by Jeff Sims
Well, part of that was true. There was no logjam, but Loid and team had just finished flushing the sewers with water. Loid had learned the hard way that wandering through sewers filled with fecal matter was not as fun as it sounded.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Ponwe asked.
“Yes,” Loid answered. “There is a significant amount of poo stuck in one section of the sewer. The maintenance staff is going to evaluate it on 2n… on evening shift. If it hasn’t cleared away, then I will lead a cleaning team into the sewer at the start of morning shift tomorrow.”
Normally, each building had a collector and an evaporator to treat water and waste. These systems were very expensive and typically operate far below capacity. Loid had designed a system to link six nearby buildings together via large, underground sewer pipes.
Now, the waste water could be treated by one evaporator unit much more efficiently and economically. The downside of course was that one would have to walk hunched way over and wade knee deep through fecal matter if a particular problem area needed attention.
Ponwe smiled and said, “It sounds like your pipes are a little constipated. Let’s hope you don’t have to physically unclog them.”
Loid smiled at the joke, waved goodbye, and exited the office. He knew that he would indeed be entering the sewers tonight – provided they received a signal from Conron. In fact, it was going to be a very busy evening. Well, since they weren’t starting until after midnight he supposed that it was technically going to be a busy morning.
Loid walked to the hovertram station. His apartment was still located a stop away, near the spaceport. As he was waiting for the next tram he received the message that he had been so patiently awaiting for what was literally years now.
He still had time before the next tram, so he opened his communication pad and read the message. It was from Ambassador Lone. It simply read, “Loid’la, proceed as planned.”
Loid’la smiled. He noted that his ear stalks involuntarily raised to their highest position. He forced himself to calm back down. They were so close now, he didn’t want to blow the operation by acting weird.
Loid couldn’t help himself though. He reread the message. The first word said it all. No more pretending to be Loid’pe, the dishonored former military officer forced to do sanitation work. Nope, it said Loid’la. It said that he was once again a warrior.
Loid’la still didn’t know why he had accepted the mission two years ago. He supposed that he had wanted an adventure, and of course a chance to get back in Supreme Admiral Fruid’la’s good graces. At any rate, the Hiriculan Navy had secretly promoted him to the rank of commander.
Then the Navy conducted a public trial for his role in letting the Sunflower escape in Hepitila. The trial was a farce, simply designed to add credence to his fake cover. The fake trial had worked perfectly - Ponwe never suspected that nearly every member of his construction crew was actually a member of the Hiriculan Special Forces and that Loid was their leader.
Things had changed slightly when Admiral Lopeq’la arrived with 30 additional troops. However, Ambassador Lone had quickly established a pecking order. Commander Loid’la was in charge of the troops on Solaria and Admiral Lopeq’la was in charge of those orbiting it.
Of course, Lopeq’la would have overall responsibility for the entire system, but only after the Navy arrived. Until then, Loid’la was in charge. And if everything went according to plan, by the time the sun rose tomorrow morning he would be in charge of an entire planet.
………..…………
Loid’la awoke with a start. He had been dreaming of Solarians with their faces painted white. They had been screaming and running toward and possibly shooting at him. He sat up in bed and shook the images out of his brain. Ambassador Lone had reassured him on more than one occasion that the Solaraians wouldn’t fight – or if they did it wouldn’t be coordinated.
However, the dream was disturbing. He sincerely hoped that Ambassador Lone was correct and that the dream wasn’t a premonition of things to come. The dream was bad enough he thought. If that were to happen in real life it would be a nightmare.
Loid’la looked at the time on his communication pad. He still had 45 minutes until he needed to wake up for the start of his shift at the office building, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. Not today, not this day.
He turned on the main monitor and started flipping through the channels. At this hour though, most of the programming was dominated by shows about humans. Loid’la didn’t see the appeal. Just because the two races looked eerily similar didn’t mean that the Solarians needed to constantly watch programs about them.
He doubted if the humans watched that many shows about Solarians. He suddenly realized the absurdity of his thought and laughed. The humans didn’t even know that aliens existed, let alone devoted programming time to observing their activities.
He finally settled on a human sporting contest. Teams tried to kick a ball into their opponent’s net. He enjoyed the symmetry and constant motion of the game. Thirty minutes passed by and Loid’la realized that he needed to get going. He didn’t want to be late today.
He quickly dressed, grabbed two suitcases that he had packed the evening before, and left his apartment. He hadn’t brought many personal items with him and hadn’t collected very many new ones on Solaria. Those few possessions that he possessed though were packed in the two suitcases. He put the cases on an innocuous looking hovercart at the spaceport.
After all of the soldiers had dropped their bags on the hovercart, one of the Hiriculan workers was assigned to hide them. They had positioned a transport on a local (intra-continent) level of the spaceport. The aforementioned Hiriculan would transfer them to the transport right before the activities began.
The Solarians may ransack the Hiriculans’ apartments in anger or retribution. However, there was virtually no way that they would be able to identify this particular transport. After things stabilized, they would be able to retrieve their belongings and potentially move back into their apartments, but until then they just didn’t have the resources to guard everything.
He took the hovertram to the office building. He arrived in the basement 15 minutes early and noted that he was one of the last to arrive. He wasn’t surprised; everyone seemed to be having the same feelings that he was – a combination of tension and excitement.
Only one Hiriculan had worked the evening / 3rd shift last night. He gave Loid’la and the rest of the maintenance crew what was more than likely his last shift report. He said, “There were no major problems. I flushed the sewers again last night, but I think the problem area is still there. You may have to investigate.”
Everyone politely chuckled in response. Yes, there certainly was a plug in the system; and yes, they certainly planned to unclog it in a couple of hours.
Loid’la said to the worker that had just completed his shift, “Kood’la, I have an assignment especially for you. You get to guard the Hiriculan civilians. Your orders are simple, if they try to leave, stun them. If anyone tries to enter before the all clear is sounded, stun them.”
During the grand opening of the building, Ambassador Lone had told Loid to hide Ponwe and his family someplace safe. He really couldn’t think of anywhere safer than the new building and really didn’t have access to anything else. Therefore, he had appropriated an empty office suite on the third floor and created a secret hiding place.
The beauty was that he could literally hide them in plain sight. No one would ever think to look for them there. The door from the main hallway was unlocked and opened into a completely open and unfinished foyer. There was an unlocked door off of the foyer that also led to an unfinished and empty office.
There was a second set of offices leading off of the foyer. Loid reinforced the wall with hull plate steel and replaced the door with a solid steel door. The door could be physically bolted in place and then fusion welded from the inside. It would be very, very diffic
ult to open. As an added bonus, the extra material in the wall should absorb any the signal from most hand-held scanners.
The genius of the hiding space though was final touch. He placed a ‘Caution, Do Not Enter’ sign on the door. No one would even think to open the door with the warning sign in place.
The secret rooms had ample space for the six beings that would soon occupy it. Loid had stocked the room with enough provisions to last several weeks. He doubted they would need even a few hours, but he wanted them to feel comfortable.
To that end, he had included a kitchenette, a bathroom, a central living area, three very small bedrooms, five beds, and a crib. He had even given each of them several changes of clothing. It was the best that he could do on such short notice, but he believed that it would do just fine.
“It’s time,” Loid’la said. “Call the doctor.”
Kood’la was assigned the task of luring the doctor to the building since he was tired from working all evening. He should be able to sleep and guard them at the same time. Kood’la contacted Doctor Prued’mo on his communication pad and patiently waited for her to answer.
When she did, he calmly said, “Doctor, there was a small accident at the new government building. Can you please come here as soon as possible?”
Loid’la then sent Ponwe message. He marked it urgent, meaning that Ponwe’s communication pad would wake him up. It read: Ponwe, there is an issue with secondary converter. Please come to the office immediately.
Prued’mo arrived 8 minutes later. She had made excellent time and was still huffing from the fast-paced walk. She was met in the lobby by both Loid’la and Kood’la. She immediately noted that both men were holding stun weapons.
She looked at them suspiciously and said, “Who is injured?”
Loid’la replied, “You, if you don’t do exactly as I say?”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would you expect me to follow you after you just threatened me?” Prued’mo asked.
Loid’la said, “I am not threatening you. I am trying to protect you.” He waved the stun weapon at her for effect.
Prued’mo responded, “It would seem more logical then not to threaten to stun me if you are trying to protect me.”
Loid’la realized that she had a valid point. He doubted that he was going to win this argument using this particular tactic. He lowered the weapon a bit and stopped brandishing it.
He tried again, “Sorry for the perceived threat. I misspoke. I assure you that I was not stating that we were going to harm you. I was implying that we are trying to protect you from harm”
Prued’mo asked, “Who is trying to harm me?”
Loid’la said, “We have reason to believe that all Hiriculans on this planet are in immediate danger. We have found hiding places for everyone until the danger has passed. I need you to help me help you. Is that acceptable?”
“No.” Prued’mo replied.
Loid’la sighed. He noted that his ear stalks were rising. He needed her help and he needed it fast. He responded, “Okay, very soon an angry mob of Solarians may start running down the street looking for Hiriculans to kidnap. I need to make sure that everyone is safe before that happens.”
Prued’mo asked, “Why would they do that?”
Loid’la forced himself to try to relax. The architect Ponwe would be here in a moment and he desperately needed to resolve the doctor situation.
Loid’la answered “Hiricula and the Alliance just started an all-out war. As we speak there are battles raging throughout the galaxy.”
Kood’la added, “We will not be hostages to be bartered! You can count on that.”
Loid’la continued, “We need to get to safety now!” Loid noted that he had said the last few words a little too strongly.
Prued’mo thought for a brief moment. She then looked around as if she was trying to spot an angry Solarian mob.
Loid’la lowered his voice to almost a whisper and said directly to her, “Remember, in your case if the Solarians catch you, Hiricula will not negotiate for your release.”
She finally realized that working with Loid’la was probably the better of two bad options and replied, “What do you need me to do?”
At that moment Ponwe entered the building. Loid took careful aim and shot him with the beam weapon. Ponwe collapsed on the floor.
Loid’la responded, “I need you to call Jenna and tell her that Ponwe has inexplicably collapsed on the floor. Tell her that you are treating him. Find a way to convince her to come here and bring Lucas and Kiera.”
They gently loaded Ponwe onto a hover cart. Kood’la and the doctor took the electro lift to the third floor. They maneuvered him into the hiding area and gently placed him on one of the beds. They were joined a few minutes later by Jenna and the children.
Prued’mo asked, “Aren’t you guys joining us in here?”
Loid’la shook his head and said, “We are spreading out as much as possible so that they can’t find us in a single group. This is the most secure place available which is why we saved it for Ponwe and his family.”
He had ended the sentence, but suddenly realized that it had been rather rude. He hastily added, “And you.”
Once everyone was secured in the room, Loid’la and several other workers stood guard while Kood’la fusion welded the inside of the door to the wall. To exit the secret room, he would simply have to reverse weld the door. Loid’la verified the sign was in place and left.
Loid’la briefly wondered where Ambassador Lone and the other Hiriculans that worked at the embassy were hiding. Well, he technically didn’t wonder where they were. He really wondered why there wasn’t room for 5 more wherever they were. The early morning sewer expedition could have proceeded much more smoothly if Lone had dealt with the civilians instead of him.
Either way, it was time to go.
“Team B,” Loid’la said, “You can now get dressed.”
He added, “However, you must wait until Team A is place and has given the all-clear signal before leaving the office.” The last sentence was rather unnecessary. They had been planning this for months. Team B knew what to do.
“Understood,” the second team responded almost in unison. Admiral Lopeq’la waited a moment to respond so that everyone would hear him. He echoed the “Understood.” Then he added, “Don’t worry, we will succeed with our portion of the mission.”
Team B pulled 30 Hiriculan Armored Suits (HAS) from a secret hiding spot in the basement and activated them. They got into them and prepared them for battle. These HAS suits were a little different than the standard issue ones though.
The armor and rear power generator had been removed from the back of the suits; leaving a very large circular hole. Once the being was inside the suit, the hole was covered by a 3 mm (1/8 inch) piece of steel. The inside of the panel was heavily padded for the wearer’s comfort.
The thin cover was set onto a hinge in the back of the suit. When the suit had power, the cover was electromagnetically held into place. When the suit lost power, the cover would pivot on its hinge and fall perfectly horizontally to the ground.
The adjustment made the suits lighter and more mobile. However, it eliminated the main shield generator; leaving the overall suit far more vulnerable to laser fire. Further, the plate would provide almost no protection if it the shields went down and the suit was hit in the back by a laser beam.
The 30 soldiers finished getting into the HAS suits, performed a complete systems check, attached the rear covers, and quietly took the electro lift to the main floor. (Well as quietly one could while walking in a large metal suit). They then hid in the foyer as best as they could and waited for Team A’s signal. Fortunately, the foyer’s sound deafening design really assisted with this task.
The 6 members of Team A remained in the basement of the office building. They retrieved beam weapons from the same hiding place. They also grabbed lights and welding equipment from the maintenance area. They loaded all of their gear onto the 5 hover
carts. Finally, they got dressed in hazardous material suits and donned rebreathing units.
Loid didn’t trust the hover carts because both of them had failed during his last soiree into the sewer system. This time he made two modifications. First, he lightly loaded each cart. They really only needed 3 to transport their equipment, so this time two carts could die and they would still be fine. Second, he welded an additional filter over the air intake.
With luck, one or both of the modifications would work and they wouldn’t have to drag the equipment. However, the workers were in excellent shape and had been practicing carrying loads through the obstacle course for many months now. So, either way, they were ready.
Two workers attached gravity lifters to what appeared to be a stationary piece of equipment and moved it slightly to the left until it revealed a sewer grate. They then removed the grate and silently set it beside the hole. Five of the 6 members of Team A then lowered themselves into the sewer one at a time.
Once they were in position, the lone remaining member in the basement activated the 5 hover carts and lowered them down into the sewer one at a time. After the carts were through, she positioned a 6th hover cart holding a reel with a really long extension cord over the hole and lowered it down. She left about 1 meter (3 feet) of cord above the sewer.
She carefully repositioned the sewer grate over the hole. She then aligned the extension cord with a small cut-away in the grate. Once aligned, she gently lowered the grate back into position. She then plugged the cord into the grounding circuit of the large piece of equipment.
Finally, she pushed the excess cord back into the sewer and maneuvered the large piece of equipment back to its original position. The extension cord was completely hidden and there was no trace of their passage.
She then secured every loose item and closed the spot where they had hidden the HAS suits. She started to leave the basement and stopped. She turned back, grabbed 6 beam weapons, and distributed them throughout her pockets.
The former construction foreman, well technically forewoman, opened her communication pad and contacted Loid’la. She said for what she hoped was the very last time, “We are exactly on schedule.”