by Ben Wolf
“Move!” he shouted. “They’re still coming—get to the bottom as quickly as you can!”
“We’re running out of cable!” someone shouted from below—maybe Stecker.
“Can you see the maintenance shaft from there?” Captain Mitchell fired a few rounds at another android, and Private Landry finished it off.
“There’s an access point about five feet beyond the end of the cable.”
“Can you swing over to it?”
“Do I have a choice?” Stecker called back.
A loud hiss sounded above Justin. He looked up.
One of the forklifts launched over the edge, into the shaft.
32
“Watch out!” Justin bellowed. He met Captain Mitchell’s eyes, and together they pushed off of the wall and shifted the cable to the right, away from the falling forklift.
It hissed past them and collided with the shaft wall in an explosion of sparks and screeching metal. The impact redirected it, and it fell toward the other cable.
Justin’s breath caught in his throat. Shannon’s on that cable.
But all he could do was watch.
Harry heard the massive crash above him, a sound distinct from the gunfire, the metallic smacks of the androids hitting the walls, and the screams and yells of those who had yet survived.
He looked up. One of the loading dock forklifts had collided with the shaft wall and now dropped into the shaft.
As the forklift fell, Dirk and two of the IPMs leaped from the cable above him. They grabbed onto exposed pipes and wires on the shaft’s walls, and the forklift hurtled past them.
Harry’s heart rate accelerated. He’d survived so much in the last several hours, but this was bad. Very, very bad.
“Harry?” Shannon called from below him. “I’m out of cable!”
Harry heard her, but he kept his focus above.
The third IPM holding the cable tried to leap as well, but she didn’t clear the forklift’s path. It knocked her out of the air and carried her down with it. She screamed until the forklift smashed her into the shaft wall, then it ricocheted off and angled toward Harry.
No.
Harry knew he couldn’t avoid it. The forklift was too large and falling too fast. He had only seconds to act, and then it would be too late.
“Harry!” Shannon yelled.
Maybe I can at least save her.
Resolute, Harry tightened his grip on the cable clamp with his left hand, swung his legs toward the nearest wall, and pushed off hard. Below, Shannon went with him—not as much as he’d hoped, but hopefully enough.
“Harry?” Shannon called from below him, her voice sharp with fear.
He ignored her. As they swung away from the wall, Harry pulled the repeater from his belt with his right hand and pressed the end of its barrel against the cable above his cable clamp.
The forklift hissed louder above him.
They swung back toward the wall, toward the access point between the two shafts that Stecker had found.
It has to be now.
Harry pulled the trigger. The pulse sheared through the cable, and their momentum carried them closer to the access point platform.
Shannon yelped, but she landed on the platform squarely—safely. Harry dropped the repeater and the now-useless cable and reached out for the platform.
Maybe I guessed wrong. Maybe there’s a chance after all.
He stretched his arms and extended his fingers toward the platform. His hands grasped the edge of the metal, and his fingers dug into the grooves between the grating, anchoring him in place.
Then momentum swung his legs under the platform. The motion tore his left hand free from its grip. He caught a glimpse of Shannon’s pretty green eyes staring down at him, set into a beautiful face now twisted with shock and horror.
And then his right hand pried free.
Harry’s arms flailed as he fell, and his stomach swirled with weightlessness. Shannon’s screams and the forklift’s flashing amber lights cradled his fall into darkness.
Justin’s gut twisted. Harry was gone, but somehow, Shannon had landed on the access platform below. He needed to get down there.
The android onslaught had stopped, at least for the time being. Justin followed Captain Mitchell down the cable and obeyed his instructions about when to swing, when to move, and when to stay put. Before long, Justin landed on the access platform next to Shannon.
Eventually, Dirk, Landry, and DouPonce made it down to the platform, bringing the total number of survivors to eleven.
They re-entered the maintenance shaft and worked their way to the bottom. Captain Mitchell and Private DouPonce led the way through the hole the IPMs had cut into the access door and into the mine corridor, their rifles primed and ready. Landry limped after them, the only other IPM who’d made it.
Nothing came at them.
“Rest.” Captain Mitchell pointed toward the corridor wall, still illuminated with red emergency lights. “Five minutes. Then we head toward the ventilation network above Sector 6.”
“I don’t think that’s wise, Captain.” Carl’s once pristine suit now bore dark stains from accumulated grime and gore.
Justin’s replacement clothes were just as stained and ruined.
“You think we should keep moving?” The tone of Captain Mitchell’s voice suggested he might yield to Carl’s whims. It made sense—it had become clear he only intended to save Carl Andridge. That was his sole mission, and no one else mattered.
“We’re down to three Marines, including you.” Carl motioned toward the others. “Plus my personal bodyguard, one security guard, and a handful of armed civilians. We can’t withstand another wave of androids or mutated workers. The sooner we can get out of here, the better.”
“We need to rest,” Stecker interjected. “You saw what just happened. We got steamrolled. If we don’t take time to recuperate, we’re not going anywhere.”
Justin glanced at Shannon, who sat against the wall. She stared at the floor, her eyes vacant, holding a glowing repeater in her hand. Wet lines streaked down her cheeks. He started toward her, but Dirk plopped down next to her.
She looked at him for a long second, then she looked away.
To his credit, Dirk didn’t say anything. He just put his hand on her shoulder and kept silent.
They’d both lost people. Shannon had lost Harry. Dirk was the only survivor from his group of idiot friends.
But I’ve lost people, too. Connie, Candie, Keontae, Pradeep. Why am I not down there with them, mourning? Why can’t I make myself join them?
“We need to rest,” Stecker continued. He pointed to Landry, who also sat against the wall, though several feet away from Shannon and Dirk. “Private Landry needs medical attention.”
Captain Mitchell turned toward Private Landry. “How bad is it?”
Private Landry pointed his rifle up at Captain Mitchell. “Not bad enough for you to shoot me. So don’t get any ideas.”
Captain Mitchell remained unfazed, but he didn’t raise his rifle, either. He turned to Private DouPonce, who crouched next to Landry, tending to his wounded hip. “How bad?”
“One of Samson’s rounds hit Landry’s pelvis. Armor’s lighter there, so it didn’t stop the pulse. Damage doesn’t look too bad, though. He can walk, and he climbed down the maintenance ladder just fine.”
“I said I’m good,” Private Landry hissed as he pushed himself up to his feet. He winced, but he never once took his eyes off of Captain Mitchell. “We can leave any time.”
“We lost a lot of people.” Stecker shook his head. “Let’s take the full five minutes and recollect ourselves. It’s only five minutes.”
Carl didn’t even look at him. “Captain, do you really intend to wait around for the next bad thing to happen?”
Three minutes into their break, a moan sounded from beyond where Shannon and Dirk sat. Garth stood with his forehead against the wall and his hands over his ears. He moaned again.
Ety
a stood nearby, trying to shake him out of his malaise.
He shrugged her off. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.”
“Get it together, son,” Captain Mitchell growled. “I don’t have time for your bullshit.”
Garth continued repeating his mantra, only louder. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening…”
“Will someone please shut him up?” Carl snapped. He looked at Noby, who nodded and started toward Garth.
Etya noticed, and she tried to wrest Garth from his trance again, but he physically shoved her back. At that, Stecker started toward him as well, but Noby got there first.
Noby yanked Garth from the wall, spun him around, and pushed him against it again with his hand on Garth’s chest.
Garth’s chanting ceased, and he stared at Noby, wide-eyed and quaking.
“Listen to me.” Noby’s deep voice almost shook the corridor. “Take a deep breath. Now.”
Garth inhaled a shaky breath.
“Another one.”
Garth’s shakiness subsided, but he still stared at Noby with wild, fearful eyes.
Noby said, “There’s only one way out of this, and that’s if we work together to get out of here. We need you, kid. Pull it together.”
Garth managed a nod, and he inhaled another deep breath through his mouth. Quietly, he replied, “Okay.”
“It’s been more than five minutes at this point.” Carl eyed Stecker. “Can we go now?”
“Yes.” Captain Mitchell nodded. “DouPonce, you take the rear with Landry. Stecker and I will take point. Everyone else in the middle.”
“You sure it’s wise to head back to Sector 6?” Justin asked. “That’s where this all started.”
“We can get out that way.”
“It’s where the ghost will have the most power,” Justin countered.
“Son, I don’t believe in ghosts.” Captain Mitchell hefted his rifle higher. “I believe in superior firepower.”
Justin scoffed. “And how has that worked so far?”
Captain Mitchell’s jaw hardened. “Then how about I leave you here with your dick flapping in the breeze, and we’ll see how far that gets you?”
Justin shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. It just doesn’t seem wise to walk into the ghost’s home turf.”
“What other choice do we have, Justin?” Etya asked.
Everyone turned toward her.
“If they got in through Sector 6, then we can get out that way as well.” She folded her robotic arm overtop of her real one and in front of her chest. “It is our only chance now.”
Justin sighed. He didn’t like it, but she was right. With the grav lift platform on the ground level and the shipping container blocking the entry to the maintenance shaft, they couldn’t just go back up that way. And even if they could get back up there, the hatch was blocked and the loading doors were shut.
There really was only one option left.
“We can’t go in there unaware,” Justin said. “Sector 6 is beyond dangerous. I almost died in there, and Mark Brown did die in there. Or at least, close enough to it.”
“My eyes are wide open, son,” Captain Mitchell said. “Robots. Mutated freaks. Fire and brimstone raining from heaven above. Don’t care what it is. I’m getting us out of here, and those ventilation shafts are the only way to do it now.”
Justin sighed again. “Then we’d better do it quickly. Does anyone have a repeater I could use?”
“Here.” Stecker tossed his repeater to Justin. “I’ll be fine with this rifle.”
Justin looked it over. It had forty-six percent charge to it. Good enough.
“I’d make use of one too, if anyone can spare it,” Carl said.
Without a word, Private DouPonce handed Carl his sidearm.
“Form up, and let’s go,” Captain Mitchell said.
They complied and crept down the corridor, still bathed in harsh red light. As he walked, Justin pulled out the Nebrandt plant and secured it to his new repeater with the copper wire.
“Keep your eyes sharp,” Stecker hissed. “They can come from above,”
They passed the grav lift entrance first. Its door remained closed.
Justin thought they might try to open it to retrieve equipment from the dead IPMs inside, but Captain Mitchell led them right past. In hindsight, it made sense. If any of the androids had survived the fall, it wasn’t worth the risk.
Within minutes, they reached the Sector 6 entrance. It gaped open at them like the mouth of an ancient beast, welcoming them to their doom with enough soft blue light to show them away, but not nearly enough to brighten the whole space. They ventured inside.
A chunk of the sector’s science office still lay in a mound of rubble and glass to their left, and what remained of the office above was charred black.
Justin glanced at Etya. She was looking away from the office. Justin didn’t blame her.
The turbines high above didn’t whir. Justin spotted a network of maintenance catwalks and ladders just under each of them. That must’ve been how the IPMs had gotten down from the ventilation shafts. He traced the network to the downed section of catwalk on one end, and to a nearby platform elevated high above the cavern floor on the other end.
From his vantage point, Justin could only see the bottom of the platform, but beyond it, he saw a trio of motionless turbines, smaller than those mounted in the ceiling but still mammoth, embedded in the cavern wall next to the platform. Another catwalk stretched in front of those.
Perhaps the IPMs had gotten in through those instead.
“Do we need to worry about those mechs lying in the center of the cavern?” Captain Mitchell asked Garth.
Garth blinked. “I… I honestly have no idea.”
“They’re older models. Not fully AI. They require human operators to function properly,” Shannon said. It was the first time she’d spoken since the grav lift shaft.
Justin looked at her, and so did Captain Mitchell. After the incident with the malfunctioning mechs in Sector 13 that had paralyzed Ralph, killed other workers, and cost Justin his arm, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
“We should be fine,” she said.
The cracks in the floor had widened since Justin’s incident so many weeks prior, but the telltale teal glow of copalion was thankfully absent. He couldn’t explain why it flared up at times and why it didn’t now, but Etya might’ve been able to. Nonetheless, now was not the time for a science lesson.
Justin neither smelled nor saw any phichaloride gas, either. If it showed up, they had filtration masks.
But if radiation showed up, their clothing and masks would offer no protection. The IPMs’ armor probably wouldn’t protect them, either. Hopefully they wouldn’t be in the sector long enough for it to make a difference.
Captain Mitchell pointed toward the platform. “We came in through those turbines. Wasn’t easy, but there’s a maintenance access walkway up there.”
A metallic groan sounded behind them, and they turned back, weapons raised.
The Sector 6 doors eased shut with a clank.
Justin checked the Nebrandt plant on the end of his repeater. No change.
“That can’t be good,” Dirk grumbled.
“Quiet,” Captain Mitchell snapped. He scanned the ceiling with his rifle raised, its butt in his shoulder.
A metallic clunk sounded overhead, then another, then another. The whir of winding turbines accelerated, and soon they all whirled at full-blast.
“Shit,” Captain Mitchell said.
“How are we gonna get out of here now?” Dirk asked.
“Quiet,” Captain Mitchell snapped again. “I’m thinking.”
“We must shut off the turbines,” Etya said.
“I said, quiet.”
“She’s right, Captain.” Garth stepped forward.
Captain Mitchell glared at him. “And how, exactly, do we do that?”
“I’m not exactly familiar with this secto
r. It closed long before I ever—”
“Do you know, or not?
Garth nodded. “I think so. Do you remember seeing that mainframe terminal on that platform when you came in?”
Captain Mitchell hesitated and turned toward DouPonce and Landry.
“Yes,” Landry said. “It was dark, though. Didn’t look like any power was running to it.”
“It’s hardwired for priority override access to this sector’s systems,” Garth said. “Once a sector gets big enough, IT adds those in as a failsafe. If I can get it working, that’s how we’ll shut down the turbines.”
“How are we supposed to get up there?” Carl asked.
“We rappelled down,” Private DouPonce said. “We still have a couple of cables, but climbing up is harder than climbing down.” He glanced at Shannon, Etya, and Garth. “I don’t know that we’d all be able to make the climb that high.”
Shannon scoffed. “Speak for yourself.”
“He’s right,” Garth said. “I couldn’t climb up that high on a rope. It’s at least fifty feet.”
“More like seventy-five,” Private Landry said.
“Then we’ll climb the pillars up to the catwalks,” Captain Mitchell said. “They’re basically metal scaffolding. Plenty of handholds and footholds. There’s a full section of the catwalk that’s broken down, so we’ll have to climb beyond that point to access the upper levels.”
And more heights. Justin exhaled a shaky breath. Still, what else could he do?
Be courageous. That’s all any of them could manage at this point.
“Stecker, you lead the way. We’ll—”
A screech split the cavern. It reverberated off the walls and sent shudders through Justin’s heart. He raised his repeater. Not again.
“Form up!” Captain Mitchell shouted.
They formed a loose circle in the center of the cavern, weapons ready.
“Where are they?” Dirk asked.
Another screech sounded. Then another, then another. But Justin couldn’t pinpoint the source of any of them. They were close—that, he knew. He shined his repeater light at the ceiling but saw nothing up there.