by Toby Minton
The power relay building on the ridge was barely more than a shack, but Gram claimed it was more than big enough to house the control systems for the facility’s power generator. He’d tagged a series of small, low domes along the crest of the ridge and labeled them as emergency discharge ports for the larger geothermal units buried underground.
The security checkpoint was slightly larger and somewhat reminiscent of a bunker with its thick, angled walls and recessed doors on either end. Elias had identified it based on both its design and its position at the head of the one road leading to the facility.
The hangar/motor pool was bigger than both the two smaller buildings put together. Situated on the southeast corner of the compound, the long, rectangular structure had both ground-level doors on the south side and retractable roof sections to accommodate a variety of support craft. The hangar was flagged as a problem area. If they didn’t disable whatever craft were in there, escaping with Nikki once they found her was going to be all but impossible.
Michael’s gaze slid from the hangar to the building dominating the center of the table. He felt his heart rate increase with a tingle of adrenaline as he stared at the hologram. It was just a re-creation, he knew, but somewhere in that sprawling building was his sister, just waiting for them to come get her.
The main building was squared off with flat roofs on stepped levels, not unlike some of the office complexes Michael had seen while flying over San Jose. It ranged from two stories at the east end to four stories at the west, with a wing branching off to connect to the ridge on the north side and an enclosed walkway connecting to the hangar on the south. Unlike the abandoned offices it resembled, this structure had only a few windows at key locations, either high up on the tallest level or positioned to look down on the entrances on the south and east sides.
It wasn’t a fortress by any means, but according to Elias, it might as well be. The first thing he’d said when Kate had rendered the layout was that they didn’t have the manpower to assault the place head-on. That meant they had to go in quietly and make a precision strike. In and out. The problem was they didn’t know where in the main facility Nikki would be. They’d have to search the whole place, unless they got lucky, and that practically guaranteed they’d be forced into a standup fight out in the open, a fight he said they couldn’t win.
Elias had called the others in and run through scenario after scenario, but they just couldn’t come up with one that would work, not if they all wanted to get out of there alive. And that was his goal—zero losses.
Looking around the table, Michael could imagine how he felt. These people were more than just subordinates or soldiers, if anyone could be just a soldier. He’d wondered before while watching vids of past conflicts how leaders could order their soldiers into the field knowing they wouldn’t all come back. He assumed those officers had to detach themselves from the troops under them and refuse to see them as people. Otherwise, he just couldn’t see how they could give the orders.
For Elias, that kind of detachment had to be impossible. He lived with these people, shared everything with them, depended on them, counseled them. They were more than a team. They were a family, or as much of one as Michael had ever seen. He could only imagine how hard it would be to order them to walk into a lethal situation. If he were in Elias’s position, he just couldn’t do it.
Not even for Nikki? he asked himself.
He knew the answer to that. Or at least he thought he did. He dropped his gaze back to the table, unable to look at the people around it.
He’d do anything for his sister. He knew that in his core. He’d always known that. But still, asking others to walk into danger for him—it just wasn’t right. Even at Sky City, he had planned and planned and planned again to make sure the risk of anyone else getting hurt was practically nil. He’d made certain only Nikki and he were in the line of fire because the risk there was minimal. If they got hurt, they could always heal each other.
So why does this have to be different from Sky City? he asked himself, running his eyes over the compound again. Why can’t Nikki and I be the front line, draw the brunt of the fire?
“You could, if Nikki was with you,” Elias said. “But we still need to find her first.”
When the room got quiet, Michael looked up to see Elias looking back at him. It took him another second to process that Elias was answering his thoughts. He didn’t know he’d voiced them.
“Well, no. Maybe not.” Michael could feel all the eyes in the room on him. He had to clear his throat before continuing. “I should be able to feel her without going past the edge of the compound.”
“Will you be able to tell where she is?” Padre asked.
“No. But I don’t think we need to find her. Once I charge Nikki up enough to cause trouble—”
Corso laughed from behind him. “You mean there’s a time when she doesn’t cause trouble?”
Good point, he thought as a couple of the others chuckled. “Right. Well, more trouble. Once I get her strong enough, she’ll let us know where she is. If I know my sister, the whole Wasteland will know where she is.”
Elias looked at him for a minute, then nodded. “OK. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, first I need a distraction. A big one." He looked at Impact, one of the simpler equations from Kate’s physics book suddenly in the front of his mind. “How fast can you run, exactly?"
* * *
They worked the rest of the day and well into the night settling all the details, but Michael hardly noticed the time, or his hunger. He wouldn’t have eaten if Kate hadn’t put food in his hand and forced him into a chair at one point. He was too wired to think about anything but the plan.
“I should get moving,” Padre’s quiet voice broke the silence that followed their final run through. “I’ll need time to get into position.”
“Take it,” Elias replied. “There’s too little cover on that ridge for my liking. Don’t rush it. We’ll wait for your signal.”
Padre nodded to Elias then the others and finally to Michael before heading for the door. Kate squeezed Michael’s arm and followed. She had equipment to calibrate before Padre could leave.
The rest of the team broke up and headed off to get some rest, at Elias’s orders, but Michael hung back. Gideon had gone back to the command console during their last run through, and he was still there, staring silently at the enhanced image of Savior’s Gateway on the far wall. When Elias headed for the door himself and spotted Michael, he looked like he was about to repeat his order, but he shared a look between Gideon’s back and Michael, nodded, and left without a word.
Michael walked over to stand beside Gideon, but he didn’t interrupt. He could tell Gideon’s thoughts were somewhere far away from this room.
“It won’t work,” Gideon said at last.
Michael felt a cold tingle of fear in his chest. It had to work. They had to get Nikki back, and everyone had agreed that the plan stood a fair chance of success. Gideon had been quiet through most of the planning, only speaking up once or twice, but he’d seemed to be on board with everyone else. Why wait until now to say something?
Michael opened his mouth to ask, then he realized what Gideon meant. “You mean the Gateway?”
“You have to know it won’t work,” Gideon said softly, as if to himself, as if Michael wasn’t even there. “Whatever else you are, Christopher, you’re not a fool. Why this charade?”
Gideon’s eyes swung to Michael, but recognition lagged several seconds behind. When he saw Michael, really saw him, he didn’t seem surprised.
“What do you mean it won’t work?” Michael asked.
Gideon shut off the main display and turned from the screen before answering. “Savior’s design is close to the original, but it’s flawed. According to Dr. Allayne, their design relies on the genesis energy harnessed from your sister—”
Michael took a breath to keep from clenching his jaw.
“—to power and focus the apertur
e. They’re trying to use genesis to target a wormhole.” He paused, still staring off at nothing. “It won’t work.”
Michael watched Gideon pace forward and lean on the tactical table to study the compound.
“That’s a good thing, right?" Michael asked. "That means we have time to get Nikki out, time to stop them.”
Gideon looked at him instead of responding. Just a glance, yet somehow it left Michael feeling like he’d let the older man down. But Gideon’s words held none of the disappointment his look implied. “No one knows Gateway theory like I do. The Event made sure of that. Our government at the time kept the details of our research classified. After the Event, the government destroyed all records of the research. The Event itself destroyed all those with first-hand knowledge of the design, except for me.”
“And Savior,” Michael reminded him.
“His focus was always on the end, never the means. His work started where mine ended, on the other side of the Gateway.” Gideon looked up again, and Michael couldn’t decide which eye looked more tortured, the one that was cold and alien or the one that wished it was. “When I say his design won’t work, understand that no one else on the planet would know better. Even so, we can’t take the risk that I’m wrong. Destroying that Gateway must be our number one priority.”
Michael held Gideon’s gaze, wondering again why he was saying this now after the plan was set, now that everyone else had left.
“If Nikki’s anywhere near that thing when she gets charged up, we won’t have to worry about it,” Michael said.
“And if she is not?”
The play of emotions Michael had seen in Gideon’s eyes seemed to slide away as he watched. The cold emptiness that replaced it was far more unsettling, but Michael wouldn’t back down.
“Getting Nikki out of there is my number one priority. But once we’re together again, we’ll take care of the Gateway.” He held Gideon’s gaze a minute more then turned to leave. “I should get some sleep.”
He was almost to the door when Gideon spoke. He didn’t stop to listen, but the words reached him nonetheless, and they brought the coldness of Gideon’s voice with them.
“We must destroy that Gateway tomorrow. At any cost.”
At Any Cost
Chapter 35
Nikki
She wasn’t surprised to see Price open her door, but Nikki had really been hoping for anyone else.
Except for the silent geezer who’d delivered food like clockwork four times yesterday and again first thing this morning, Nikki hadn’t seen a soul in over twenty-four hours. Even though she was thoroughly enjoying the lack of torture, she was starting to get a little stir crazy and desperate for human interaction, or what passed for it amongst evil scientists and soldiers. Solitary living was not her thing.
Regular food was a happy novelty, but even that was losing its thrill factor. This morning’s fare was some kind of gravelly paste with butter and strange berries in it. She was guessing it was either gruel, which she assumed was a generic name for anything soupy, or grits, which she’d seen once but never tried. Whatever it was, it was pretty tasty once she got past the texture. The berries were a bit of a letdown though.
She’d never encountered a berry she didn’t like, but these were making a strong case to be the exception. They were tiny, for one thing, which wouldn’t have been a problem except that they were also so tough and sticky they jammed up in every little crevice in her teeth each time she tried to chew one. They were like little pink pine cones of frustration. But they flew really well.
For the past few minutes, she’d been lounged back on her bed amusing herself by spitting the wanna-be berries at the door. She was getting pretty good at it too, until Price unlocked and swung open her target.
Not one to be daunted, Nikki fired the berry she already had lined up on her tongue and caught Price square on the chin.
She smiled. He didn’t, which was a shame. She was sure he would be a lot more fun to be around if he smiled once in a while. Maybe he had smiled before she got here. Her cracking his cheekbone might have gotten them off on the wrong foot. The swelling had gone down since last she’d seen him though, so he could have at least tried a good-morning grin.
“Let’s go, Miss Flux,” he said, all business. He even made wiping the berry mark from his chin look professional. “Time for you to get back to work.”
Nikki didn’t like this new calmer Price. Seeing him all in control of his anger threatened the shell of confidence she’d been building since her talk with Doctor Kid Technician. The chance that the doc would get a message out, or already had, had brought hope back to her world. Price’s smug self control was making that hope feel a bit queasy.
Not that she was going to let him know that.
She stood up and stretched then checked her appearance in the reflection in her windows facing the hall. She didn’t care how she looked—she really just wanted to annoy Price—but even so, she was disappointed by what she saw. Her clothes she expected to look bad. The oversized sweats they’d provided to cover her ridiculous surgical/sport undies would make anybody look frumpy, so no surprise there. But she’d expected more from her new favorite hair cut.
Unfortunately her platinum roots looked like they’d grown five centimeters since she’d last seen a mirror, which, come to think of it, had only been five days ago. Normally she’d be happy for such a fast reset on a dye job, but she’d liked the sleek black. Now she looked kind of skunkish.
Still, Savior’s marketing team should take note. They’d sell a lot more BioGel with ads saying, “grow out that bad hair cut in days,” instead of, “get tortured twice as often.”
“Miss Flux,” Price urged, but still calmly.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Nikki turned to leave, but Price stayed where he was, right in her way.
“You’re going back in the tank, Miss Flux,” he said, looking her up and down. “Leave the clothes.”
Nikki heard a quiet exchange and chuckle from the guards watching from the hall. She raised an eyebrow at Price and fought to keep a smile from showing. She knew what they were expecting. Shame. Vulnerability. Maybe both. Which made sense. She guessed most 17-year-old girls might feel that and more at having to strip down in front of strange, hostile men.
Nikki pulled the loose top off and tossed it on her bed then gave Price an exaggerated wink before bending to pull off her pants.
Most girls would be upset, unless those girls had grown up in hostels, shelters, communal camp sites, and a million other not-at-all private locations. Nikki had never known privacy. She and Michael had rarely had a place to sleep that wasn’t shared with at least one stranger, and she’d never had a bedroom all to herself, much less a private bathroom, before Gideon’s bunker. Even so, that much privacy had felt weird, alien, which was one reason she’d woken up in Michael’s room, or with him in her room, more than a few times. So stripping down to the skivvies these guys had seen her in already was nothing to Nikki.
In fact, Nikki undressing seemed have the opposite effect from what Price intended. While she was just as comfortable and unashamed as before, Price’s men were more than a little distracted. Creepily, skeevily so, but off their game nonetheless, a fact Price couldn’t help but notice. When he saw the lack of effect their leers were having, his calm mask finally started to slip.
Before Price could regain control of the situation, as if he ever had it, Nikki tossed her pants at his head and sauntered quickly from the room. She and her double-goon escort were halfway down the hall by the time he caught up and fell in beside her. He gripped her upper arm and pulled her toward him enough to throw her stride off, but the weak attempt to assert dominance was too little too late, and Nikki could tell he knew it.
“You’re so gallant,” she gushed up at him. Then she giggled at the vein on his jaw that looked ready to pop.
Unfortunately, her bubbly mood deteriorated with each step that brought her closer to the lab. Doctor A had told her they
were rushing to get a replacement tank installed, but Nikki had let her hope swell in the day plus since their whispered conversation. She’d convinced herself his message had gotten through to Sam, imagined Sam rallying the troops to rain holy hell on this place, expected to feel her sense of Michael return, to feel his energy pouring into her. Alone in her room, Nikki’s excitement had grown with each hour that ticked by. She’d convinced herself that the next time she saw the lab it would be through a haze of righteous fury as she tore the place apart with her bare hands.
But here she was, still powerless, still alone, and once again feeling a shaky tremor of fear as she stepped into the room to see a shiny new tank waiting for her.
“Here she is now,” Savior said, shifting his crystal blue gaze to Nikki. He was in uniform again, deep indigo with white accents today. He held out his hand like he was asking her to dance. When she just stared at him, Price gave her a shove into the room.
The look Savior turned on his subordinate almost made Nikki smile again. If Price had been a dog, he would have tucked his tail between his legs and slunk away. She looked back to see if he was doing just that and noticed the handful of dark-suited Chinese men staring out at her from a display screen dominating the wall beside the door.
She forgot all about Price and just stared back until Savior took her arm—like he actually was a gentleman from a story—and turned her toward the tank.
“Relax, child,” he said, his smooth voice pitched for her ears alone. “Our sponsors just need to see evidence of our progress.” He guided her into the tank and after gently helping her in, fastened the shackle around her right hand.
Nikki didn’t resist. She wasn’t sure she could have if she’d wanted to. Her arms and legs had gone cold, almost numb, the second she’d stumbled into the room. She’d told herself the fear and weakness she’d showed in this room was over and done, but apparently her body hadn’t gotten the message.