Together, they looked out beyond the fence. This fence being the western border of the compound, all that lay before them was the ocean. Straight down, Rave saw a jagged cliff that dropped away for maybe twenty meters at a steep angle. Below this, the cliff disappeared. The western part of the drone farm stood on a mass of land that extended over the water like an overhang with a deep cavern underneath. Therefore, there was an awful lot of empty space between the bottom part of the cliff and the water far below. Rave knew it’d be quite a drop, and he squinted against the sun as he searched for the best way down the cliff. They had ropes, but this wouldn’t be easy.
This was escape plan B.
Whitewolf was also studying the drop. “We’d better get moving before they figure out where we went.”
This time, Rave led the way. He held the top of the fence and swung his other leg around to start the climb. He didn’t look down, but he glanced through the fence to watch for drones. Fortunately, they made it to the bottom of the fence without being discovered.
Rave felt for a foothold in the cliff’s steep side. When he was sure the rock wasn’t going to give way, he let go of the fence with one hand. He reached for a compartment in his belt. First, he pulled out the screw clamp and looked for a good place in the cliff to insert it. He found a good chunk of rock and spiked the clamp open, then punched the thing into the rock. He heard Whitewolf doing the same, but they worked without discussion. Rave next opened the belt compartment with the spool of rope, and he attached the end through the clamp. When this was secure, he made sure the rope was fastened to the release controls in his belt. Working the rope release with one hand, Rave leaned back and let out rope, testing his weight on the screw clamp holding him to the cliff. It held.
Rave let out a breath. “Now for the tricky part.”
Whitewolf snorted as he double-checked his equipment. “Yeah, it’s been cake and ice cream so far.”
“See ya down there.” With that, Rave let out more rope and started his descent.
The wind blew into Rave as he held to the rocky cliff. More than once his feet slid out from under him, and he’d grab his rope and swing until he got a foothold again.
For the first time in my life, he thought, I sympathize with spiders.
He crept down the steep cliff, clinging to his rope for support. At least it was quieter here, away from the fires, collapsing science facility, and shouting operatives. Not that Rave felt peaceful. He was sweating like crazy in his suit now, maybe more than he had among the fires. He forced himself to go slowly, letting out only small sections of rope at a time.
Eventually, he looked for his next foothold and found that he’d reached the bottom edge of the cliff. He balanced on the farthest point of the overhang, and now he saw only rushing waves fifteen meters below. With a tight grip, he held himself steady and took out another screw clamp. This he punched into the rocky edge so the rope wouldn’t slide or cut once he hung in open air. When this was secure, he paused to rest.
Whitewolf also came to rest and look at the water. “You sure about this?” He secured his second clamp. “Can you even swim?”
Rave let out a short laugh, as much to relieve his nerves as anything. “I might’ve been raised on a desert planet, but Trok used to make me train with an Olympic swim team.”
Whitewolf blinked under his eye shield. “I know you think you’re explaining, but I don’t know what-”
“Yes, I can swim.” Rave prepared to let out more rope and lower himself to the water. Then he had an idea. “You said you had about a dozen grenades left?”
“Yeah?”
Rave let out enough rope so he could twist and examine the underside of the cliff overhang. Headfirst, he felt dizzy from the height but made himself look into the watery cavern. In the shadows here, he saw two support pillars that rose from the water and attached to beams that ran the length of the overhanging land mass.
“We’re supposed to head for the rendezvous,” called Whitewolf. “Tig and Bulls will both be there waiting by now.”
Rave twisted back around and shuffled over to Whitewolf. “Well, Bulls let me take point on this mission, and I’m improvising.”
Whitewolf sighed. “Okay. What’s the plan?”
Rave reached for Whitewolf’s back belt and took a few grenades for himself. “If we kick off this cliff and swing to the underside, I think we can reach the support pillars. If we place grenades at the tops of the pillars, we should be able to swing back out and drop to the water before the blasts destroy the supports. The whole section above will collapse, and bye-bye drone farm.”
Whitewolf looked again to the ocean below, trying to judge the distance. “We’ll have to swing clear enough to avoid being flattened by tons of falling rock.”
“Well, yes.” Rave tucked the grenades in his belt compartments and positioned himself at the edge of the cliff. “Ready? I’ll take the right pillar, you the left.”
Whitewolf took a deep breath and bent his knees to get the best push-off possible.
After a calming breath of his own, Rave let out a bunch of rope, kicked off the cliff, and fell several meters into the open air. When the rope yanked, it swung him up underneath the cliff’s overhang. He kicked so that he swung close enough to grab the nearest pillar, and his gloves latched onto a bolt. He wrapped his legs around this pillar and looked over to see Whitewolf also clinging to his pillar.
“You good?”
He received another thumbs-up.
Rave looked up where the pillars connected to the support beams. Wide metal bases were bolted into the beams and the rocky land mass above, and Rave climbed his pillar to here. He held on with his legs and reached up with one hand to grab the edge of the metal base connecting with the beam. With his other hand, he fished in his belt compartments and pulled out the grenades. He looked over at Whitewolf, who was also placing grenades in the crevasses between the support beam and the rocky overhang. Rave crammed his grenades into place and looked down at the waves.
Here’s hoping I let out the right length of rope to swing back to safety, he thought.
Whitewolf adjusted his grip on the pillar and looked over at Rave. “Count of three?”
Rave nodded. “I’ll meet ya in the water.”
Hopefully the whole cliff won’t collapse on top of us, he thought. Hopefully.
Rave reached a hand to the grenades. “One. Two. Three.” He activated the grenades. “Go! Go! Go!”
They both kicked off of the pillars and swung on their ropes farther into the cavern to gain momentum. Rave lost sight of Whitewolf as the rope yanked Rave back, and he swung and dropped with frightening speed toward the cavern’s water. But before he hit the waves, the rope caught and swung him back out to the open air. Once the overhang was no longer overhead, he still held to the rope to swing as far away as possible.
The explosions behind him cracked the silence of the wavy ocean, and Rave’s ears rang yet again. He reached the top arch of his swing and unclamped the rope. It whipped out of the clamp as he flew forward, and he began to free fall toward the water.
“Oh, sand!” he screamed as the water rushed up.
When he hit, he hit hard, feet first. His terror eased when he realized he was still alive. Looking around in the murky water, he saw he’d sunk quite deep.
He heard a dull splash a second later and spun to see Whitewolf floating nearby in the surging waves.
Thank goodness we didn’t hit rocks, thought Rave. I didn’t even-
His keen hearing detected more splashes. Bigger splashes. He couldn’t see anything, but he rolled away and swam fast.
When Rave couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he kicked for the surface. He reached air and sucked it in, and Whitewolf surfaced beside him.
“Holy crap. Look at that!”
Rave tread water and turned to see where Whitewolf pointed.
The entire western half of the drone farm had collapsed into the ocean. Great chunks of cliff were still sliding into t
he water, and parts of fallen buildings stuck up out of the waves. Everything on the eastern half of the compound was still on solid ground above, but it was burning. The flaming science facility remained topside, but it was barely recognizable because entire burned sections had buckled.
No more drones will come from here, Rave thought. We obliterated this place. I did it, Trok.
He bobbed in the ocean and at last allowed himself a breath of relief. He looked back at Whitewolf and began swimming toward the shore not far away.
“Alright,” he said as they swam. “Desert Boy would like out of the water now. Let’s go find Bulls and Tig.”
Tigris, or Alex for the moment, sat at a restaurant’s patio in downtown Havanahell. A glass of wine on the table for two was her only companion, so she watched the other diners. The Dominion-wealthy citizens ate, drank, and conversed without a care in the world. Pedestrians strolled along the lantern-lit sidewalk on the other side of the patio’s short hedge. The early evening sky above the strands of outdoor lights looked perfectly tranquil. Alex fidgeted while she waited, and she examined her hand where one of Rave’s temporary ID tags was stuck to her palm.
A waiter opened the door leading from the restaurant, and Alex smiled as Trok walked out. He spotted her and walked over to sit across the table.
“Good evening, Alex.”
She laughed. “That’s the most ordinary entrance I’ve ever seen you make.”
“We all deserve to pretend we’re normal from time to time.” He smiled. “Speaking of normal, nice dress.”
Alex looked at her citizen attire and smoothed out the flowered dress. “Thank you. A girl gets sick of black after a while.” She made a face, suspecting he’d know what she meant. She glanced at the other patrons.
I hate talking covertly like this, she thought. Although, I guess it’s better than our usual meetings, shut up in the base.
Trok smiled again as a waiter came and poured him a glass of water. He only lifted an eyebrow at it before saying, “I saw everything you and the others did earlier today. You deserve a break. How long will you stay in Havanahell?”
“Only until tomorrow afternoon. Then it’s back to work.”
Trok nodded in thought. “I’ll be busy for a while, so could you tell Zaak and the others I’m very proud of them? And thank Zaak for what he’s done. I don’t know if he told you why…”
“He told me.”
Rave had shown Alex many of his childhood memories, and she understood why he’d long ago sworn to destroy the drone farm.
Trok, in a rare show of emotion, took a moment.
A loud voice from a terminal screen caught Alex’s attention, and she looked up at the screen on the side of the restaurant.
“Earlier today in a cowardly attack,” a Dominion reporter was saying, “the drone farm outside Vancouver was destroyed. Surveillance footage shows unidentified rebels entering the base.”
The screen showed a recording of the three black-suited Warriors approaching the main gate’s security station. The video must’ve been taken right before Bullseye shot out the transmitter that controlled the compound’s surveillance and communications.
“These rebels have yet to be identified. However, operatives in Vancouver speculate that the Dominion operative Bullseye, who disappeared several months ago, may be involved because of sniper work during the attack. An operative in Capital City told reporters that it’s widely believed within the Dominion that Bullseye may have started her own rebel group. It’s possible that these ‘Kota Warriors’ are the rebels who attacked the drone farm. Again, the identity of these rebels is speculative at this point, but Cruelthor promises a public statement about this attack tomorrow during his regular press conference. The Dominion will examine this surveillance video, but so far there’s no way to identify the rebels responsible for this destruction.”
The newscast switched to another story, and Alex looked back at Trok. She tried not to appear guilty or fearful, and she forced herself to take a sip of wine and look casual.
I’m safe, she thought. Bullseye set things up so we can’t be identified.
Trok frowned. “So it starts.”
“Anything you want us to do?”
“Not specifically.” Trok twirled his untasted water. “But, as you begin your work, I want you to remind my nephew and niece that they must focus on the bigger picture. The…” Trok met her eyes, and she understood that he couldn’t choose his words carefully enough.
Meeting his eyes, she heard his thoughts.
“The Dominion system is full of threats worth fighting, but remind the others of your true duty. Help the world whenever you can, but don’t let other missions clog up your overall objective. Always, search for ways to defeat the DRK. I’m glad you destroyed the drone farm, but you need to get back to work using what that password-lock uncovered.” Trok blinked away from her gaze, pulling his thoughts away as well.
Alex nodded at him. “We know. They already have a few missions planned based on the password-lock files. We’re just waiting for a few leads to pan out. Bullseye and Rave wanted to kick off with this mission in the meantime.”
“Good.” Trok smiled. “Now, try to relax. You’re safe here. You might not have many more days like this, when the world knows so little. For now, enjoy your wine.” He looked at her drinking glass. “From what I remember, that’s a good year.”
Alex managed a chuckle and took another sip.
Trok diverted his eyes again. “There’s something else. I’ve been looking into your more personal interests.”
The Magi, she thought.
She felt a flush of excitement. “Did you find something?”
“Someone, actually. He should be here any minute. I told him to meet us here.”
“Who?”
“Him.”
Right then, the restaurant’s door opened and a nondescript, middle-aged man appeared.
Oh, she thought. This is one of those times Trok’s seen as the future. He set up this meeting and already knows… Who is this guy?
The man spotted Trok and walked over, keeping his head tilted away from the surveillance cameras along the restaurant’s roof. He wore business clothes, nothing fancy. He had thinning brown hair, a short frame, and a bit of a gut. No one seemed to notice him. Alex herself wouldn’t have thought anything of him if she hadn’t met his eyes as he pulled a chair to their table.
“What do I really know about the Magi? But I owe Trok. –Goodness, this poor girl looks so fragile.”
Alex squirmed in her seat as the man sat, and she gave Trok a questioning look.
“Alex, meet Bill Smith.” Trok nodded to the man in greeting. “Thank you for coming, Bill. Anything you can share with my niece would be greatly appreciated.”
So I’m his niece today? thought Alex. Whatever. This guy’s name is not Bill Smith. Guess we’ll all play along for the audience.
The man called Bill Smith also was aware of the civilians seated around them, and he kept his voice low. “I don’t have much time before I have to catch a shuttle to the Southern Continent, but I’ll tell you what I can.” He looked at Alex with a sympathetic smile. “Your uncle told me…what you’ve been through. If my experiences can be of any help to you, I’ll gladly share them.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Your uncle’s told me you’re a very insightful young woman.”
Alex took the hint. She glanced at Trok again before focusing her eyes on Bill Smith and speaking into his mind. “Were you…?”
He flinched as her thoughts went into his, but he recovered. “Factored? Yes. I was a Dominion executive working in Capital City, and my boss caught me re-routing kronar to a rebel front business. I wasn’t even given a trial, though that’s not rare. They imprisoned me in a sublevel of the Capitol and injected me with the DRK. It was horrible. Like the worst fever you can imagine, only it felt…cold. Factoring results in madness, so I only remember fragments of my experience after that. But they shipped me on a transport to the Mainland-Euro DuoP
ort – I remember that much. Inside the portal, I was rescued and taken into what I guess was a spaceship. The people on the ship un-factored me. They called themselves the Magi. We were returned through the DuoPort pretty quickly after that, and we weren’t even fully recovered, so my memory’s a bit fuzzy. But you’re welcome to look in my memories. Maybe I know more than I’m aware.”
Alex took a breath. She’d never dared do this before with an un-factored person. Lilae, the first she’d met, had been too skittish and defensive for Alex to ask. What would it be like to experience memories as a factor?
“Go ahead, Alex.” Trok spun his water glass for something to do. “I’ll carry on a conversation by myself while you two are at it.”
Alex faced Bill again and looked full in his eyes.
He’s frightened. A scientist in a protective bio suit enters his prison cell. The scientist injects his arm with a syringe, pushing a freezing liquid into his bloodstream. The sweating starts first. Then the shaking. He screams as his body convulses. His vision blurs. Some time later, a moment of consciousness as he thrashes against the prison bars, leaving trails of fungal goo on the bars. He hits his head against the wall again and again. No conscious thought, only numbing, cold rage. Later, soldiers herd him and a dozen other factors into a transport. The smell… Tumbling in zero gravity, red lights outside the transport pulse light on them. Clanging. More red light. The front of the transport opens, and the factors stampede forward. A dart jabs into his throat. He lets out a shrieking hiss, falls. Blurring unconsciousness. He opens his eyes, and his vision clears. He rests on a medical bed. A row of beds stretches down a wide room. He sees doctors. Examining his hands, he sees the horrible fungus is falling off his skin where it brushes the bed sheet. He starts to sob in relief, and a kind-looking man comes to his bedside to dab at his brow with a wet towel. He sleeps. Awake, his same attendant feeds him from a bowl of something wonderful. He can’t remember the last time he ate. The man feeding him speaks in a language he doesn’t know. He sleeps. Later, he stands before a door with the other people who’ve been un-factored. Their rescuers are telling them in broken English not to be afraid. The door opens, and several of those with him shuffle back from the tremendous red light that flows inside. Then, they’re pulled forward into the light, and the warmth on his skin starts him crying yet again. The next thing he knows, a grassy yard lies below. His feet touch the earth. The light disappears. Suddenly aware that they’re home, the whole group of un-factored, naked people start alive and run for freedom. A squad of Dominion soldiers appears. He runs with a couple of others before breaking off by himself and running into a dark street.
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