Radian grinned. “Hey, I’m just being honest.”
Moments later, Max burst in, short of breath and dripping with sweat. Every set of eyes at the table looked up in anticipation, as if he were to deliver the fate of the world.
“They’ve found her.”
Eldin dropped his fork on the floor and Illena gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Nebula felt her body go numb, Max’s words resonating in her head like an echo she couldn’t comprehend. Radian took her hand and squeezed it as he asked, “Is she all right?”
Max rubbed his brow with the back of his hairy hand and paused. “She’s in the inner workings,” he said, as if that explained everything and somehow none of it was good.
Radian leaned forward, his chair creaking. “What do you mean?”
“Not only is she hard to get to, but she’s been handling the toxic blue shit for a while now. It’s a wonder she still knows her name.”
“We have got to get her out of there.” Nebula felt like pouncing on the entire Gryphonite civilization. Her anger was a fuse and Max’s words a burning match, setting it aflame.
Max waved her back with his large hands. “Hold your horses. We’ve come up with a plan. It will coincide with the taking of the ship.” His eyes burned with intensity. “To free her, we are going to have to cause a scene and free everyone at the site. This will be our diversion to take over the Warbird. While the underground city is evacuated, you will lead Mora, along with the other workers who can still move and think on their own, to the ship above ground. We’ll have fighters and guards along the way, but I can’t guarantee everyone will make it. For every one we set free, another will be brought back down. We can’t liberate the entire planet, but we’ll take as many with us as we can.”
There was a moment of hushed awe as everyone contemplated the plan. It settled like a boulder on the dinner table and no one was hungry anymore. Radian was the next to speak. “That’s quite a plan.” He looked over at Nebula. “What do you think, Neb?”
Neb looked off into the distance, her mind calculating. “It has to be timed just right. The release of the prisoners must come before the taking of the ship. It will draw them out and leave the ship unguarded. The variable is if we can make it to the ship once we release Mora. Will it be ready to go?”
Max put a finger to his chest. “I will personally make it happen. My second in command will lead you to the prisoners and to Mora.”
Nebula stood as if she would propel herself into action right then and there. “When do we go?”
Max held her eyes in a steady gaze. Nebula could guess he was not daunted by this new flurry of action. He’d probably been waiting for something like this for years. “It is best to move in the night. I say we start as soon as possible.”
Nebula nodded and stepped away from the table. “I am ready now.” She cast Radian an encouraging glance and he met her with equal determination. “We must go.”
Eldin raised his hand like he was in school. “I want to go too.”
Nebula shook her head, her words solemn. “I need you to take care of your mother and accompany Max to the ship.”
“She’s right, Eldin,” Max said. “I’m going to need people to help me out here.”
“And who is going to secure the Warbird?” Nebula offered.
Eldin pouted. “All right.”
Nebula reached across the table and squeezed his arm. “Spoken by a real man. Take care of Illena, okay?”
Eldin nodded, glowering as he stabbed another piece of his meal and shoved it in his mouth, chewing hard. Nebula caught Illena wink at her and she felt pleased to help.
Nebula turned back to Max. “Take me to your second in command.”
* * * *
Max waved his hand like a magician in front of a hat. “Radian, Nebula, meet Kale.” They stood at the doorway of the town hall, watching groups of escapees huddle around maps and other plans.
As Nebula entered the town hall, she thought she saw Angstrom sitting at the head table and felt a pang of homesickness soar through her. Kale’s tube-like hair and iridescent skin reminded her of her dear friend, but when he turned around, she could see the lines in his face were much harder and his eyes were small, like black pearls.
Nebula was the first to take his hand. “Greetings, Kale. I have a dear friend who is one of your countrymen.”
Kale cocked his head. “A Frigian made it aboard a UPA flight ship?”
“Indeed, and he is the best phase coordinator we have ever had.”
Kale’s shoulders loosened a bit and she could tell her comment put him at ease. “You’ll have to give him my regards when we get back.” He winked at her and his lips curved into a half smile.
“Allow me to introduce my companion, Radian.”
Radian took Kale’s hand and shook it once before nodding an acknowledgment and settling into the background. Nebula was impressed. He was going to let her take control of the situation. He actually did put his trust in her. Nebula smiled at Radian and got back to business. “You have seen Mora?”
“Spotted her myself.” Kale looked at the curls on her head. “There aren’t many blondes around here. She stuck out like a shining star.”
Max stood behind Kale, smiling like a proud father. Nebula gave him a thankful nod and returned her attention back to Kale. “And you will take us to her?”
“I will.” He adjusted his laser holster, handing an extra one to Radian. “I’ve got another laser as well.”
“Thanks.” Radian took the leather and attached it across his shoulder. Nebula noticed how it the strip of fabric pulled his shirt tightly over his well-rounded muscles, muscles she’d run her hands over again and again. He wasn’t a cyborg, but in her opinion, he was perfectly made.
Kale’s lips curved into the resemblance of a smile. “No problem.”
Max clapped Radian on the back. “You’re going to need as much firepower as you can hold. There’s no question you’ll have to shoot.”
“I certainly hope so.” Radian’s eyes sparkled. “As Eldin would say, I’d like to fry some Gryphonite butt.”
After saying good-bye to Max, they followed Kale to the back of the cavern, taking a tunnel leading back to the inner workings of the mines. The tunnel narrowed to a crawl space and Nebula accompanied Kale, Radian trailing behind them. The dirt seemed to press in on her and she felt it would collapse on them any minute. She would do fine without air. It was Radian she was worried about. She kept the passageway’s direction mapped in a file on her main circuit board just in case she would be forced to dig them out and bring them back.
“Are you certain this leads us to her?” Nebula tried not to sound too doubtful. Her laser gun kept jamming in the side of the tunnel, slowing her progress. She had to lock the trigger and move it from her side to underneath her torso.
“Yes.” Kale turned his head around, his greenish skin illuminated by the faint glow of blue minerals above their heads. “The passage is small for a reason.” He laughed lightly. “The Gryphonites, with their broad wings, cannot fit through.”
“Will we be coming back the same way?” Radian called from behind them.
“No, there is not enough time and too many to free. Besides, once they know we’re here, they’ll find it and collapse it. It’s been done before.”
“Good.” Radian heaved a breath. Nebula had no idea he was claustrophobic. Somehow, his vulnerability made him much more enticing.
A rickety wail erupted through the tunnel, followed by a hum and metal grinding on metal. Something moved above their heads and the earth shed a thin layer of sand.
“It’s the machines.” Kale brushed grains of sand from his eyebrows. “They’ve started the night shift.”
They followed the tunnel up a steep incline. A rope ladder led them to a ridge where they could see the cavern below. Nebula saw row after row of conveyor belts, each one carrying a never-ending trail of minerals to monolithic machines s
wallowing the chunks whole. Black and gray smoke streaked the air like phantoms, towering above thousands of slaves. The workers mined with rusty picks, carrying the minerals barehanded to the conveyor belts. Blue stained their hands, arms and feet, and most of them stared ahead, looking into a vast nothingness with no purpose but to do their job.
Nebula forced her voice to remain calm. “Where is she?”
Kale surveyed the workers with a small pair of binoculars he dug out of his breeches. “Give me a sec… Wait. There!” He handed her the binoculars and she passed them to Radian. Her telescopic vision enhancers were much clearer and more accurate. “Two o’clock. Just beyond the tractor, pushing the wheelbarrow.”
The one woman who had come to mean everything to Nebula stood meters from where she perched, surrounded by Gryphonites on every side. Her curls still shone radiant in the dim light, but underneath her eyes were dark circles and her arms bled blue up to her shoulders like a plague. She was way too thin, her frayed clothes hanging off her.
“Yes, that’s her.” Radian’s voice was full of awe and pain. “I’ve waited five years to see her again.”
Kale stuck to business. “I estimate thirty or so Gryphonites.”
“Thirty-two.” Nebula had already counted and logged their movements with her tracking device log.
Radian searched the scene. “What’s the plan?”
Kale’s brows furrowed. “I’ve never done this extensive of a rescue mission before. No one has. Usually we take stragglers or people in the far reaches.” He waited, thinking hard. “One of us should sneak below while the other two act as snipers from above. I bet we could take most of them out before they even reach the one who goes below. But there will be hand fighting, no doubt.”
“I will go.” Nebula unlatched the safety lock on the trigger of her laser. “You two stay here and cover me.”
Kale balked, eyeing her slender frame. “Are you sure?”
“She’s stronger than both of us put together.” Radian nodded. “I believe in you, Neb.”
“All right.” Kale placed the binoculars beside him. “I’m good with that. I wasn’t looking forward to sneaking down there myself.”
“Just kill as many as you can.” Nebula scanned for the quickest and quietest way to the slaves.
Kale’s voice became serious. “Remember, you need to free as many as possible to make enough of a scene. We’re too far in the inner workings to run about undetected. Those birdmen are crawling all over the place.”
“Understood.” Nebula turned her head back toward them. She’d chosen her path and was about to swing over the rim when Radian caught her hand in his.
“Good luck.” He squeezed her hand and lingered in the grasp before letting go.
Kale nodded. “May the gods be with you.”
“You should pray for the Gryphonites.” Nebula spoke in a tone as hard as her synthetic bones. Her lips curved in a devious grin. “They do not know what is coming.” And with one swift motion, she threw herself over the rim and dropped like liquid silver to the dirt floor.
A few of the slaves who could still think for themselves looked up with a questioning glance. Nebula put one finger over her lips, silently warning one outburst would ruin it for them all. Fortunately, they kept at their tasks, but they did look over their shoulders every chance they got.
She undid the clasps of the nearest slave, the metal breaking like straw in her delicate-looking hands. “Pretend to work until the diversion,” she whispered in the old man’s ears. He nodded, eyes wild and luminous, sticking out from his head.
The next was a young girl, her hair matted to her head. Her eyes lay somewhere underneath the ragged dreadlocks. “Are you going to save us?”
“Yes, I am,” Nebula replied. “When the time comes, you follow the group out to the ships and run as fast as you can.”
She freed three more before the lasers erupted over her head like fireworks. A Gryphonite had spotted her and was coming near. Thanks to Radian and Kale, now only a few feathers floated where he’d last been standing. The bird was flat on his back with a fiery hole in his belly.
The lasers had caught the attention of the other guards. The Gryphonites flew toward the ridge and Nebula hoped Radian and Kale could hold them back. One by one, the birdmen were struck and fell to the cavern floor, landing on the conveyor belts like fallen angels. The Gryphonites wouldn’t sacrifice one pair of hands if they thought they could capture any prisoners alive. Their mines needed all the slaves they could get.
Nebula continued to free worker after worker. The freed slaves tore the Gryphonites’ keys from their dead bodies and ran around her, freeing others in a chain effect rippling through the cavern like dominos. The zombies wandered confused, creating more of a scene.
She saw a clear path to Mora. Her long-lost sister was trying to yank her hand through the shackle chaining her to the wheelbarrow. Nebula ran and called out her name, her voice heightened by mini speakers in her throat. “Mora, over here!”
Mora looked up, bewildered, and her face changed from shock to recognition. Nebula closed the distance and caught her in her arms. Mora’s thinning blond curls fell onto Nebula’s hair, co-mingling like halves of the same person. Her tears landed on Nebula’s shoulders. Nebula held her close as her sister sobbed.
It was long moments before Mora spoke. “Mirilee, you came to save me.”
The mention of the name sent a shockwave through Nebula’s system. Nebula hadn’t thought of the fact Mora had no knowledge of her sister’s death. Now was not the time to tell her either. Instead, she started fidgeting with the shackles, setting her free. “Do you have enough strength to run?”
Mora’s voice was tinged with sadness. “I’ll try. I haven’t run in years.”
Nebula smoothed Mora’s hair. “How do you feel?”
Her sister’s eyes lolled. The pupils were dilated and the whites striped with broken blood vessels. “The nothingness seems greater everyday, luring my thoughts into oblivion.” Her words trailed off and she looked away as if she were lost or blind. Nebula wondered if her sister saw something far beyond the cavern walls or if she saw nothing at all. Either way, she didn’t like the sound of Mora’s words.
“If you fall, I can carry you.” As if she could take it all away, Nebula ripped a piece of fabric from her UPA uniform and wiped some of the blue off her sister’s arms. The substance, toxic to humans, would be as potent as dust on her skin.
“You can’t carry me. You’re smaller than I am.”
Nebula didn’t explain. “Come on.” She took Mora’s hand and they made their way back to the ridge where Radian and Kale had been blasting Gryphonites like no tomorrow. Bodies piled on the floor underneath their ledge.
Nebula reached the ground below Radian and Kale’s sniper position just as the Gryphonites managed to land around the ledge. It was like a hornet’s nest, smothered by winged bodies. Nebula fired at their feathered backs and they dropped to the ground. “Radian? Kale?” There was no movement, only darkness and stone.
Her heart flipped in her chest when no one answered. Was she too late? Had she found Mora only to lose Radian? She felt every circuit in her body freeze and the chaotic scene raging around her seemed to swallow her whole. Her sense of purpose wavered. Was it all hopeless?
Mora tugged on her arm. “Look, up there.”
Nebula saw a blast go through the dirt wall of the cavern. Then she saw the butts of the lasers pushing through the soil. They must have retreated back into the tunnel before the cavern closed in. Thank goodness they found the bend taking them close to the room itself. When the men broke through, Nebula and Mora were there to greet them.
“Radian, it is you!” Mora ran to him in ragged steps and he caught her just before she fell, hugging her. “I knew you and Mirilee would come for me,” she said between gasps of breath.
Nebula thought he would correct her, but he ignored the mistaken identity and moved on with the
introductions. “This is Kale. He has helped us find you.”
Kale nodded, and Nebula saw him eye Mora’s blue-stained hands and arms with regret. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here. We’re not home free just yet.”
Chapter 12
Home Run
Nebula and Radian followed Kale through the chaos that was once the Gryphonites’ most productive power mine with Mora positioned between them, her arms around their shoulders. Slaves scurried everywhere, stealing laser guns, tipping over barrels of minerals and throwing their picks into the grinding teeth of the machines. It felt like judgment day. Nebula could not get out of there soon enough.
They trailed a mass exodus of slaves through the cavern and to a labyrinth of tunnels leading out like mice from a den. Behind her, Nebula could hear the machine sputtering as the freed slaves battered the hull with crowbars and rusty hammers. She sensed the contraption was going to explode any minute. Even if they ran meters away, the blast could follow them through the tunnels to sear their backs. Nebula pushed as hard as Mora could stand.
“Over here. Down this way!” Kale waved his hand above the wiry bodies and greasy heads. His tube hair stuck out against the backdrop of sand and stone like a rare sea creature lost in a desert.
Nebula checked on Mora. It seemed like her sister was falling in and out of consciousness, her lids closing and re-opening to reveal the whites as the pupils rolled around.
“Wait!” Nebula called to Kale. She gestured for Radian to help her place Mora against the back of the tunnel wall. Slaves ran back and forth, making it difficult to find a space where they wouldn’t be trampled. She gripped Mora’s face in her hands. “Can you hear me?”
Mora’s eyes flickered and her lips trembled. “Too much…”
Nebula clutched Radian’s arm. “Help me lift her onto my back. I will carry her.”
Radian nodded and hefted Mora’s body. Nebula secured her sister’s arms around her neck and stood like she held a bundle of feathers. They wove in and out of the chaos to reach the tunnel Kale had instructed they follow.
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