“Me too. A steel barrel wouldn’t help us much,” said Rev. “You need to be ready to position the barrel. I’ll distract the guard.”
Flint hovered by the floor near the security screen and unscrewed the barrel with his translucent arm. He rolled the barrel a short distance on the floor to test how much effort he’d need to position it. The tube stopped and he retrieved it.
“I’m ready,” said Flint. “I’ve calculated friction and drag based on the weight of the barrel. If we get a chance I’m fairly certain I can get the barrel into the screen in a spot close enough to let me reach around to the switch.”
“Good. Now we wait for supper time,” said Rev.
It wasn’t long before a guard entered carrying a metal tray with a metal cup of water. Apparently they knew enough not to allow the prisoners any non-conductive items in their cells. He motioned for them to move to the far wall. When Rev and Flint complied, the guard deactivated the security screen and laid the tray on the ground just inside the cell.
Rev moved to pick up the tray as the guard retraced his steps. Just before he pushed the button, Rev kicked the tray making an awful racket. The grey pasty food and water splattered the guard, covering the man’s uniform and walls. His eyes flashed with anger and for a moment Rev thought he’d provoked him to a fight, which would have been great for Rev. The guard took one step toward Rev and reconsidered, scraping a glob of goo from his cheek. In disgust he turned away and pushed the activate button. The guard picked up the overturned tray and cup and left leaving the mess inside the cell untouched.
“Did you do it?” asked Rev.
Flint pointed to the lower right of the security frame. His barrel was exactly halfway inside both their cell and the guard room.
“Excellent,” said Rev. “Let’s wait for a few minutes to make sure no one is interested in us.”
They waited about ten minutes and then Flint flew over to the barrel and extended a thin rope-like arm no larger than the thickness of a pencil. He wiggled his fingers and retracted the digits until his hand disappeared.
Rev watched in amazement. “That freaks me out how you can change your body.”
“It’s true, I’m very versatile as to my outer shape but there’s a limit to my mass,” said Flint. “As you can see, I can reform but my physical surface must remain the same.”
“So your size is always the same except it could be thin, thick or anything in between?”
“Precisely.” Flint slipped his handless arm through the barrel tube and tried to extend it up on the other side. He stretched and extended his arm as far as he could but he couldn’t reach the controls. “I can’t reach it,” he whispered desperately.
Flint started to struggle and the barrel slid back, nearly rolling entirely back inside the cell.
Rev laid his hand on the little machine. “Don’t get excited.”
“But I can’t—”
“Relax,” soothed Rev. “How about pulling the barrel over to the edge and then up the frame. Will it move?”
Flint tried to scoot the barrel over until it was nearly against the frame. He then tried to raise it up the side. Rev watched in anticipation. The barrel rose slowly and then Flint felt he could move it faster. He must’ve miscalculated, the forcefield flickered and jolted Flint. His body jerked, went stiff and then shuddered.
“That hurt,” said Flint blinking his eyes. “I twisted the barrel that time. Let me try to keep it level.”
“I think you need to take it slower,” said Rev. Flint nodded.
Rev watched in anticipation as the little automaton moved the barrel slowly up the frame. When he was about level to the controls his arm slid easily through the tube and he deactivated the forcefield.
“Great work little buddy,” said Rev as he sprang from the cell and listened for footsteps.
Flint screwed his barrel back into position and turned the security screen back on. Rev looked at him quizzically.
“In case they monitor the power. It might look like a temporary brown out and we need it to look like we’re still incarcerated.”
“Now you’re thinking.”
* * *
REV FORCED THE DOOR to slide halfway open and poked his head out to see if the coast was clear. Two guards walked around the corner and out of sight. He motioned his head to Flint that they could leave. They both moved as quietly as they could, testing each door as they moved along the hall. Flint’s hovering even quieted as he coasted back to where Rev was trying to force one of the security cell doors.
“Why go in there?” asked Flint.
“Got a hunch,” said Rev.
The door resisted but Rev was able to pull the door back far enough to slip one of his hands through. Then he heaved and some servomotor snapped allowing the door to slide freely. They entered and Rev closed the door so it looked as natural as it could with the metal buckled slightly.
The room was dark but they could hear a security screen humming. Rev thought that there must be a prisoner locked up inside. “Flint. Can you find the lights?”
“I can try.”
Rev heard Flint whiz past his ear towards the far wall, then a flash of light and a pop of energy filled the room as Flint got zapped from the forcefield. He yelped and then the lights came on part way in the guard section but the prisoner’s cell was very dim.
“I’ve got to learn to stay away from those screens,” said Flint rubbing his backside.
“I thought you could see in the dark?”
“I can but the field must be turned up all the way—it sparked me before I could get out of its range.”
“Why would they need to have the power up so high?”
“Either the prisoner is very aggressive, or has escaped before, or . . . ”
“Or what?” asked Rev.
“They want the individual to touch it,” said Flint.
“You mean they want to kill the prisoner?”
“It would look like an accident. Like the prisoner was trying to escape.”
Rev tried to see the prisoner but all he could see was a body curled up in the far corner. “Can you turn the lights on in the cell?”
Flint stayed far enough away from the forcefield not to get zapped and fumbled with the control panel. Then the light in the prisoner’s cell glowed and brightened slowly.
Rev waited and then he recognized the body. “Braz!” he shouted. “Hurry turn the field off!”
Flint found the right button and the security screen lifted. Rev raced to his friend’s side rolling him over and trying to wake him. He could see that Braz had been beaten nearly to death. His eyes were completely shut from the swelling and his lower lip was split and about two times the size it should be.
“Braz, you with us?” said Rev pushing back some sticky black hair that had matted to his forehead with dried blood.
An eye flickered and a bubble of blood popped from his nose. “Rev?” moaned Braz weakly.
“It’s me. Stay still while I see if they busted any bones.” Rev ran his hands over Braz’s upper body and found some cracked ribs, broken fingers and nose. Every time Rev found something broken Braz would moan slightly.
“I’m not as tough as you,” said Braz.
“Shut up and stay still,” scolded Rev. “You’re busted in a few places but you’ll heal to be your ugly self in no time.”
Braz tried to chuckle but everything hurt and he winced in pain and passed out again. “Jesus, they roughed him up good,” said Rev.
“It looks like they tossed him here to die,” said Flint.
“Someone’s going to pay for this and I’m betting you know who,” growled Rev.
“Regency Tuloff,” said Flint.
“His ass won’t be worth the shit it houses after I get my hands on him,” vowed Rev. “Do you think Braz can take being carried?”
“It’s going to hurt,” said Flint. “But yes. As long as he isn’t jolted too badly.”
“Luckily he’s out cold,” said Re
v as he lifted his friend up and slung him as gently as he could over his shoulder. The big man moved cautiously away from the cell. The guard was down the hall and then to the left, so they went in the opposite direction hoping to locate an unguarded transmat elevator.
They didn’t get very far when they heard the sound of marching feet. Rev pulled up at an intersection of the hall and pressed himself and Braz up to the wall nearest the sound of the footsteps.
Two guards patrolled past and one turned seeing the three pressed against the wall. The guards drew their weapons, Rev grabbed the closest by the wrist with his free hand, jerked hard and dragged the guard sprawling along the floor. Rev took the heel of his left foot and crushed the man’s larynx with a sickening snap and wrenched the weapon free. He shot the other guard point-blank in the face before he could react.
The light from the weapon lit up the hallway and the full force of the pulse exploded squarely through the man’s head. There was a small hole in his cheekbone and a surprised look on his face but nothing was left of the back of his head and reinforced helmet except the front brim and crown. The body slumped into a dead heap at Rev’s feet.
The sound of the weapon’s discharge was analyzed by some security computer and the alarms sounded. Rev dragged Braz as quickly as he could racing back down the hall where the guards had come from. They could see the transmat elevator and they increased their speed. When they reached the elevator Flint opened the door and four more guards jumped out.
Rev dropped Braz and bear hugged the first guard pinning both arms. He squeezed until he felt the spine crush. The other three guards were knocked down like bowling pins as Rev clung to the first guard and whirled around. Weapons fired out in all directions from the heap of bodies. Rev felt a blast strike the back of the guard he was hugging. The man yelped and jerked and then went limp.
Rev released the man, jamming a left elbow into another guard’s groin which produced a painful scream. Rev’s pistol barrel was shoved deep in the mouth of the screamer and a little pop from the weapon silenced him forever.
The two surviving guards were trying to remove themselves from the pile as Rev rolled over them and freed himself quicker than the others. He then grabbed a man by the head who was crawling on his hands and knees and twisted it one hundred and eighty degrees. The body convulsed and kicked out striking the living guard squarely in the pit of his stomach. He fell back against the wall dropping his weapon.
Rev snatched the weapon and pointed both of the pistols at the last guard. The man searched for an escape. “Don’t,” said Rev pointing his weapon on the guard.
Rev backed up to where Braz was laying and carefully moved the injured human into the elevator. He patted the agent’s face to revive him. “Braz, are you awake?”
Braz nodded.
“Can you tell us where Taki’s other hideout is?”
Braz nodded again and started to mumble. Rev pointed to Flint to listen while he took a bead on the fidgeting guard. Flint barely heard the coordinates, then punched in the numbers on the keyboard with an elongated arm.
Tuloff and a squad of guards raced down the hall firing madly.
Rev’s guard panicked, jumped up and was promptly shot in the chest by his own people as he was scrambling for safety. The man turned with a gasp of pain and stared at Rev who looked at the man with sympathy as the doors closed.
Rev’s last memory of the prison was the dead guard slumping to the floor clutching his chest and Tuloff screaming something about Rev’s parentage.
Chapter 20
“HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?” Rev asked Taki.
“A few hours at the most if Flint is able to mask the transmat logs.”
Braz was strapped to a gurney that Taki had provided. Flint pushed it along with Rev, Taki and Willa.
“My estimation,” said Flint, “is one hour and fifty minutes before Regency Tuloff can unscramble the data on the transmat elevator. Sooner if they correlate the interrogation data and the elevator logs together. I used the same fractal encryption which sounded like a good idea at the time.”
“It’ll be fine,” reassured Rev. “Tuloff would figure it out sooner or later. Hopefully he won’t get it sooner.”
Willa was holding Braz’s hand as Taki took over for Flint and wheeled Braz into the examination room. Her eyes showed signs of tears. She wiped the blood from Braz’s face and Taki opened Braz’s shirt to check the extent of his injuries. “It might be a blessing if he never recovers consciousness,” said Taki.
“Don’t say such things,” said Willa fussing over him, clearing the blood from his nose and lips. “I’d rather think we have a fighting chance at a full life together. We aren’t dead yet.”
“I have to agree,” said Rev. “Where there’s life, there’s hope. It’s amazing Braz has endured as much as he has. Tuloff must have worked on him for days and still got nothing from him.”
Taki cut Braz’s pants and examined his legs. “In one hour and fifty minutes Tuloff will deploy everything he has against us and this time we don’t have anymore places to hide. He’s decrypting the data Flint has provided and all of the Deviants will be in jeopardy once he reaches this stronghold.”
Flint started to object.
“I know it’s not your fault,” said Taki. “You did slow him down and for that I’m grateful. It’s just we won’t get a second chance this time. When he storms this place and kills us, the Deviants will be lost. It’ll take another ten thousand years before there’s enough Deviants to stand up against him.”
Taki removed Braz’s socks and spread his toes testing for fractures and broken bones. “Nevertheless,” said Taki, “Tuloff will not be stopped this time without the neutron accelerator that Braz was supposed to steal for me. Without it, we’re stranded on this planet. If we could obtain that part, we might stand a fighting chance to live in a free world.”
“If you had this neutron accelerator, could you finish your Stroustop portal?” asked Rev.
“Within five minutes we could be evacuating everyone off-world to safety,” said Taki. “But we don’t have it and there is nowhere left on Tsunam for us to hide.”
“You do,” mumbled Braz trying to wake up.
Taki lifted his head gently. “Where?”
Braz looked pathetic as he opened his left swollen eye and grinned. He looked hideous with his face all puffy. “I swallowed it,” said Braz.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Rev laughed.
“Nope,” said Braz patting his stomach. “Right down the old hatch. I didn’t have time after I lifted the device before Tuloff’s men jumped me and in the scuffle I swallowed the neutron accelerator when they weren’t watching.”
“Wouldn’t they know the thing was missing after they caught you?” asked Rev.
“I covered my tracks and blew up the rest of the Stroustop portal. They’ll be picking through the rubble for days.” He started to cough and hacked bloody pulp down his front. “By the time they figure its missing, we’ll be long gone.”
Taki moved a portable x-ray screen and viewed Braz’s intestines, locating the neutron accelerator within seconds.
“There it is. That was a very dangerous thing to do. The radiation alone could kill you if you have prolonged contact to your skin, but to swallow it is insane.”
“And brave,” said Willa. “That’s why they never looked for it.”
“She’s right Taki,” said Rev. “If it’s that dangerous they’d never suspect anyone attempting to hide it by ingestion.”
“But just one lucky punch to the guts could have set off an explosion,” said Taki.
“They punched me all right but I didn’t blow up,” said Braz. “I’m lucky that way.”
“I wouldn’t call it luck,” said Rev.
Taki poked a needle into Braz’s arm while he wasn’t looking and injected him. “Ouch! Why’d you stick . . . ” And he went limp.
“He doesn’t know what kind of danger he’s in,” said Taki. “We must perform surg
ery at once. If the device leaks, even just a little, Braz will be dead in seconds right along with us shortly thereafter.”
“That bad?” asked Rev.
“There’s still a chance he’ll explode?” Willa’s pale face whitened even more.
“More so than not,” said Taki.
“Shouldn’t we find cover?” asked Rev.
“If he goes up there isn’t anyplace far enough away for us to be safe.”
“That’s one helluva an explosion,” said Rev.
“Yes,” assured Taki. “Please wait outside while I perform the surgery.”
They left and Rev sat down with Willa in the waiting room with Flint bobbing around looking at all the people busying themselves for the impending invasion.
“I can’t thank you enough for saving him,” she said.
Flint piped up. “You’re welcome.”
“I was talking to Rev,” said Willa.
“Sorry,” said the automaton embarrassed. “I helped.”
“Flint’s right,” said Rev. “I couldn’t have done it without the little AI.”
“Then I stand corrected,” she said. “Thank you both.” She leaned over and kissed Rev on the cheek.
“I’m just glad we got there in time,” said Rev. “Another day and I don’t think Braz would be alive and your chances of escape would be gone.”
“Why does Regency Tuloff hate us so much?” she asked.
“He believes the Deviants are ruining this society.”
She shook her head. “We just want to exist, is that so bad?”
“To him, you’re a disease that needs to be cured,” said Rev.
“We’re just like him except we have deeper feelings for each other.”
Rev hugged her shoulder in comfort. “It’ll work out. Just you wait and see. Taki will get the neutron accelerator and Braz will recover.”
“Tuloff will chase us wherever we go though,” she said starting to cry.
“I have a feeling that Regency Tuloff is about to meet with a sudden accident,” said Rev grinning.
Willa stopped crying and smiled back. “You’re the best Rev.”
The Beast of Tsunam (Rev Smalley: Galactic P.I. Book 1) Page 16