asked.
“I said earlier. That the Guardians we saw in the street were different. They killed that man.”
“Killed him? Gabrielle asked, as she found it hard to believe.
“Normally they just control you.” Jericho said. “With the control sticks. They touch you and it knocks you out. But the ones we saw earlier? They’re different somehow. They’re deadly.” He turned. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.” He said and jumped down into the tunnel. Jonah helped Gabrielle up onto the skid, and followed. Soon they were all inside the darkness of the tunnel.
Chapter 36
Immortal Page 35