by T. M. Catron
“Save it.” She dismissed him with a wave. “A thank you would floor me more than that.”
“Thank you—really.”
“You’re welcome—really. Still mad?”
“Yes, but I’ll get over it. Come on, let’s see where this tunnel goes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Walking through the tight shaft wasn’t much better than running blindly through the dark. At least Mina could see. Doyle didn’t see a problem with using their lights now that they were confident they were moving through the innards of the Condarri mothership.
The trade-off was the heat. Mina sweated inside her suit. Even though the fabric did an excellent job of wicking it away, by the end of the first hour, her hair was soaked with sweat. It stuck to her face and curled into her eyes.
After that, the clothing couldn’t keep up with her loss of water. Doyle fared little better. Considering she’d hardly ever seen him sweat, even outside in the middle of the humid Appalachian summer, Mina thought he looked miserable.
She glanced at him now and then, checking to be sure he wasn’t brooding too much on what they were doing. Mainly because she was doing all the brooding for them. Despite the attitude she’d taken, the presence of the ventilation shaft unnerved her. The whole situation felt contrived, like she’d been manipulated into finding the one on the Factory just so she could help Doyle now.
Mina was grateful. If they’d been caught out in the main corridor, they would be dead. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of being used, and it wasn’t pleasant even though she was glad of the outcome.
After four hours of walking and sweating, they stopped to take a break. Doyle finally handed Mina her pack. Before she put it on, she took a long sip from the hydration pack stored within. It hooked to a port outside her suit. It wasn’t her first sip of water, and already the bag felt lighter.
“At this rate, we’ll be through all our water before night… Or whatever you call sleeping in this place.”
“Condar never sleeps.” Doyle’s voice was bitter. Mina wondered how it felt to go weeks without sleep. For her, it seemed a special kind of torture.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, bringing the conversation back to a more immediate issue.
Doyle looked around at the walls. “How did you get out on the Factory?”
“There was only one wall separating the curving tunnel from the detention center, and the adarria marked it.”
“One wall? How big was the tunnel?”
“About this height, but it was square-shaped.”
Doyle put his water away, his eyes fixed on it but his mind obviously somewhere else.
“You think the Glyph could get out…” With a pang of remorse, Mina realized she should have told him about the tunnel sooner. The Glyph was small enough to fit inside the passage. And it would likely know exactly how to get through the walls.
Doyle looked at her, his eyes darker than ever. “Only if it can break free of its cage, and trust me, it’s not going anywhere.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”
He shot her an exasperated look. “Have I ever done that?”
“I’ve never noticed, no.”
“You should know by now I don’t soften the truth. Even with you,” he said softly.
Mina reached over to put a hand on his leg. Then she leaned her head back, resting it on the back of her helmet. If she could just get a few minutes sleep, she’d be ready to go again.
But the sweat in her hair had cooled, making her head feel like someone had doused it with cold water. Mina shivered.
“It’s colder in here,” Doyle said, echoing her thoughts.
Mina sat up. “When that happened on the Factory, it meant I crossed through the wall. Do you think there’s a door around here?”
Doyle stood and began testing the wall. He braced himself each time he touched it, preparing himself, no doubt, to keep from being sucked in. But everything he touched was solid.
“Do you think the adarria activate it?” she asked.
“Maybe. But I’m not going to speak to them. Not yet. Something about this whole situation doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Me, either. Do you get the feeling of being herded into a trap?”
“Yes,” he said. “But to be honest, I’ve had that feeling from the beginning.”
“What are we doing here?”
“I think the risks are worth it. There’s something on this ship that will help us. But without knowing what it is, I’m blind.”
“So we’re waiting for inspiration.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“But you have an idea.”
“We need to get to the Core of the ship. I think the answer may be there.”
“What’s in the Core?”
Doyle shook his head. “I can only guess. The Factory Core is full of hot plasma.”
“Is there a connection?”
“Maybe.”
Mina stood. “If it’s this hot in here with these suits, what would it be like without them?”
“Hotter,” he said grimly.
They proceeded in silence, walking a little slower now. The cooler temperature helped, but after all the sweating and running, Mina’s muscles were beginning to cramp. They passed five more areas where the temperature changes signaled possible exits, but the adarria never lit anything, and the walls remained solid.
After four more hours, they stopped for some real rest. Mina propped herself against the wall, resting her shoulder against Doyle. She was asleep before he’d even been able to offer her more water.
He woke her six hours later.
“What made you let me sleep so long?”
“You looked tired.”
Mina wanted to rub the sleep out of her eyes and move a strand of hair off her lip, but with her visor down, she couldn’t do anything about it. The hair tickled, and she jerked her head around in her helmet a bit, trying to dislodge it. It was stuck with sweat. Attractive, she thought. But she couldn’t do anything about it.
“Doyle.”
“Yes?”
“Why are the mothership and the constellation both called Condar?”
“I don’t know all the details. But Condar is a warrior race, has been for millennia. Their home is found on the planets orbiting the seven stars of the constellation Condar. They revere it. So, when they travel, they name their flagship Condar as well, to bring home with them wherever they go.”
“Is it a beautiful place?”
“I don’t know,” Doyle said wistfully. “I’ve never seen it.”
“Would you like to?”
Doyle shrugged. “I’m curious.” He glanced at her. “What about you? Would you like to see the stars when this is all over?”
Mina closed her eyes, remembering the glimpse of the galaxy she had seen in the silo. Its beauty had stunned her. And yes, it had tugged at her too, at a place deep within her soul. She’d had trouble putting it into words. “If this all ends someday, I don’t want to go looking for more Condarri, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Mina sat up to look at him. “Are you being serious?”
Doyle nodded.
“What about your hybrid army?”
“Eventually, I’ll turn that over to someone else. I want to travel.”
“You say that like you’re thinking of renting an RV for the summer.”
Doyle laughed. “Are you afraid, Mina?”
Mina smiled. “If your hybrids defeat the Condarri, and if you can safely turn over control of them to someone else, I will travel with you, Doyle.”
“Deal.” He held out his hand for her to shake. She took it.
“More pressing at the moment—how are we going to eat?” she asked.
“We’ll have to find a way. Feeling weak?”
“Nah. Not yet.”
The look Doyle gave her said he didn’t believe her. But he couldn�
�t do much about it, so they rose and continued their journey.
They walked through the winding tunnels for another day, through several more doors in front of them, but never entering one on the side. To eat, Doyle used an old tarp from their packs. He held it in a bubble around Mina’s head to trap the oxygen, allowing her to raise her visor long enough to shove some hybrid food into her mouth. Since the food was disgusting anyway, she didn’t lament having to swallow it quickly so she could put her visor back down. The workaround was inconvenient, but at least she felt better after eating. Doyle hadn’t needed the assistance, saying he could breathe the air for a limited time. After they ate, their suits beeped at them for several hours, replenishing the lost oxygen and venting the methane gas mixture. They didn’t suggest doing it again.
They’d just passed through the fifth door when the tunnel began curving to the left and spiraling upward. Mina, already tired from walking and weak from the little nourishment, began to fall behind. But when she looked at Doyle, she couldn’t bring herself to ask him to wait.
She’d promised she wouldn’t get in the way, and she fully intended to keep that commitment. Mina shook herself and hurried to walk beside him again.
And then, the third day, just when Mina was about to cave and tell him to stop, the adarria lit up in the wall to their left. They stopped, looking at each other, then looking at the lights. As with all the other doors, the grooves glowed without changing. Only this time, a bright flow that Mina could only describe as liquid light began to spread around them until it covered an area the size of a door.
“Will we get burned?” she asked.
Doyle reached out and put his hand on the wall. It grabbed him immediately, and he hissed, gritting his teeth. He tried to pull out again, but as with all the others, the door only worked one way. The only way to get back to the tunnel was to go through and then turn and come back through the wall.
“Stay here,” he said as he allowed his arm to be taken.
“What good will it do if you die on the other side of that door? I’ll die a slower death here. No thanks.”
“Mina—” But whatever Doyle was about to say was cut off by his strangled cry of pain.
Mina paled in fear. She couldn’t do anything but watch as Doyle allowed himself to be sucked into the wall. Soon his feet were through, and he was gone. The light still burned brighter than the other doors. Without thinking about it, Mina closed her eyes and jumped into the wall.
It hit her like stone. It was stone. She bounced off the wall, landing on her back with the wind knocked out of her. It hadn’t let her through.
She jumped to her feet, panicking as she hit the comm button. “Doyle!”
Would the comm signal go through the wall?
“Doyle!”
Suddenly, the panic at feeling closed in began to take over. Mina couldn’t breathe. The mask fogged up, obscuring her vision and causing the panic to slip over the edge.
Mina pounded the door, but the light burned her gloves. She yanked them away, frantically checking to make sure it hadn’t caused a hole. The smoking gloves were intact. What had happened to Doyle’s suit? Had he survived?
She paced up and down in front of the door, trying to calm down. The adarria were still activated, which meant the door was still a door, right?
Mina tried to reach Doyle again on the comm but got no answer.
She stopped pacing and faced the wall. Doyle hadn’t wanted to use the adarre earlier for fear of being heard. But if she could only speak to him and be found, that would be preferable to dying in silence here in the tunnel.
Mina took a deep breath. Speaking to the adarria was rash. Doyle was probably okay. Maybe the adarria were trying to protect her. Maybe Doyle had asked them to? But Mina was tired of maybes, of waiting for Doyle without answers. Mina knew she should give Doyle time, but she couldn’t suppress the rising panic.
She closed her eyes and pictured the adarria in her mind.
Then, the comm crackled. “Mi—a.”
Mina could have wept in relief. She almost did. The idea of being trapped down there had scared Mina more than she would ever admit. As relief washed over her, she almost forgot to answer. She scrambled to push the button.
“Doyle!”
“You okay?”
“Yes! Are you?”
“I’m fine. Wh”—static took over—“here?”
“They won’t let me through!”
“Ah… don’t… on.”
“Don’t what?”
Mina looked at the door again, which was burning a little dimmer. She brushed it again, and this time it sucked in her fingers like a powerful vacuum.
It burned. Mina thought she was going to explode inside her suit. Steam rose inside it, fogging her visor and making it so she couldn’t breathe for the hot air. She sputtered, gasping. Then the squeezing started, but she was so preoccupied with the heat that it didn’t feel as bad this time.
Then, relief.
She fell out onto a dark stone floor. The heat vanished, replaced with a cold so deep she felt it in her bones. Mina shuddered. Then Doyle was there, hauling her to her feet, checking her for injury.
“I told you not to come over.”
“I couldn’t hear what you were saying.”
Doyle didn’t say anything else as he checked her suit for holes. As he lifted Mina’s arm to inspect the fabric, she looked around for the first time. Her mouth dropped open.
The room was huge. No, huge didn’t describe it. It was the largest indoor structure Mina had ever seen. At least three football stadiums long, and just as tall, the entire room was supported by massive pillars made of dark glass. Or at least, something inside the glass was dark. Lit by a soft purple light, it swirled and flowed around.
“This looks like the lab on the Factory.”
Doyle had finished checking her and, satisfied, moved to stand beside her.
“I thought so too.”
“But it’s so much bigger. What’s inside them?” She pointed to the tube nearest them. Doyle glanced around, then walked over to it. Mina followed close beside him.
When he touched the glass, it glowed purple, his hand leaving behind its imprint for a second before fading.
He dropped his hand and looked around. “It’s another lab.”
“For what? Not humans.”
“I think we just found out where the young Condarri are coming from.”
“But why do Condarri need to make more in a lab?”
“I don’t know anything about their physiology. But I always assumed they were asexual. Which means they have to clone or reproduce by copying.”
Then, with a bang that shook the entire room, a black, long-fingered claw hit the glass right in front of them. Mina jumped. Doyle grabbed her arm and backed away into the shadows. The long claw slid down the glass tube, leaving a deep gouge in the surface of the artificial womb.
“Can it see us?” Mina whispered. “Is it trying to get out?”
“Don’t think so.” But Doyle pulled them back anyway. He looked up again and frowned. “These wombs are different—they’re on movable tracks.”
Mina looked up, but she couldn’t see anything that far up. “Meaning?”
“They are going to move these.”
“To where?” She didn’t want to ask the question, but it spilled out of her before she could stop it. Some deep-seated, morbid curiosity wanted to be satisfied. But she knew the answer before Doyle spoke.
“They’re taking them to Earth,” he said. “That would explain the battleships waiting in the other docks.”
Mina looked around them now, afraid that something would come out of the shadows to grab them. She really wished more than ever she had eyes like Doyle’s. “Let’s get out of here.”
Doyle turned, his eyes still scanning the room. But when they landed on a panel set into the stone beside one of the wombs, he stopped.
“Doyle, please.” She couldn’t help begging. They were going to g
et caught. Why had the adarria dumped them out here? Was this the trap springing into place?
“Just a minute.” He walked over to the panel. Mina hurried after him.
“What is it?”
Doyle touched the adarria on the stone. Mina tensed, waiting for something to happen. While they’d been on the ship, he had avoided touching them as much as possible. He put his whole hand on the panel.
The room in front of Mina flashed bright, yellow light. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust. A hologram had appeared in front of them, just like the one at the lab on the Factory. It formed a Glyph, almost life-size, but without adarria covering its body.
“Where—?”
But soon adarria appeared, glowing golden beside the creature. It swirled and floated around in the air around them, even going through Mina’s body as the hologram shifted. Then all at once, the adarria implanted themselves on the creature. On the hologram, it opened its jaws wide in what looked like a howl of rage.
Doyle gasped, his mouth open. Without another word, he took his hand off the panel. The hologram disappeared, leaving Mina blind for a moment as her eyes tried to readjust to the darkness. While she did, Doyle took a running leap toward the panel, grasping it at the top and pulling himself up.
There, he reached down and pulled something large out of the upper part of the panel, shoved it into his bag, and dropped back down to the floor, landing in a crouch.
“Let’s go,” he said and took off at a run to the door they’d entered by. Mina followed close on his heels, wondering if Doyle had gone mad. He’d just stolen something from the Condarri.
Doyle motioned for Mina to go first, and eager to get out of the room, she didn’t hesitate. The heat wasn’t as bad on the return trip, and she almost managed to keep her feet when she landed in the tunnel.
The next moment, Doyle stepped out of the wall behind her. He was smiling, his eyes shining in a way she’d never seen before. They gleamed in the white light of her helmet.
“What is it?” she asked.
Doyle laughed, his voice inside her helmet. Rather than ease her fears, it unnerved Mina more than anything else she’d seen since landing on Condar.