by A. B. Keuser
Still watching Giuseppe, he moved around those crates until he was close enough to his brother they wouldn’t have to shout.
“I can’t fix this without help. Sophia’s potential plans are our only hope.”
Flynn glanced at the tunnel she’d disappeared down. “What if she doesn’t come back?”
“We’ve still got him.” Drea didn’t sound optimistic.
Putty’s snorted laugh was even less hopeful. “Would you come back for him?”
Flynn had no idea how they’d manage it, but, “We should evacuate the planet.”
“We’d have to call in the Colarium for that.” Drea looked at him, the unasked question clear in her eyes.
“I’m not important enough to condemn a whole planet, but thanks for thinking I’d be worried about that.”
“It wouldn’t matter anyway.” Putty switched tools. “There’s what, just over five million people on the planet, right?”
“About that. Another million spread throughout the moons.”
“There’s no chance the Colarium could get here in time, with enough ground-to-void transports to get that many off planet, and then back to a safe fold point in time.”
“There’s a timer?”
Putty shot him a look. “Who would volunteer to stay behind to set it off?”
Flynn gave him the look their mother had given them a dozen times as children. The one that questioned if she’d raised complete idiots. And then, he pointedly turned his gaze to Giuseppe. "Someone who’s gullible enough to think the Lazarai not only have the technology to pull ore from a planet, but also thinks they’d hand it over for anything less than the combined wealth of the Colarium.”
“The mine has to have emergency drills….” Maggie glanced toward the ceiling of the cavern. “We could at least try to get some of them to safety. The kids?”
Flynn looked to Drea, she was technically in charge. And though he knew she had her own investment in the safety of the planet’s children, she shook her head.
“All that would do is put a spark to the kindling of panic. I don’t need to tell either of you how dangerous that kind of chaos could be.”
A familiar voice barked orders from the tunnel behind him, and Flynn allowed himself a moment’s distraction from Giuseppe.
The scuffle of boots on the hard packed floor pulled Flynn around. He might have known who it was coming, but he didn’t trust anything right now. Gun leveled into dimness, he waited.
“It’s just me—er, us.” Nika called out before he came into view.
Flynn lowered the gun, but kept his finger on the trigger.
Nika and his small crew of junkers stuttered to a stop as they took in the machine.
“What,” Nika’s enunciation was too forceful. “The fuck is that?
“A problem we’re dealing with,” Maggie nodded to him. “Good to see you again, Nika.”
The scrapper nodded, “Mag.”
Then he looked at where Giuseppe stood, yawning.
“If you’re here, and he’s here, I can’t imagine what’s going on. Someone want to enlighten me?”
“Sure,” Giuseppe swept a long gaze over all of them. “Once my men get here, you’ll all be moved off Refuti property, and I’ll begin the process of pressing charges for this blatant trespassing.”
Maggie cursed, and turned to Drea, their conversation was too quiet to hear.
“I knew those yellow cuffs were up to no good. Didn’t I tell you?”
The accusation was clearly directed to Flynn, but he wasn’t about to agree or disagree with the man when he was angry.
Maggie moved closer to them as Drea disappeared down the tunnel Nika had arrived through.
Again, her words were quiet. “We need to move people into the surrounding tunnels, just in case he does have men coming. I had a talk with the terrafarm administrator this morning. The yellow cuffs, as Nika so eloquently dubbed them, are apparently paid well enough loyalty isn’t a factor.”
“Leave that to me and my boys.” Nika moved his hand in a circular motion, and his men moved toward the exit. “We’ll be more than happy to round the scoundrels up.”
Maggie nodded her approval. “I’m coming with.”
A curt nod was all he got from the woman. Less came from Nika before they, and his crew disappeared.
Drea said something to them as she returned, and then, she was back at Flynn’s side.
If Giuseppe thought anything of the interaction, Flynn wouldn’t have known just from looking at him.
“We’ve got men coming to hold the line, in case anyone wants to get in here for him,” she jerked her head towards Giuseppe, “or to get this thing going quicker.”
“Good, Putty will need as much time and space as we can give him.”
From the other side of the machine, his brother snorted. “Putty can still hear you when you talk about him like he’s not here.”
“They’ll make sure he’s left alone. Even Bosco’s out there… to say his dislike of the yellow cuffs is mild compared to some others would be an understatement.”
Gunshots sounded in the distance, and Flynn’s attention snapped to Giuseppe, taking a mental inventory. He had no idea what Sophia would do if a stray bullet took her brother’s life before she got back.
He knew the conclusion he’d draw if he was her.
Loathe as he was to admit it, he needed to keep the weasel alive.
Forty-Two - Sophia
Getting back to the farm felt like it took an hour.
Everything around them was eerily still. Her employees went about their jobs as though her brother hadn’t jeopardized everything they’d worked to build here.
Ignorance truly was bliss.
The lift trundled toward her office, too slow, and she had to force herself to stop clenching her teeth, in case she cracked them.
She didn’t let Banks lead the way, it was the only thing that saved a life.
Her office wasn’t empty.
In the half second it took Sophia to register the woman, Banks had raised his gun and she knocked it aside on pure instinct.
The woman met her eyes and then smiled. “Thank you.”
Kathrynn Monroe wasn’t quite what she’d expected.
“You’ll need these.” She said, rolling up the plans. “And my blood would only have made them difficult to read.”
“How did you—”
“Now’s not the time to worry about the safety of this single office when the whole of the planet’s at risk, Mr. Colan. The Great Mother places me where she needs me, and if that means I need to be inside this office, that is where I am. I don’t ask questions. It’s easier that way.”
Sophia’s gaze stopped on the woman’s fingers. Red stained. She looked at the rosary that had fallen from its place inside her shirt as she leaned over the desk. Three red beads.
When she looked up, met Kathrynn’s gaze, she bit her tongue to keep the myriad questions she had from streaming from her lips.
Pulling on her gloves and slipping the necklace back into her shirt, Kathrynn made her way around the desk.
“Unlike my brothers, I know exactly who you are, Sophia. The Great Mother has shown me that too. You’re her servant, as am I. We can only follow her path. Sometimes that means hurting people we never intended to….” She reached up, dragging her soft, gloved fingers along Sophia’s cheek. “Sometimes, it means hurting ourselves. You need to go now… I can’t waste any more of your time.”
Sophia could have sworn she cast a censorious glance at Banks, but he was already dragging her from the room.
While the lift dropped back through the tower, she tried to decipher the plans. They were half gibberish to her. The other half was a line drawing of the device she’d so recently left.
She let Banks lead the way through the maze of corridors, eyes searching for some clue… some way she could start Putty off with more information that “here it is.”
A block of symbols had been crossed out, their
replacements jotted beside them.
The notes were written out in a delicate hand, the black text sharper than the rest of the information.
“I think she left us a clue?”
“Can we really trust Archimedes Holzen’s executioner?”
“She doesn’t want her brothers dead.”
He snorted and she would have sworn he shook his head. She had a feeling the sentiment was related more to her brother than the Monroes, so she said nothing.
She read over the notes again, the figures were mathematical… but other than that, she had no idea what they meant. Kathrynn had to know that Putty was there… had to know he’d be the one to read these and solve their problem.
“I think—” A green arrow passed her periphery, and she looked up, registering their surroundings.
Banks was headed toward the launch pad.
She stopped, pulling back, and he stopped with her.
“We’re going the wrong way.”
“No, you’re getting on a ship and off this planet.”
“The hell I am.”
“We don’t have time to argue about this.” He took her hand, and pulled her toward the exit that lead to the landing pad.
“You’re right. We don’t.” She tried to shake free, but his grip was unyielding. “If you want to leave, that’s fine. Go. I won’t set one foot off this planet until I’m certain my brother’s naivety doesn’t cause more problems. These plans need to get to Putty, as soon as humanly possible.”
“And if he can’t stop it?”
“Then I’ll suffer the consequences.”
He jerked back as if she’d struck him. “That is unacceptable.”
“Abandoning these people to whatever fate the Lazarai have planned is unacceptable.”
“Not to me.” He scooped her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a bag of seed, and started back toward the hangar.
“Put me down.” When he took two more steps, she hit him on the head with the plans. “Now!”
He did, but he didn’t let her go.
She wanted to hit him. Wanted to plant the punch he’d taught her in his solar plexus… or better yet, his jaw. How he could possibly think she’d let him—
“You’re fired. You can help as a civilian; otherwise…get off my farm.” His grip on her tightened… not enough to hurt, but enough to tell her how frustrated he was. “Let go of me. I don’t have time to call security to escort you out.”
He stiffened, lips a flat line, and then, he let her go.
She ran.
Despite how much she wanted to wallop him, she was happy to hear his boots crunching in the gravel behind her.
It was a full, simmering minute before she could talk again. Long enough they had made it back to the tunnel, and despite their lack of time, despite… everything, she turned back to him. “Did you actually think I’d get on that ship?”
“No.”
“Then why waste time trying?”
He looked at her, eyes searching her face for something….
“You know why. It’s the same reason I almost died when you jumped off that cliff.” He paused, long enough to clench his teeth and turn back to the tunnel. “And I’ll accept your dismissal if we die… but not a second before that.”
Forty-Three - Flynn
If Sophia didn’t get back soon, Flynn was going to strangle her brother… or perhaps something a little louder.
He’d never met someone who simpered quite so well, who managed to annoy him simply by sitting on a crate, rolling his eyes and sighing. As if they were waiting for something as boring as a tea party to start.
Giuseppe, clapped his hands on his thighs and stood. His movements drew every eye, however momentarily, and his smirk turned almost feral.
“I wonder what you’ll do when my men get here. They’re well paid to have an interest in my safety, and you’re standing in the way of that…” Those tattooed eyes traveled to Flynn’s neck. “Tell me, Mr. Monroe, you’ve used up one of your lives at the very least. I wonder how many you have left?”
“Enough to deal with you.” Not enough to deal with the monstrosity behind him.
That, he would have to hope Putty could save them from.
“How is it possible there are three of you in this cavern and you’re all so boring?”
“For one,” Drea said, crossing the distance from Putty to them. “We’re not worried about your entertainment.”
He smiled at her, gaze tracing her up and down. “Then I guess I’ll have to find my own.”
He strolled around the crates, looking inside those that were open, tapping several of the closed with his foot.
Flynn watched him, only half-interested. As long as he didn’t try to bolt, Flynn didn’t really care what he did.
“Do you think he can do it?” Drea’s words were soft, her eyes on Putty.
“If anyone on this planet can….”
Putty looked up from his work, and scowled at them both. “Not a fan of the amount of pressure you’re heaping on me right now. Shit!”
Flynn glanced back as Giuseppe threw something and scurried backward. Eyes wide, the man finally looked scared, though, Flynn didn’t have a clue—
From behind him, Putty yelled, “Everybody down!”
Flynn dropped to the floor, dragging Drea down, arms over her head to shield them from whatever was to come.
But nothing happened.
He raised up on one elbow, looking all around them. Everyone was on the ground. Giuseppe included, hands gripping the edges of a half opened crate.
“What—”
The deafening burst of an explosion killed the rest of the question and he ducked again.
Heavy debris flew into the cavern, the nearest crate disintegrated in the blast, sending chips and splinters exploding away like brittle shrapnel.
When the dust settled, leaving only a ringing in his ears to cut the coughing around him, Flynn pushed his feet and pulled Drea upright. He blinked away the heavy hanging dirt and pulled the mask from his belt, letting it filter out the worst.
Through the haze, he glared at the third tunnel, the one Banks had come through to rescue his employer.
It was gone.
A pile of rubble sat in its place, and Flynn turned to where Geo sat, seemingly knocked on his ass by the explosion. Eyes too wide, he stared at the debris and, finally, looked scared.
“What did you do?” Flynn said, though with his ears ringing, it was more of a shout—as he closed the small distance to Giuseppe and pulled the man from the ground, his shirt front fisted in one hand.
“I didn’t do it on purpose!”
The crate beside them was half open, and full of focus charges.
“Why the hell would you—”
“I didn’t know they were armed.”
A well-worn lecture sat on the tip of Flynn’s tongue, but Giuseppe was not a soldier, and as soon as possible, he wouldn’t be his problem anymore. He shoved the man away. “Don’t touch anything else.”
Behind him, Drea laughed, the sort of uncomfortable sound he’d always associated with discomfort.
“Do we have anything to tie him up?” Flynn asked, turning to his brother.
He didn't like the scowl Putty wore.
“I hate to be the one who’s rushing everybody, but I just found the timeclock.”
“Where?” Drea moved around the machine, her brow pinched.
“It doesn’t have a display… which is what took so long.” He looked at Flynn. “We’ve got an hour… maybe less if trying to stop it triggers some sort of protocol.”
Flynn looked at the seemingly dormant machine and wondered what Archimedes would have done a year ago, had he known Flynn was on the planet.
There had to be a code to disarm it. Some sort of failsafe.
Turning toward the tunnel that led to the Refuti Terrafarm, he asked, “Do we think she’s actually coming back?”
Putty didn’t need any clarification, he didn’t bristl
e at the question—at the doubt therein.
“Yesterday morning, I would have said yes. No question. Now…”
With a sharp, single nod, he turned to where the man whose ignorance had put them in this position.
“You’re going to disarm it.” Flynn gave Giuseppe a shove, but he didn’t move closer to the bomb.
Instead he turned to face them with a calculating smile. “I will… if you leave.”
Flynn didn’t believe him for a moment.
“If you don’t disarm it, we all die. I thought you cared more for those suits of yours than that.”
Giuseppe stood next to the machine, his hands clasped behind his back. The glazed-over look he fixed on it was filled with an odd delight.
He truly believed the line he’d tried to sell Sophia.
Flynn checked his gun, though he knew it couldn’t have unloaded itself.
As if he’d read his mind, Giuseppe glanced at him out the corner of his eye, a smug smile twitching across his lips. “Remember what my sister said, you can’t hurt me.”
“No, but—” The ground shook
Flynn braced himself against the wall, covering his head with his arms, but no rocks fell.
In the silence that followed, Flynn forced himself to look at the structure.
Blinking away the haze of thin dirt floating down from the caver ceiling, he checked everyone around him. They were all fine… except Giuseppe.
The soil on his shoulder received a look of disgust Flynn would personally save for slime mold. He swatted at it as though it might bite him.
Waving a hand in front of her face, batting away the fine dust in front of her, Drea said, “I have a thought… it’s not a good one.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“We block the hole. If the blast triggers on the surface, we can minimize the damage.”
In other words, they might be the only ones who had to die.
“How bad would it be?”
Drea looked at Putty.
He shook his head. “The shockwave would still travel down the borehole. It might mitigate the blast… but I don’t think there’s any chance it would save the planet. This is an all or nothing situation.”
Flynn hadn’t expected anything else from Archimedes… but one could always hope.