Karsh assured me that we’d have no trouble getting close enough for me to perform my magic, and that once everyone was unconscious, we’d we could easily slip in and out unseen. I couldn’t imagine how he could be so certain, given random patrols and all the guards stationed around the stronghold. But I was sure he knew more than I did about the layout of the city and the resources at his disposal. If he said we could get in and out unseen, that was good enough for me.
Shari and I had trouble getting to sleep the night before the attack. After tossing and turning on our table-bed for over an hour, we finally gave up trying. I rolled over onto my back with a frustrated sigh. Shari reached for my hand.
“Worried about tomorrow?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?”
Shari chuckled. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shrugged. “What’s there to talk about? If we’re successful, the rebellion deals the Brotherhood a decisive blow. If we fail, the rebellion could be crushed. It all comes down to one roll of the dice—and it all depends on us. What if we slip up? We could screw up the whole planet for the Azarti!”
I shook my head. “Dealing with a crisis when it pops up suddenly is one thing. But knowing it’s coming ahead of time just gives you time to worry and get your stomach in a knot over it.”
She reached out and squeezed my hand. “I’ve seen some pretty bad things on the streets, and I’m all for the death penalty for murderers. But I sometimes wonder if the waiting is a harsher punishment than the execution is. After all, the actual execution takes only a few minutes, while the anticipation drags on for months or even years.”
I shrugged. “Knowing it’s coming and not being able to do anything about it has to eat you up inside. That’s kind of how I feel right now. My stomach keeps doing flip-flops.”
“Yeah. Mine too. Of course, there’s always one way to take our minds off our ‘impending doom’.” She waggled an eyebrow at me.
I debated the alternative—for all of a second—and let a slow smile grow. “C’mere, you.” I grabbed Shari and we rolled together.
Somehow, I had no problem falling asleep later.
* * * *
The next morning, after another breakfast of raw seafood, Karsh, Keldor, Shari, and I met one more time to discuss last-minute changes to the plan. Keldor appeared nervous, but who wasn’t? Still his jitteriness seemed excessive.
“Are you all right, Keldor?” I asked.
“I-I am fine. I am eager to get this mission under way. That is all.”
“Any questions about the plan?” Karsh asked us all.
“Just the obvious one,” I replied. “Can this work?”
Karsh projected a mental shrug. “There are few guarantees in life.”
I smiled. “Too true.”
“Still, this is the best chance we have had to end the tyranny of the Brotherhood.”
I nodded. “You’re right. Just pre-game jitters, I guess. Fine. Let’s do this.”
Shari looked nervous, but nodded her agreement.
“Good,” Karsh said. “We leave shortly.”
I swallowed with a suddenly dry throat. This was it.
* * * *
Karsh wished each of the other teams well as they departed. The decoy teams had the farthest to go and the most to do, so they went first, followed by Rismal, the strike force that was to invade Grambala. Team Palashi was the last to leave. Theoretically, we were in the least danger of the six teams. But that assumed everything went according to plan.
I took a last look around the room before we left. Our quarters were spartan; Shari and I had nothing to leave behind. We slipped through the tube into the sea outside. It was evening, and to human eyes nearly dark. The Azarti had evolved in these seas and their light-sensitive skin allowed them to see where they were going, despite the gloom. The main avenues separating tall structures were dimly lighted with luminescent chunks of a coral-like material, making those “roads” remind me of airport runways at night back home.
Of course, we weren’t going anywhere near the brighter areas of the city, preferring to stick to the darkest paths we could find. Because of my ability to “see” even with my eyes closed, the gloom was less of a problem for me than for Shari. She would have gotten completely lost if not for Keldor.
Once again, Karsh and Keldor took us in tow for speed, this time at the end of tethers tied around their waists to keep their hands free.
We swam for several minutes, until we reached our destination. The structure was larger than the ones used as homes, but otherwise similarly blocky in shape. The Azarti might go in for fanciful colors, but their idea of architecture is distinctly utilitarian.
We all slipped in through the entrance tube and swam downward, below the level of the sea floor. When Karsh explained this part of the plan to me, I was worried about the depth. However, he explained that we wouldn’t be that deep for long.
There were dozens of cylindrical pipes entering the chamber on one side and exiting on the other. Karsh gestured at a tube extending into one of the pipes.
“This is our way in. These jet pipes are similar in nature to the ones inside Galla, but much larger and longer.
“It is important that we all end up in the same place. If you get swept past our exit, there is no way to back up. Stay together. Everyone hold the ankles of the person in front, in groups of four.”
Shari and I nodded. The four members of the security detail went first, led by Essin. Karsh slipped into the tube next. Keldor grabbed his ankles before Karsh disappeared from view. I went next, grasping his ankles.
As I was pulled into the tube, I sent a thought Shari’s way. “Hold on tight, honey. This could get bumpy.” Her grip tightened on my ankles and she was pulled through in turn.
As the jet of water hurled us toward Grambala, I had a mental image of the four of us, passing like pieces of food through an intestinal tract, only faster. Keldor had come up with the idea of using the city’s sewer system as our means of ingress into the stronghold. It was fast and bypassed the guards at all entrances to the structure.
It might seem silly to have a sewer system in the ocean. After all, fish don’t need them; they get along just fine breathing the same water they excrete into. However, fish don’t create the large amounts of trash, day after day, that humans and Azarti do. Just as we have problems with air pollution in our cities, the Azarti once had water pollution problems. The solution was to build a network of high-speed jet tubes. Organic waste is put into the tubes and shoved miles beyond the outskirts of the city, to be ejected into a deep ravine where it’s dispersed by the ocean currents as it sinks. The waste also serves as food for certain types of deep sea creatures.
We were making use of the same network to get the strike team and ourselves into position within Grambala. Team Rismal had taken another pipe that would get them deeper into the heart of Grambala a few minutes after we arrived, just inside the perimeter of the stronghold. The big question was, could we do it undetected? It seemed unlikely that Korr would leave such obvious “backdoors” in his security perimeter unguarded. That meant there was likely to be fighting, and someone was bound to get off a mental alarm during the fight, bringing Korr’s whole army down on us—unless we acted preemptively.
As we jetted down the sewer pipe, I sent a thought back to Shari. “Do you sense anyone at our entry point?”
“Not so far, but without someone to focus on, I can’t be sure I’m not missing anyone. They might be dozing or distracted and I wouldn’t sense any concentrated thoughts. How about you? You ‘see’ anyone?”
“Yeah. That’s the problem. I see the big picture, with hundreds of people in the immediate area. It’s hard to ‘zoom in’ on a small area. It’s like staring at a high-res holo and trying to concentrate on a single pixel that’s no more distinct than the surrounding ones. All the other pixels are distracting me.”
“Oh,” she chuckled, “so you can’t see the tree for the forest?”
; I had to smile in return. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“Well, one of us had better figure out what we’re up against before we get there. This could get messy.”
“Tell me about it.”
We had, at most, five minutes left until we arrived, and only a vague notion of what was going to happen when we arrived. Under other conditions, the trip could have been exhilarating, like a minutes-long version of a theme park water slide. But the consequences of failure were too grim for me to enjoy the ride.
I sensed a commotion and “saw” sparks appearing as points in a three-dimensional map in my head, representing people in a highly agitated state of mind in four distinct areas around the city.
“Karsh,” Shari broadcast to everyone in our team, “All the decoy teams have begun their assault.” She obviously “heard” people barking orders on both sides of the conflict.
I sensed intense pain emanating from some of the sparks. Others winked out. People were dying out there. For the purposes of the plan, it didn’t really matter which side those people were on, as long as it bought us the time we needed. But if I didn’t succeed with my part of the plan, all those people would have died for nothing.
The added pressure didn’t exactly help me concentrate.
“Hold on,” I called out to the others, “I see a knot of people at our exit.” I sent a mental image of the location to Shari.
“Ah! Hang on a sec,” she replied. “Okay, I’ve got them. Uh-oh. They’re expecting us! How could they possibly know we were coming?”
I confess, I panicked. “Shit! Karsh, we’ve been compromised! Do we abort?”
I knew we could always skip our exit and keep going to another, farther down the line. But we had less than a minute to decide before we reached our destination, and there was no guarantee that Korr didn’t have other exits protected, too.
“Calm down, Sunrise! It is not important whether they know of our presence,” he responded. “The only question is whether we can complete the mission. It all depends on you. Can you knock everyone unconscious before they sound the alarm? We may not get another chance at Korr if we let this opportunity slip by.”
I considered the alternatives. They somehow knew we were coming. We were swimming into a trap. But Karsh was right. If I managed to knock them all out, it wouldn’t really matter that they were prepared for us, would it?
“I can do it,” I declared. If only I was as confident as I sounded. “But none of this will matter if Korr doesn’t retreat to Grambala. Lola, Are you picking up anything? Do you know where Korr is?”
Surely he wouldn’t go to Grambala if he knew we were headed there to get him, would he? Overconfidence, perhaps? Or bait for the trap?
“Not yet, but I’m looking for him,” she replied.
“There isn’t much point to penetrating his stronghold if he’s not there.”
“Ya think I don’t know that? Jeez. Gimme some credit!” Evidently the pressure was getting to Shari as well. “I’ll let you know as soon as I— Wait! I’ve got ‘im. His security detail is discussing the route. He’s…definitely on his way to Grambala!”
“Excellent!” Karsh cut in.
At least that one thing was going according to plan. I could try to knock out the Azarti guarding the chamber we were exiting into before we got there. If they didn’t fall, we could still abort.
I concentrated. I picked out the sparks clustered around our entry point into Grambala—twenty-six of them. It was a trap all right. No one would have more than two dozen troops guarding a sewer pipe for no reason.
“Okay, boys and girls, time for a nap.” I gave them a little mental tap. Nothing happened. That was worrisome, but perhaps I just needed more “juice.”
We had mere seconds left before reaching the exit. I tried again. A firmer tap this time. After all, I wasn’t sure how to calibrate the intensity of my sledgehammer and I didn’t want to knock out half the city. At least, not yet.
Enough fun and games. I gave them a firm slap this time. They melted like a sand castle at high tide. I was reminded of the old fairy tale called “Seven with One Blow,” about a man who reputedly felled seven giants with one mighty swat. Only seven? The piker.
They folded just in time, too. “We’re in. Go, go, go!”
Karsh grabbed the lip of the tube and pulled himself in. The rest of us, propelled by the water, piled up behind him like cars at rush hour. Each of us, in turn, was pulled through the tube by those in front.
After we all made it safely out of the sewer pipe, I looked around. As I expected, there were twenty-six armed, but inert, bodies floating around us. It was almost spooky to see that the “sparks” I knocked out actually represented real people.
“Sunrise.”
Oh, yes. Karsh reminded me that I still had to knock out the greeting party at Team Rismal’s point of ingress, otherwise they’d be in for a firefight and the alarm could still be sounded. I concentrated and found the location from the map in my head. Sure enough, there was a similar-sized party waiting there. Rismal was only seconds from arriving.
I focused on the sparks inside the chamber—it wouldn’t do to knock out Rismal, too—and gave them a mental slap on par with the one I’d used here. They wilted as well.
Team Rismal arrived safely. We were all set to go. Our plan was working to perfection. Korr didn’t stand a chance.
I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by twenty-six not-so-inert bodies—all of them pointing energy weapons at us. A thought from Shari told me that Team Rismal was likewise caught by surprise. But how? Why didn’t my sledgehammer work?
Maybe Korr stood a chance after all.
Chapter Eighteen
It didn’t make sense. I felt them go limp. They were drifting aimlessly when we arrived. So what happened? I could only assume that I hit them hard enough to knock them out, but only momentarily. Nowhere near long enough for our needs. But it should have been plenty hard enough.
Fine. That was easily rectified. I focused and hit them with a more powerful blast, designed to knock them out for hours. Nothing happened.
“Drop your weapons and move over there.” The leader of the guard detail gestured with his weapon.
What the hell was going on here? Time to take the gloves off. I hit them with everything I had. I was worried that I might kill someone, but at this point I was willing to take the chance. It was them or us.
They didn’t even blink. Some sledgehammer. A feather pillow would have had more effect, even underwater.
It didn’t make sense. Previously I was able to knock out dozens of Azarti at much longer range than this. Why wasn’t it working? Had I lost my ability?
Whatever the reason, I’d blown it. Here we had a chance to end Korr’s oppressive regime and I failed Karsh at the first opportunity. Worse, my failure was going to get us all killed. Korr didn’t strike me as the type to spare his enemies.
We did as the leader ordered. Under other circumstances, it might have been amusing to watch the weapons slowly drift to the floor of the water-filled chamber.
Two of the guards gathered our weapons. The rest escorted us out of the chamber and down a passageway. After a swim of several minutes, the eight of us were ushered into what could only be described as a cell.
The tube behind us shrank and disappeared; the chamber was a featureless slate gray in color. As far as I could see, there was nothing inside that we could turn into a weapon, nothing but us.
I projected a mental command to open the tube. Nothing happened. There had to be some sort of override capability preventing it—essentially a door lock for tubes. At first, I thought perhaps I had lost all psi ability; but no, I could still communicate with the others telepathically.
After several minutes, the tube extended inward. I briefly considered jumping the guard. But he came through weapon-first, and only far enough to point at one of us and say, “You. Come with me. Now!”
The fact that they would want to interrogate us one by one was expec
ted. The surprise was who they chose first. Not Karsh. Not even Shari or me. We were aliens, after all. Korr’s curiosity about us might supersede his other concerns. Instead, it was Essin they wanted to talk with first. Why her?
She left without a word, leaving the rest of us to ponder the puzzle.
“What happened?” Karsh asked, looking at me.
From the “flavor” of his mental projection, I knew exactly what he was asking. I guess I was getting better at this whole telepathy thing. “I don’t know. My sledgehammer simply didn’t work. It was like someone flipped a switch. One minute it was working, the next, nothing.”
“Clearly, they were expecting us,” Keldor said. “How did they learn our plans?”
“They not only knew how and where we were going to attack,” I countered, “but seemingly also when. How many people had all that information?”
Karsh took a moment to think before responding. “Only a dozen knew everything. You, me, Keldor, Lola, and the rest of my inner council—Essin, Aboro, Kannara, and the team leaders of Rismal, Kyron, Jepcrul, Mayda, and Lipsu. Even the other team members didn’t find out the timing of the attack until shortly before we began.”
“Everyone’s accounted for?” I asked. “No one was captured in the last few days?”
“Certainly not. We would have changed our plans had that happened.”
“The only other possibility is a traitor, then. One of us sold you out. But which one?”
That generated a buzz of furious discussion. After twenty minutes, we were no closer to an answer. Shari and I had never had contact with anyone on Lasharr outside of the inner circle—we were Karsh’s secret weapon, after all—so we were exempt from suspicion. Everyone else in the inner circle was an old friend of either Karsh or another member of the inner circle. They should have been above suspicion as well, but one of them had to be the traitor.
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