by Adam Steel
‘Are we there yet?’ Irish quipped at Rust, directing the attention away from Lucian.
Irish seemed embarrassed by Lucian’s emotional torment and he poked a stick through the weld mesh, so that it irritated Rust. Rust flipped it out of the way.
‘Not yet,’ Rust answered.
The truck sped on into the distance.
Max had been debating popping one of his Apexir pills. He had three remaining, but he decided to save them until they got inside. They had been driving for about an hour when he crawled to the back of the truck and peered out. He could see that they were on a back road. Irish had asked Rust: “If they were there yet?” at least twenty times. They were in a forested area, heading roughly south and he was thinking of the forest that he and Aya had been in. He thought of her sitting in Mother Esme’s cave dwelling and frowned. He was relieved to be out of Union City.
They passed several derelict and overgrown towns and the rest of the journey passed in relative silence. Only Irish’s occasional quips (and Ellie’s instructions to Rust concerning the map) broke the monotony. Finally, Ellie instructed Rust to slow down. She frowned in concentration at the Genie blueprints and the ancient road-map.
‘Okay,’ she said through chewed lips. ‘I think were nearly there. It’s got to be right around here,’ she said sounding unsure.
She had tried to align the two diagrams together, but it had been difficult because the scale differed. Rust slowed the truck to a crawl (following her instructions) and she guided them along. It was getting late and the light was fading fast.
In the back of the truck, Jon Li had taken something out of his pocket. Ellie recoiled in shock, and almost dropped her papers, when she realised it was one of Drago’s guns. Jon Li was checking it over.
‘Where did you get that?’ she breathed in horror.
Jon Li was struggling to release the weapons chamber. Max helped him out.
‘Drago gave it to me. Just in case,’ he said flatly.
Lucian said nothing.
Ellie missed the look that passed between Rust and Red.
Rust brought her attention back to the map.
‘Well. Is this it? I’m driving blind here.’
Ellie tried to forget about the ‘killing machine’ in Jon Li’s hands, and shakily took up the maps again.
‘Yes,’ she agreed at last. ‘I think this is it.’
They were in a heavily wooded area.
Irish sat up.
‘Are we there yet,’ he asked, again.
‘Yes we’re fuckin' there,’ Rust answered.
‘What took you so long?’ Irish asked.
‘If you think you can do better, then you drive back,’ Rust quipped.
Rust brought the truck to a halt and turned around to stare at them through the weld-mesh.
‘This is it folks. End of the road,’ Rust said.
They all glared at each other before the back door opened, and Red appeared outside. Lucian freed the ramp and it dropped down. One by one they piled out of the truck, dragging their equipment with them. Max heaved a thick sailor’s rope, off the roof of the truck. Irish piled out last: stretching his massive torso. He looked around at the area and saw only trees and overgrown pastures.
‘So…what exactly do you want me to blow up?’ he quizzed while heaving the explosives pack out of the truck.
Ellie and Lucian compared the blueprints with their location on the road map.
‘It’s underneath us,’ Lucian commented.
Lucian looked at the outline of the tunnel which was shown on the Genie blueprints.
‘Somewhere here,’ Lucian said pointing at the blueprints.
It took them almost an hour to find the exact spot.
They had all felt the vibrations of the monorail travelling under the ground beneath them. Rust had taken the truck to their designated meeting spot to wait for them until the job was done. Ellie had a terrible sinking feeling that she would never see him again. Irish had set the charges while they were distributing the rest of their equipment and Ellie and Lucian had taken a radio each and clipped them onto their belts. Max had performed one last check on his pistols before holstering them into his TALOS trousers. Jon Li tucked Drago’s pistol through his belt. It did not suit him.
They had all taken cover behind a cluster of trees where they waited for Irish to set off the dynamite. Ellie covered her ears. Irish came running towards them and dived into the trees with them.
‘Three…Two…One,’ he shouted, and held his head in his hands.
The explosion was directed downwards by some creative placement. It largely contained the blast underground. A massive clod of dirt and grass flew up in the air and landed a few inches from them with a loud ‘thud’. Ellie could smell the fresh earth. The noise had been deafening in the quiet night. Ellie hoped that nobody would hear it. The smoke cleared and they stood up. Irish went to look at the new hole that he had created.
‘Is it safe now?’ Ellie asked.
‘We’re clear,’ came Irish’s answer.
Irish seemed pleased with himself and gestured for them to join him at the edge of the hole. They all gathered and peered down the hole. It had been partially smashed open by the blast to reveal the monorail tunnel. Below them a hollow blackness extended further than they could see. Max took the sailors rope, and un-coiled it and fastened it to a tree, pulling on it hard to test its strength. Lucian slid down it and landed on his feet with a ‘thump’ at the bottom. One by one, the others followed into the black pit. Max then tied one end firmly around Ellie’s waist and watched her frightened face disappear into the darkness, until the rope went slack. Max slid down the rope and by the time he had got down, Ellie was scanning around with one of the two torches, which they had lifted from the Keeper.
Ellie kept one torch and gave the other to Max.
The tunnel was totally dark and dripping with water. It stank of dampness and metal. A cold air current ran along the tunnel. Two sets of monorail tracks ran down the middle. They found themselves standing on a plinth of concrete which ran the whole length of the tunnel. Leading off from the plinth were pipes and intermittent service hatches.
Ellie consulted the blueprint.
‘We need to head in this direction,’ Ellie instructed indicating down the tunnel.
Max took up the rear and the party started to walk (in single file) down the narrow plinth.
‘How far is it?’ Jon Li asked, from behind her.
‘It shouldn't take long to find the service hatch, which is shown on the blueprint. If we can find it in the dark,’ Ellie replied.
Irish piped up from behind Jon Li.
‘Did you feel something?’ he asked.
The party stopped.
‘What is that?’ Jon Li asked.
Ellie had turned to look down the tunnel. She shone the torch as far as the light would take it. Suddenly she shouted to Max.
‘Turn it off! Quick turn the light off!’
Max turned to look behind him and cursed. He turned out the torch and slammed his body up against the side of the tunnel wall. They all followed in suit as the vibration on the monorail tracks intensified. There was a blast of cold air and a deafening noise, before the black bullet thundered out of the blackness towards them. Ellie’s screams were obliterated by the windowless monorail which hurtled past them. Wreckage from the tunnel blast was catapulted into the tunnel. Lumps of lethal concrete bounced off the walls behind them. The train was fully automated. They hadn’t been seen. Somewhere in front, they heard its brakes grinding to a halt.
Dim lights emanated from a distant tunnel.
‘Follow that,’ Ellie gulped.
‘Jeezus. What the fuck was that?’ Irish piped up.
The monorail train had been nothing like the ones that Ellie and Jon Li had used in Coney City. It had been windowless, without carriage’s or a driver and had been seemingly impregnable to the chunks of rock which were on the tracks.
They edged down the tu
nnel toward the lights and they could all hear the sounds of activity and voices. Ellie crouched down and shielded the light of torch at the blueprint so that it couldn’t been seen by other people. She examined it with Lucian.
‘It’s some kind of loading bay. Whatever the cargo was on that train, its being unloaded here,’ Lucian said, pointing at the blueprint.
‘We are almost on top of the duct,’ Ellie confirmed.
‘There has to be TALOS down there. Turn off the light before they see it. We can get close in the dark,’ Lucian instructed.
They crept along the plinth until the noises of people and machines were just ahead. They could smell the brakes and metal fumes which were coming from the loading bay. They were within sight of the loading bay, when they spotted the entrance duct that they had been looking for. Lucian moved to the front of the group.
‘Let’s check it out,’ Lucian whispered, and gestured to Max to follow him. ‘Wait here,’ he instructed the others
Max crept along the plinth behind Lucian and Ellie and the others sank back against the cold wall and waited in the darkness. Lucian and Max crept towards the sound of activity and increasing light. They hugged the wall of the tunnel, blending in with the darkness. When they got to the end of the tunnel Lucian looked around the corner toward the loading bay.
The loading-bay was massive. Four tunnels came into the area from different directions. There were TALOS guards patrolling the area and several technicians dressed in red boiler suits. Lucian and Max watched in sick fascination as its cargo was being unloaded. The red boiler-suited technicians were removing large numbers of black body bags from the train. The body bags were stacked neatly onto miniature carriages pulled behind. Max was reminded of a luggage carrier in an airport.
Lucian turned to Max and said, ‘Let’s get back to the others.’
They both hurried back thinking about the consequences of failing.
‘Hurry up,’ Ellie said.
Lucian and Max were breathless and Max was glad that the others couldn’t see their fearful expressions.
‘We found the duct entrance,’ Ellie said. ‘Irish is working on it.’
The duct was built into the side of the tunnel wall at shoulder height. Irish was busy forcing the grill of a duct off with his axe.
‘Nearly done Luce,’ Irish said, enthusiastically.
‘Hurry the fuck up,’ Lucian said exasperated.
‘Someone’s coming,’ Red said, from somewhere in the dark.
Irish and Ellie were frantically pulling at the grill which was covering the duct. It swung to one side with a clatter. They all stopped absolutely still. They could see the lights of torches approaching them from the direction of the loading bay and a couple of guards were making their way very slowly up the track to where they were struggling with the duct. Max put his hand down on his knife and glanced at Lucian who was thinking the same thing.
‘If they get any closer, we’ll take them out – silently,’ Max said.
‘We’re in,’ Irish said.
‘Ladies first,’ Irish said to Ellie, holding the grill to one side and offering her a leg-up.
Chapter 44: Genie
Genie Power Plant: South of Coney City
The duct was dark and narrow. Ellie’s hands struggled for purchase when Max gave her a boost up from the plinth that she was standing on. She pulled herself up and crawled into the duct. She moved, hand over hand into the darkness, as her legs entered the tight crawlspace.
‘Just a second,’ she called back to the others.
She brought her torch forwards and flicked it on. For a moment nothing happened and she felt a surge of panic. Then the light flickered into life and illuminated the duct ahead. The duct had metal walls and disappeared far into the distance. She had expected the metal to be cold, but it was pleasantly warm to the touch.
Max spoke in a hushed whisper from the entrance.
‘How’s it look? We going to fit?’
She pictured Irish’s large frame and his bulky rifle and pack.
‘We’ll have to stick the weapons in the pack and drag it behind us. It’ll be tight, but I think we can do it,’ she replied.
She edged further into the duct, followed by Max. She could hear the stream of cursing coming from him as he struggled to get up into the duct. The torch light danced crazily across the walls as she moved. One by one, the small party entered the duct. Jon Li grimaced in pain when he heaved his arms into the duct.
Max looked back at him and said, ‘What’s up with you? You ain’t injured, you’re in the same position as the rest of us, so quit whining.’
Jon Li did not reply, but the pain was evident on his face as he went hand over hand, into the duct. Max shook his head, unbelievable, he thought. He’s feigning pain and the real fights not even started yet.
Lucian and Red followed behind.
Irish shoved his pack in first (almost crushing Red) before changing his mind, and tying it onto one of his legs. He hoisted himself up and heaved his bulky frame into the small duct space. Lucian looked back down the passage towards Irish. It was almost pitch black because Irish’s body had blocked out all light from the main tunnel.
‘You Ok?’ Lucian asked.
‘Tighter holes than this have had Irish in 'em,’ Irish quipped back.
Lucian grinned.
The party proceeded down the duct. They did not speak as they moved. The only noises were the grunts of effort and the occasional clanking of a weapon hitting the wall. The pack of explosives made an unnerving slithering noise as it was dragged along. It was combined with a screeching noise of Lucian’s barbed wire as it scraped the metal sides. Their party sounded like a hideous centipede crawling down the duct that was intent on devouring anything in its way.
Ellie crawled forward trying her best to steady the torchlight. She felt as though she was crawling into the belly of a great beast and they were inside of its huge stomach. As she moved along the duct she noticed that it was slowly getting hotter.
Max and Irish shuffled forwards by their shoulders, dragging their weapons, and the pack, behind them. Ellie was glad that she had at least some room to move. Max grunted behind her. He was sweating.
‘It’s getting hot as hell in here,’ he complained.
At least the temperature matches the mood then, she thought.
Her hand slipped when she lost her concentration and the torch fell from her grip, skittered ahead, and went out. She blinked in panic at the sudden loss of light. However, the darkness that she had expected was instead, replaced by a faint, blue hue. Up ahead, she could see that the light got brighter. It seemed to her to be coming up from the floor. An ominous ‘humming’ noise accompanied the light. She hadn’t noticed it before.
‘There’s something up ahead,’ she said quietly to Max, and edged forwards towards the light.
As they moved further down the duct, the source of the light became evident and the duct increased in size. Ellie had retrieved her torch, but found that she did not need it any longer. The metal plating on the duct floor ahead had disappeared. Instead, a thick snaking pipe had replaced it. It sank into the floor and ran the length of the duct as far as she could see. The pipe was translucent in places and flickering blue lights raced along it. It reminded her of an enormous rope light of the type that had flickering patterns. The pipe hummed like a thousand angry bees and the metal that surrounded it had grown hot. The duct was uncomfortably humid and sweat dripped down from her forehead. She knew that it had to be one of the main power lines that ran out of the generator. Mega-watts of power flowed from the generators towards Utopia. The energy inside it was drained from the corpses in the hellish reactor. Minutes earlier, the energy had been the life-force of the victims.
Ellie felt sick.
Max’s irritated voice came from behind her.
‘Ellie? Why have you stopped? Let’s go.’
Ellie moved and placed her hand on the pipe. She summoned her courage and rested her palm on th
e surface. It throbbed and pulsed and she thought that it felt horribly alive. She withdrew her hand as if it had been burned. An impatient shove from behind, sent her sprawling forwards onto the pipe. The heat from the pipe ran up through her body in a blast of warmth. She felt as if she was lying on a huge fat tentacle: one that ‘sucked’ souls. She imagined that it was expelling the dead, dry, husks of its victims.
Ellie gritted her teeth and moved forwards along the pulsating surface. One by one, they all slid across the pipe. She could feel her hair rising from the static energy that they were absorbing from the heavily-shielded, pipe. She hoped passionately, that the insulation would hold and save them from being fried alive in the duct. The idea, that they would all become victims of a terrible revenge from the spirits of the very people they had come to save, flashed across her mind. She pushed herself forward faster. She wanted more than anything, to be off the dreadful pipe. The humming noise, coming from the pipe, had become almost deafening and she figured that it would mask any sounds that they were making.
They continued down the duct towards the heart of the Genie facility and the hideous ‘brood-mother’ of the tentacle that they were all traversing. The crawl forwards seemed to her to take forever. The humming noise that filled the duct enclosed them completely. The monotonous drone had taken on its own guises in the minds of the small team. Ellie thought that it sounded like crying children – their wails travelling the pipe along with the energy that had been forcibly sucked from their lifeless bodies.
Ellie decided that it was almost like spiritual rape.
Max visualised Aya attached to a brain scan monitor. In his vision the monitor had flat-lined and the humming noise moved along with the update point: never changing. He gritted his teeth and shuffled forward. The prolonged exposure to the heat of the pipe had caused his skin to blister. He knew that the others had to be in pain also even though they hadn’t complained.
Irish grunted as he tried to lift the rucksack of explosives off the pipe.
‘Hope the heat don’t set these babies off…or this is gonna be a real short trip,’ he commented.