by M. R. Forbes
"Why do you need to be ready to leave?"
"We do not. It is an artifact of our past. When our planet collapsed, we were nearly destroyed for good."
"Collapsed?" Donovan asked.
"Yes. We mined it for every precious metal and resource it could provide. We didn't realize that by removing so much material we were weakening the very soul of the world. Small earthquakes turned into larger and more frequent earthquakes until the planet became unstable. Shortly after, it shook itself to death."
They moved past hatches on either side of the corridor. Ehri didn't seem concerned that they would open, and Donovan guessed she knew for certain that they wouldn't. The green light was right on top of them now, and Donovan could see it wasn't a normal light. There was a near-transparent platform at ground level, and shimmering motes flowed within the luminescence.
"We must step in together, or we will be separated," Ehri said.
"How does it work?" Diaz said, looking uncertain about it.
"Are you familiar with quantum entanglement?" Ehri asked.
"No."
"It is something like that. This one teleports vertically."
"How do you control direction?"
"With your hands. You will see."
They reached the lip of the light. Ehri reached out and took Donovan's right hand with her left, and Diaz's left hand with her right. As before, he marveled at how soft her skin was, and how alive it felt beneath his palm. Judging by Diaz's expression, she was experiencing something similar.
"Here we go."
Ehri stepped onto the platform with them. Donovan felt a moment of panic, afraid they were going to plummet straight down, where only more of the light awaited them. Instead, Ehri lifted his hand, and he could feel he was rising. He could see the floors slipping past his eyes too fast to count.
Seconds later, she lowered her hand, and they came to a stop.
"This level is equal to the ground level outside," she said. "The exit is not far, but there are more bek'hai soldiers up here than there are below. Below is for the passive."
"Exit?" Donovan said. "Wait a minute. I thought you were going to help us?"
"I am helping you to escape."
"We aren't ready to escape," Diaz said. "It doesn't do us any good to get out of here if we have nothing to bring back."
"You have me," Ehri said. "I have a large quantity of information about the bek'hai that I am willing to share."
"Do you know how the armor works?" Donovan asked.
"Armor?"
"The black carapace that covers everything. We've never been able to defeat it, not even with our best weapons."
"Your weapons are inferior."
"I know. Until we can overcome it, we have no chance of winning."
"I told you that you will lose."
"Yeah, well, I'm not ready to lose yet. If you don't know how to defeat it, is there someone here who does?"
"I'm certain there is," Ehri said.
Donovan came to a stop. "Why the sudden freeze?" he said. "Are you having second thoughts?"
"I made a promise, Major. I will not break it. I don't know much about the carapace, as you put it. It is not my area of study. If you want me to bring you to someone who might, we will have to go back down. The longer we linger here, the more likely it is you will be killed, and I am not eager to see that happen. I do not want to lose my opportunity to witness human interaction."
"We can't leave without something," Diaz said.
Ehri was about to answer when her eyes narrowed, and she motioned them off to the side of the hallway. A moment later, what Donovan assumed was a bek'hai soldier walked past.
It was taller than Tuhrik. Taller even than Gibbons. At least seven feet, maybe more, with thick, heavy limbs and a much larger head than the scientist had possessed. The same white skin, silver hair, and ridges were partially obscured by black cloth beneath a chestplate of the dark armor. It glanced their way as it passed, not registering alarm when its eyes fell on Ehri, and she raised her hand, three middle fingers extended out in what looked like a form of salute.
It continued past. Donovan could feel Ehri's tension ease.
"We are fortunate," she said. "Klurik is a pur'dahm. He barely sees other bek'hai; I doubt he noticed you at all. Still, we must be more careful."
"We need to go back down," Donovan said. "We may never get another chance like this, and I'm sorry, but the only way us humans survive is for us to come out of here with useful intel. If that means taking another scientist by force, then that's what we have to do. Ehri, if you don't want to be part of this, we can go on our own."
She shook her head. "I told you, Major. I wish to observe how you think and act. Every decision you make is part of that, regardless of my hopes for what I will learn. If you are going back down, then I am going back down."
They turned back toward the transport, only a few meters away. As they stepped toward it, a figure stepped out. A clone soldier. Its eyes grew large as it took in the sight of them.
Diaz didn't give it time to recover from the surprise. She was on it in an instant, her knife slicing cleanly across its neck while her hand covered a mouth that barely had a chance to scream.
"Druk," Ehri whispered beside Donovan. "We cannot go back. Not now."
"Diaz took it out, it's fine," Donovan said, moving toward the transport.
Ehri grabbed his arm. "No. All soldiers are tracked and monitored. They will know he is dead, and they will send a team to discover how."
Donovan looked back at the green light and Diaz kneeling over the dead clone in front of it. Was Ehri lying to get them to leave?
"Major, please trust me," Ehri said.
Again, Donovan decided he would. "Diaz, let's go."
"What?" Diaz said. "D, we can't."
"No choice. Our cover is blown. Come on."
She hesitated.
"Thats an order, Lieutenant."
Diaz ran back to them. They ran together to the end of the hallway. Ehri brought them to a stop when they arrived, cautiously peering around the corner.
"The barracks are that way," she said, pointing to the right. "There is an exit this way."
They went to the left. They hadn't gone far when somebody shouted something in the alien tongue behind them.
"Run faster," Ehri said.
They did. Donovan felt the heat of plasma bolts on his back a moment later, striking the area around them. There was another corner up ahead. All they had to do was reach it.
They did, moving so fast that it made turning the corner difficult. Donovan slammed his injured shoulder into the wall, absorbing the intense pain, momentarily blinded by a plasma bolt that hit the wall in front of him. The wall sizzled for a moment but remained unharmed by the blast.
"Donovan," Diaz said, urging him forward. He was too slow compared to her and Ehri. He fought off the pain and surged ahead.
"How far?" he heard Diaz ask.
"A few more corridors," Ehri replied.
"We aren't going to make it."
It was his fault. He wasn't a fast runner to begin with, and his injury was only making it worse.
"Go. Leave me here, I'll hold them off."
He shouldn't have said it. Diaz came to an abrupt stop, forcing Ehri to stop a moment later.
"Not going to happen, amigo," Diaz said. "Keep moving or we all die."
"There's no time," Ehri said. "We'll have to try to lose them and come back. This way."
She waved her hand in front of a hatch Donovan hadn't even seen. It slid open to reveal another corridor. It was smaller than the one they were in and barely lit at all.
"Do not slow down," Ehri said, running ahead of them.
She moved through the passage like she had done it a thousand times, navigating from one corridor to another, one door to the next. Diaz and Donovan struggled to stay behind her, following her through the bowels of the alien starship. Donovan wished he had more time to admire the technology and to make sense
of what each piece of equipment did. Earth had been in its space-faring infancy when the Dread had arrived, and his only experience with it was climbing through part of the wreckage of the Chinese colony ship Wèilái.
He lost track of how long they were running for. Ten minutes? Twenty? What he did know was that they didn't see another living thing the entire time. For all the systems buried beyond the main livable space of the starship, it seemed that little needed to be done to maintain it.
Finally, Ehri came to a stop in front of a hatch. She waved her hand, and it slid open. "In here."
Donovan's chest was pounding, his breathing heavy from the exertion. Diaz was in better shape, but still breathing hard. He looked at Ehri. She wasn't winded at all. "Where are we?" he asked.
She smiled. "Go inside."
She was silently asking him to trust her again. He didn't hesitate this time, nodding and stepping through the doorway.
"Dios Mio," he heard Diaz whisper behind him.
"Why would you do this?" Donovan asked.
THIRTY-THREE
"You wanted me to help you," Ehri said. "This was all I could think of."
Donovan's eyes darted around the room. It was a small space, no bigger than a supply closet. It was the contents that made it count.
He reached out, putting his hand to one of a hundred plasma rifles that rested in racks on the floor while his eyes fell on a suit of the black armor near a second hatch in the front of the room. It was way too big, even for him, but just seeing it left him in awe.
"An armory?" Diaz said. "You brought us to an armory?"
"You deserve a chance to fight your way out," Ehri said. "The odds are still against you, but if you escape you will have earned it."
Donovan lifted the rifle from the rack. Of course, he had held the same kind of weapon before. When they were taken from fallen clones, they were always inactive and unable to be used. This one made a soft humming noise as he wrapped his hand around the grip. A small display of alien symbols appeared on the side of it.
"It isn't secured," he said, feeling a sense of awe to be holding an active version of the weapon.
"No. The coding process occurs when it is lifted by a soldier. You do not have the genetic markers for the process to occur."
"You're saying we can walk out of here with this?" Diaz said, lifting a rifle of her own.
"If you survive, yes."
Diaz looked at Ehri as though she wanted to hug the clone. "We'll survive. Won't we, amigo?"
Donovan nodded. "Can we go back the way we came?"
"Yes." She lifted her head slightly. "They are still tracking us. We won't get back out without a fight. Come on." She motioned toward the door.
"Aren't you taking one?" he asked.
"I will not harm my own," Ehri said.
Donovan couldn't argue with that. They followed Ehri back out into the depths of the ship, retracing their steps. They hadn't gone far when Ehri waved them into a small niche in the wall. The soldiers appeared a moment later, moving efficiently through the space while scanning it for signs of their passing.
Donovan lifted the rifle, sighting down the barrel. "Diaz," he whispered, using his other hand to direct her. She raised her rifle, taking aim.
"Make it painless for them if you can," Ehri said.
Donovan pulled the trigger. There was no kick from the weapon, only a gentle wave of heat as the plasma bolt launched across the area and hit its target in the chest. The clone crumpled to the ground.
Diaz fired at almost the same time, catching her target in the chest as well. The other clone soldiers scrambled to find cover and at the same time figure out where the attack was coming from. Donovan hit another as it moved toward a pipe that ran from floor to ceiling.
"We can't afford to get bogged down here," Donovan said. "Ehri, which way?"
He looked back at her. The alien scientist's face was completely pale. She had to be wondering if she had made a mistake.
"Ehri?" he asked again.
"That way," she replied, regaining herself. "Down the corridor to the third crossing, turn right."
"Did you get that, Diaz?"
"Yes, sir."
Donovan took point as the return fire began coming in. He crouched low, checking on Ehri to make sure she was staying down as well. They had the high ground, giving them a strong advantage in the fight. He fired down at targets as they moved away from their cover to shoot back.
"Be careful of your rate of fire," Ehri said. "If the symbols turn yellow, it is a warning that the weapon is overheating. If they turn red, you are running out of power and the weapon will need to be recharged."
"Recharged?" Donovan said, suddenly aware of how many shots he was taking. He was stupid for thinking the alien weapon would have unlimited ammunition.
"It takes approximately one thousand bolts," Ehri said.
He was glad to know he wouldn't be running out of power soon. He fired more slowly, taking better aim as they finished crossing the space and reached the corridor. They started running again as soon as they did, heading back the way they had come.
"Where is everyone?" Donovan asked a short time later. They were nearly back where they had started and had yet to encounter any other soldiers.
"They'll be waiting for you at the exit," Ehri said.
"Wonderful," Donovan replied. "How are we supposed to get past them?"
"I know another way out."
"You seem to know everything."
Ehri smiled at the statement. "I am educated; that is all. I hunger for knowledge of all kinds. It is my reason for being. This way."
She led them off in another direction, bringing them through a second series of twists and turns until they finally reached a narrow passage that ran along the top corner of a massive hallway. Moonlight streamed in from a huge open portal at the end, and Donovan could see the green of the landscape growing around it.
"The launch tunnel," she said. "They won't expect you to go out this way."
"How do we get down there?" Diaz asked.
"There is a transport at the end, near the opening."
Ehri led them to it. Donovan stepped into the green light without hesitation this time, enjoying the feeling of the quick, controlled fall to the lower level. He waved open the hatch ahead of her, eager to get away.
They stepped out onto the floor of the ship, only a few meters away from the outside world and their freedom. Donovan could just barely make out the outline of Mexico City in the distance, a wisp of smoke still rising above it from the earlier battle there. The pipe had carried them a good ten kilometers.
He took a few steps forward.
One of the Dread stepped out in front of them from the side of the opening. Donovan recognized it immediately as the pur'dahm that had crossed their path earlier.
He had been unarmed that time. He wasn't unarmed anymore. A large rifle rested in his hands, and a large, primitive knife hung from a belt at his hips. The soldier was also wearing a mask with tubes coming out the sides, leading to something behind his back.
He barked something at Donovan, pointing the rifle at him. Donovan stood motionless, his weapon aimed back at the bek'hai warrior.
"Klurik," Ehri said, moving between them. "Step aside."
"You don't command me, lor'hai," the bek'hai said in choppy, guttural English. "Are you helping this lor'el?" He sounded amused. "I thought it was you. I knew you would come here."
Donovan glanced over at Ehri. It was obvious these two had some kind of history, and it didn't seem like a positive one.
"They were trapped. It is just to allow them to return to their kind."
"The Domo'dahm has ordered all lor'el dead."
"Then let them die with their own when you discover their hiding place. If you discover it."
The choking noise had to be a laugh.
"I will find it myself," Klurik said. His head shifted. Donovan couldn't see the bek'hai's eyes, but he knew the alien was looking at him. "Drop the w
eapon, and you may go."
Donovan tightened his grip on the rifle. Where was Diaz, anyway?
"I'm going with him," Ehri said.
Another laugh. "You are lor'hai. You do not make decisions on your own. Did Tuhrik put you up to this?"
"He asked me to accompany the human. He wants me to study them. I agreed to help this one escape in exchange for the chance to observe."
"The Domo'dahm-"
"Is above such things," Ehri said. "It was Tuhrik's decision to make."
"Very well. I cannot promise your safety when we locate the lor'el."
"I don't need you to protect me."
"There was a time when you respected me."
"And there was a time when you respected me," Ehri said. "Before you decided the lor'hai were not worthy of respect."
Klurik lowered his rifle. "Drop the weapon, and you may both go."
Donovan looked over at Ehri again. She nodded, and he threw the rifle to the ground. Klurik's head shifted to follow it. A plasma bolt burned past Donovan's ear, catching the bek'hai in the chest and throwing him to the ground.
"Got him," Diaz said. Donovan turned around, finding her at the edge of upper passage, aiming down at them.
Donovan hadn't realized he was holding his breath. He let it out, bending over to retrieve the rifle.
There was movement in front of him.
Donovan grabbed the weapon, dropping to his knees and turning toward the motion. Klurik was on his feet, the knife in hand. A slight burn mark was all that remained of Diaz's attack. The armor had absorbed the blast.
The bek'hai lunged at him, a rough growl pouring from behind the mask. Donovan fired the rifle, watching the plasma bolt hit the armor. It pushed at the alien, but he was ready for it this time, and he took the shot without slowing.
"Major, the switch on the left side," Ehri said.
Donovan knew the alien weapon well enough to know what she was referring to. He found the switch and flipped it down. The rifle began to vibrate, suddenly feeling lighter in his hands. Klurik was almost on him, the bek'hai completely airborne as it sought to run him through.
He pulled the trigger. This time, the plasma bolt struck the chestplate, burning into the alien and through and striking the oxygen tank on its back.