That broke the oppressive feeling and shattered the unrelenting pain. The alien presence withdrew, or really pulled back, at least partially. It suddenly seemed aware of the agony and pain it was causing.
With the physical contact between her and Chris, for a heartbeat, time slowed, perhaps even stopped. Keira felt disembodied. It was such a strange feeling, as if her soul were floating free. No, that wasn’t right. She was somewhere else … in something. Realization hammered home. Her mind was in Chris’s powered armor.
How she knew, she wasn’t sure. But she was there nonetheless. The micro-fusion reactor that powered the armor was a mini-sun, shining brightly, almost blindingly in the darkness. The energy that flowed from it coursed through his suit and around her mind. The latent power waiting to be released into action was awesome to behold. There was something else there too, hidden away, a dormant thing, an intelligence. Was it a mind? Was it asleep? She wasn’t sure. Then, even that feeling passed as Chris shook her roughly again.
“Keira, can you hear me?”
She snapped back to reality, the present, her mind slamming back into her body. She blinked, at first not seeing him. She felt tears of agony running down her face. Her breathing came hard and fast, as if she’d run a long distance.
After a moment, she was able to focus, to think once again, as what had happened registered. It had been a message, a desperate warning. She knew it, even as the pain faded. Something terrible was going to happen, and soon.
Keira opened her mouth to speak. It came out as a gasp. Her mouth was dry as the surface of Asherho. She swallowed and tried again.
“They’re coming.” The words barely came out. “Oh god … Lee.” She glanced in his direction. Oblivious to what had happened, he was still loading the mules. “Chris, they’re coming to kill us … the militia.”
Chris’s eyes narrowed and he looked up at Vex, whose expression had gone suddenly distant, as if she were listening to something. The marine’s eyes snapped back.
“Gunny,” Vex said as she pulled her rifle from her back, “the Hakagi militia are moving. The order to engage has been given. They’re about to hit Pikreet’s company.”
“Wash,” Chris called. “Stand ready. It’s about to go down. Cover the door.”
“On it, Gunny,” Wash replied.
The floor under their feet shook, vibrating. It was followed less than a fraction of a second later by a dull boom somewhere off in the distance. A second explosion followed the first, this one closer and clearly somewhere out in the hallway. The firing started next, a stuttering staccato muffled by the closed door to the control room.
“We’re out of time,” Chris said. “Vex, look to Keira. Keep an eye on her. Keep her safe.”
“Got it, Gunny,” Vex said.
Chris sprang forward, moving faster than Keira had ever seen him run, inhumanly so. He dashed for the crate, his “surprise.”
“Lee,” Chris shouted as he moved. “Don’t worry about the gear. Get the mules over there. We’re going down the shaft, now.”
“I’ve got the door covered,” Wash shouted.
Vex bent down, grabbed Keira by the arm, and hauled her to her feet. Keira still felt disoriented, dizzy from the experience … whatever had invaded her mind. She found it difficult to move her feet. Vex began dragging her toward the access shaft. Keira glanced back and saw Wash crouched to the side of the door, rifle held at the ready, aimed and pointed forward.
At that moment, the door burst open. Two militia charged through. Wash’s weapon barked twice in rapid succession, single shots each. It was almost impossibly loud. The sound of the shots was magnified by the walls of the control room. Both militia crashed to the ground, each having taken a round to the chest. Thin trails of smoke rose from their bodies where they had been hit.
Still in a crouch, Wash moved forward to the door, aimed out into the corridor, and fired again, this time a multi-round burst. At what, Keira could not see.
“Lee,” Chris shouted as he picked up his crate. “Get those fucking mules moving. We need them to get us down the shaft and out of here.”
Vex released her. Surprised, Keira stumbled before catching herself. She was standing a half meter before the shaft, looking down into its dark and unfathomable depths. The controller for the monkey was on the floor where she had left it.
Wash fired again, causing her to jump, this time a longer burst. Amongst the firing out in the corridor, there were shouts and cries mixed in. Chris returned a moment later. He dropped the large crate by her feet. It landed with a heavy clunk. Vex abruptly raised her rifle and fired in the direction of Wash. Keira could feel the sound of the weapon inside her chest as it banged loudly from a single shot. Her round hit the wall, tearing a neat hole in it. A heartbeat later, a body fell in the doorway. As impossible as it seemed, she had hit her target through the wall.
How had she known he had been there?
At that moment, the floor trembled violently under her feet. She had a glimpse of a brilliant flash, followed by orange fire and flame from down in the shaft. It exploded upward and into the room, roaring as it came. The floor leapt up into the air and hit her hard.
Chapter Fifteen
With more than a little difficulty, Keira opened her eyes. She was having trouble focusing and understanding what had happened. She was lying on the ground. That much was clear. Her tongue hurt, like she had bitten it. The coppery tang of blood was in her mouth. Her ears were ringing painfully too.
She blinked several times to clear her vision. There were a handful of small drops of blood on the face shield of her helmet. She blinked again, her foggy brain trying to make sense of what she was taking in. Understanding dawned and so too did alarm. The control room was filled with thick smoke and the orange glow of fire.
“I found her. She’s alive.” It was Vex speaking. Though it sounded like Vex was farther away, the marine knelt by her side. Vex grabbed her arm and looked at the diagnostic screen of her suit before rolling Keira over onto her back.
“How is she?” Chris asked from somewhere amidst the smoke and ruin.
“Her suit’s integrity is good,” Vex said, “no perforations. Vitals are solid. She’s just banged up, is all.”
Keira found that a relief, for it seemed like every part of her body hurt.
“Think you can sit up?” Vex asked.
Keira gave a nod. Even that effort hurt.
Vex helped her sit up. Keira felt a wave of dizziness roll over her that made her queasy. The ringing in her ears was beginning to subside a little.
“What happened?” Keira asked. It came out as a croak.
“I’m not sure,” Vex said. “I think the Hakagi militia tried to breach the shaft. Maybe they were thinking of assaulting our position that way.” Vex shook her head in disgust. “They must have used too much explosive. Wash has been known to do the same, but not like this …”
Keira placed a hand on the floor to steady herself as her vision began to swim. She felt warmth through her gloved hand, something she hadn’t noticed before. That surprised her. But now that she thought about it, her hazard suit was warm from where she had been lying on the floor. Keira was beginning to perspire too. She looked up at Vex, her alarm growing. “The floor is warm.”
“There are fires below this level. With the amount of explosive used, there is a good chance whoever set it off killed themselves … bloody amateurs.”
“That’s not good,” Keira said.
Vex grinned at her. “Not good for them, but good for us.”
“We’re going to have to get out of this room,” Keira said, “otherwise we might cook if things get hotter. The floor could even collapse under us.”
Keira did her best to peer through the smoke. From what little she could see, the control room was a scene of ruin. Where the shaft had been was now a twisted mass of metal that had curved upward, tearing the floor apart. All around, server racks had been knocked down and smashed. Keira realized she was incredibly lu
cky. If one of the racks had fallen on her, she would have been crushed flat. The floor under her was even buckled and warped.
“I found Lee,” Chris called. “He’s down.”
Keira felt a terrible dread at those last two words. In vivid detail, the vision she had been shown sprang to life in her head. She looked in the direction of Chris’s voice. Through the smoke, she could not see either Lee or Chris.
There was a burst of rifle fire. It was only then that Keira realized the fighting in the corridor was still raging. She could hear the shooting, peppered with muffled explosions, and intermixed with shouting as the militia battled each other. Someone was screaming in agony. She hoped it wasn’t Lee.
“Come on, let’s get you up and on your feet.” Vex stood. Reaching down, she hauled Keira to her feet.
Keira swayed for a moment, then steadied herself.
Still holding onto her, Vex peered into Keira’s face. “You good to stand on your own?”
“Yeah,” Keira said, “I’ll manage.”
“Your rifle.” Vex picked the weapon up and handed it to Keira. The strap on it had snapped. The blast had likely ripped it from her shoulder. Still somewhat dazed, Keira looked down at the weapon in her hands. She shook her head to clear the fog trying to reclaim the grip on her mind. Her ears were still ringing, but not as bad as before. With every passing moment the ringing was subsiding.
Vex moved away toward the shaft. “Well, we’re not going down there, not now.”
Keira turned toward the shaft. Thick smoke poured out and into the control room. The orange glow of an intense fire burned below, around five meters down. She felt through her suit the intense heat blasting upward. What little she could see of the shaft was a twisted mess of metal, wires, and cable. The two monkey-like mechs were nowhere to be seen.
Then she thought of Lee and looked around as a burst of rifle fire rang out in the direction of the door. Praying that Lee was all right, Keira began moving through the smoke and wreckage toward where she thought the mules had been. Vex went with her.
Keira had to move around or climb over several fallen racks. Equipment had spilled out across the floor. Some of it had broken apart, spilling internal components everywhere. Keira almost tripped several times. The smoke was becoming thicker, more cloying. She was grateful she had on her hazard suit, for without it, she would be unconscious in moments.
Then, they came across Chris, who had taken a knee alongside something. In the smoke, Keira could not quite see what, but it was lying next to the wall of the room.
As she drew closer, she saw it was Lee. His suit was torn in multiple places. His shoulder had been crushed to pulp and his stomach ripped open. Keira almost gagged as bile rose in her throat. His intestines, looking like a tangle of sausages, had come out and lay in a pile next to him. A shocking amount of blood pooled around him on the floor. Lee’s eyes were open, pupils impossibly wide and staring up at the ceiling, seeing nothing. Next to Lee lay the twisted and torn remains of one of the mules.
“There was nothing I could do,” Chris said, looking up at the two of them.
Keira couldn’t catch her breath. She took two steps closer. Through his facemask, Lee’s face looked frozen in shock. She felt the hot prick of tears sting her eyes.
“He can’t be dead.”
“He’s gone.” Picking up his rifle from the floor, Chris stood. “He was caught between the wall and the mule when the blast hit. It crushed him.” He looked over at her. “Lee’s death would have been quick, nearly instantaneous.” Chris softened his tone. “He would not have suffered.”
Staring down at her friend’s body, she was frozen, rooted to her spot, stunned to immobility. As impossible as it seemed, Lee looked exactly like he had in the vision. How could this be? How could she see what was to come? Was she hallucinating? No, this was only too real, shockingly real. It felt like a gut punch.
The sense of loss was a terrible thing. In a world full of suffering and monsters, he had been her best friend. That wasn’t right … he still was her best friend. Keira was having difficulty coming to terms with this new reality.
What would she tell Sandy?
“Grenade,” Wash shouted as a warning.
Vex grabbed her roughly and threw her to the ground. Keira landed hard and felt her breath whoosh out. Vex moved and shielded Keira’s body with her own as Chris flattened himself against the floor. There was a deafening crump, followed by a blast of air and wave of heat that she could easily feel through her suit. Debris clattered around them.
Vex rolled off her and came up to a knee. She brought her rifle up, aiming toward the door, and fired three shots in rapid succession. Chris was also up and firing short bursts in the same direction.
Keira struggled to get air back into her lungs as both weapons roared close at hand, deafening her, making the ringing in her ears worse. She tried to pull herself to her hands and knees but Vex pushed her back down. There was more firing from both marines. What they were shooting at through the smoke, Keira had no idea. She could hardly see more than a meter in front of her face.
There was another crump, and with it, the floor shook violently. Chris stood and moved toward the door in a crouch. He continued to fire short two-round bursts as he went. His weapon lit up the smoke around him in rapid flashes. After several steps, he was swallowed by the swirling smoke, almost as if it had eaten him alive. She could no longer see the flashes, but Keira could still hear the distinctive sound of his rifle firing.
Keira gagged, trying to take a breath. Her vision began to gray, then she was able to breathe again, filling her lungs. The filtered air of her suit tasted great, magnificent. She hardly noticed the stale smell of sweat and body odor as she sucked in another gasping breath.
She did not have time to recover, for Vex yanked her to her feet and dragged her back behind a fallen rack of equipment to their right. Keira was once again pushed to the floor, this time more gently.
“Stay down,” Vex said and peeked over the top of the fallen rack. She aimed with her rifle but did not fire. “They tried to storm the room a moment ago. That’s why they were tossing grenades in.”
“Grenades?” Keira asked.
“Yeah,” Vex said. “They’re mostly using frags, which, unless it explodes right on top of us, won’t damage our armor. You, on the other hand, are vulnerable. Your gumby suit won’t stop anything. So, keep your head down.”
Vex ducked behind the rack. There was a series of small bangs accompanied by bright flashes that lit up the smoke all around them. For several moments, as the light strobed the smoke, the control room looked otherworldly. Then it darkened again. Keira looked toward Lee’s body, lying barely a meter away. She still could not believe he was gone. She gave an agonized sob.
“Grieve for him later when there’s time,” Vex said. “He’d want you to live through this.”
Keira had just reassured Lee that everything would be all right. Now, he was dead. Tears ran down her cheeks. She felt responsible for his death and guilty too, for she had told him to load the mules. Had she not, he might still be alive.
“Did you hear me?” Vex asked in a firm tone, drawing Keira’s attention. “Grieve later. You owe him that.”
“I owe him?” Keira asked, not understanding. “I killed him.”
“Stupid girl, you didn’t kill him,” Vex said.
“But I told him to load the mules.”
“Get that bullshit out of your head. Those bastard militia out there are responsible. Not you.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Vex said. “It was his time, was all. And when it’s your time to go, it’s your time. That’s as simple as it gets. Don’t overthink it.”
“Grenade out,” Wash shouted.
Several heartbeats later, there was a larger, more powerful explosion. Debris cascaded around them in a shower. It was followed by additional firing, and close at hand too. Lying down, Keira felt the heat from the floor, to the point where it was gett
ing uncomfortable in her suit. Vex’s hand was on her back, pressing her down.
“The floor,” Keira said, “it’s getting hot. Let me up.”
Vex removed her hand and Keira came up to a crouch next to the marine. She was still concealed by the fallen server rack.
“Gunny,” Vex called, peeking over the rack again. “We’re gonna have to go through that door. The shaft is no longer a viable option and the floor is heating up. Our armor will protect us, but I’m not sure how long Keira’s suit will hold up under this heat.”
“We can’t stay here,” Wash added. “We need to get moving before they stop fighting amongst themselves or one side wins and the other runs. Whoever ends up on top will get organized. Then we will be in real trouble.”
“I know,” Chris replied. There was a slight hesitation before he spoke again. “Keira, can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Keira replied.
“Go find the surprise,” Chris said. “We will provide covering fire to keep their heads down when you move.”
“Gunny, I think it’s a bad idea to try what you’re thinking,” Vex replied as she eyed Keira, almost warily. “I’m not sure about this.”
“I am.” Chris’s tone was unyielding. “Keira, are you ready? Can you find the crate?”
Keira glanced behind them, the way she and Vex had just come. She could not recall seeing the crate after the blast. But then again, she hadn’t been looking either.
“Keira,” Chris called again. “Can you find the crate for me?”
“Yes,” Keira said.
“Go now,” Chris shouted and a heartbeat later, both he and Wash opened up. Though she couldn’t see them through the smoke, the fire from both guns was overwhelming. The noise reverberated through her.
Keira stood and began moving through the wreckage of the control room toward the crate, or at least where she had seen it last, by the shaft. The smoke made it almost impossible to see. She nearly tripped over twisted equipment that had broken free from a rack.
Eyeing a particularly jagged piece, she worried she might inadvertently tear her suit. Then she spotted it. The crate had been knocked away from the shaft. It had come to a stop against an equipment rack that had fallen and broken in two.
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