Belinea

by Andrew Mack

  Tunsall looked at Trujillo and asked, “You cannot be serious?”

  Trujillo quickly replied, “It’s not a fucking Sirator. It’s a transport ship. It’s like flying a personal TC.”

  Alexis said, “Will one of you tell me what you are talking about?”

  Trujillo said, “Let’s get the Sirator out, then we teach.”

  Alexis replied, “Teach what?”

  Trujillo gave her a small smile and said, “Teach you how to fly.”

  Alexis answered, “Are you fucking crazy? That would take hours. That can’t even be an option.”

  Tunsall, on his way walking out, just said, “You got thirty minutes.”

  Belinea 6.14

  Earth

  Northeast Japan

  Director Kimakawa was standing in his office next to a shelf. On it was several books, a few medals of admiration, models of spaceships, pictures with each of the Earth Ambassadors, and a Samurai sword that hung horizontally by two handles. A buzzer went off, and Vice Director Meyers entered the room. He said, “You wanted to see me, Director?”

  Kimakawa turned around, still standing, and said, “How long will it take to get a DAG team to Marist?”

  Meyers was confused. “There is an eight-member DAG team with Ambassador Santos. She is en route to Belinea and should stop at Marist in about five to six hours.”

  Kimakawa said, “Get a message to that DAG team that we need them to hold on Marist for a day. They have another Ambassador joining them.”

  Meyers asked, “May I ask who, Director?”

  Kimakawa strolled a few steps to the side of his desk. He continued, “I received a message from Alexis through her mother, Annella Devanoe.”

  Meyers asked, “Why didn’t Alexis just send it to you?”

  Kimakawa answered, “The Ambassador still doesn’t know she works for me. They are together, and it would be suspicious to claim to have access to me. I am sure she suggested her mother as an option. It was very clever on her part.”

  Meyers asked, “What was the message.”

  Kimakawa said, “It appears Willits and Jones have gone rogue, perhaps negotiating with someone else. They left her and the Ambassador alone in the guest house at Vihaan Kapoor’s estate, which made Alexis suspicious, so they fled. It turns out her suspicions were true.”

  Meyers looked confused. “In what way?”

  Kimakawa answered in a dull tone. “Thirty minutes after she left, the entire Guest House blew up. She believes Willits and Jones detonated a bomb or sold the coordinates to someone else.”

  Meyers asked, “Have you heard from Willits and Jones?”

  Kimakawa shook his head slightly. “No. Nor Vihaan. And I do not expect to. It’s possible they still believe the Ambassador and she died in the explosion. Luckily Alexis caught on and got the Ambassador to Ascarla. She then booked a private Civilian transport for the two of them, which should be in Marist in a couple of days...”

  Meyers then asked, “I will send a message to the DAG team. They will not like it, but this kind of emergency, they will understand.”

  Meyers was about to walk out when Kimakawa said, “And Franklin….”

  Meyers turned and said, “Yes, Director?”

  Kimakawa, still standing next to his desk, said, “I know Willits and Jones have had differences with you. You have been very vocal about not trusting either one of them for some time. I appreciate you refraining the urge to tell me ‘I told you so.’”

  Meyers looked at him and said, “I am just trying to do what is best for the DAG, sir.”

  Kimakawa kept his head up, and solemnly replied, “And so am I.”

  Meyers walked out of the room. A few seconds went by, once Kimakawa knew the place was clear. He walked over to the cabinet with the sword again, touching a spot on the Sun Tzu book, and the cabinet opened. Inside, still holding a glass of scotch, Annella Devanoe walked out. Kimakawa walked back to the chair behind his desk, where he already had a scotch out next to his tablet. Annella walked over to the chair across from the desk and sat down.

  After adjusting herself in the chair and taking a sip of scotch, she said, “You are sure?”

  Kimakawa replied, “Yes, he is the only answer.”

  Annella replied “Meyers may not, but I never resist the urge to tell you ‘I told you so.’”

  Kimakawa just gave her a scolding look. He quietly said, “You never knew either.”

  Annella quickly answered, “I always knew who it wasn’t. Which is more than I can say for you.”

  Kimakawa took another sip, before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “You don’t have to be so smug about it, Annella. It wasn’t a contest.”

  Annella replied, “Maybe not. But any time you admit I was right and you were wrong should be declared a holiday.”

  Kimakawa rolled his eyes and took a small breath. Annella continued, “Why are we waiting?”

  Kimakawa answered, “I may have the evidence. But I don’t have the motive, or the puppeteer pulling strings. Until I get that, we keep playing along.”

  Annella finished her scotch and put the empty glass on Kimakawa’s desk. She stood up and said, “ The motives rarely change Taichi. Vengeance, financial, or fear, that’s it. Your puppeteer? The culprits along the way may surprise you, but we both know where the trail ends.”

  Annella walked out of the room. Kimakawa just continued to lean back in his chair, pondering, while finishing his scotch. He pulled out a cigar from his humidor, cut it, and took a couple of puffs before reassuming his position. He continued thinking long and hard about what he had to do.

  Belinea 6.15

  Avola

  Cataco Mines

  Octavious was talking with Cortes about their options for Kaya. Both were sitting with very minimal light to expose their faces. All of the light was being used for the miners to continue to dig holes in the rock, looking for a ‘dead-spot’ to cut through to this mythical ‘Cataco Cut Pass.’ Cortes then said, “What about a quick strike deployment team?”

  Octavious then said, “Even if we knew where she was, we would have to break in and get her. We would likely lose the whole team in a rescue.”

  There was another pause between the two. Cortes asked, “Can we infiltrate the security?”

  Octavious replied, “Possibly, but how do we navigate an escape without knowing where we are escaping from?”

  Suddenly, the older miner Lucas yelled, “Everybody quiet!!!”

  Octavious and Cortes turned to look up. The other older miner Virgil repeated: “Everybody quiet now!!!”

  The room became silent. Lucas began feeling on the rock with both his hands. He moved a few meters until he found a spot just above his head. He moved his hands around it, eventually putting his ear to listen. Quickly walking away, he yelled, “Back up, back up!”

  The cave began to shake mildly. A hollow drilling sound could now be heard, and it was getting louder. The room started shaking even more, as if a small earthquake was happening. Dust began flying everywhere. Cortes and Octavious both looked at the ceiling of the cave, waiting for it to collapse. Ten more seconds went by, and the drilling got louder. The spot Lucas was listening to began to shake violently. A large spinning drill bit, over one meter wide, pierced through the rock. Once all the way through, it continued another three meters before finally stopping.

  Everyone in the room was still silent. Octavious walked over to Lucas and said, “The Majavkee?”

  Lucas said, “Or the rescue team. Hard to say.”

  Octavious paused for a second. He walked over to the mining teams supply area and pulled out a spray paint can. He walked back over to the drill bit and began spraying paint on it. He said to himself, “Either way, we can not stay here.”

  Octavious sprayed out “VALMAY” on the drill bit. He then grabbed Lucas’ rock
hammer and beat the drill bit with it three times. The drill bit ever so slowly, began spinning the opposite way it had come out. It went back out the hole and away, no longer in visual sight. The cave still shook but not nearly as much. A soldier on the other side of the cave yelled, “Ocavious, we got a problem!”

  Octavious turned, then quickly walked to the other side of the cave. The soldier was backing up a little as a hefty amount of smoke was coming in. Octavious came up next to him and said, “I think the AuFa found us.”

  The smoke kept getting thicker and began to come inside the cave. The soldier turned to Octavious and said, “Smoke bombs?”

  Octavious nodded and said, “Fire throwers and smoke bombs, then seal the exits. It is what I would do.”

  He turned to the other miners and said, “Quickly, seal this hole as best you can.”

  Donovan said, “But how do we breathe? That’s our only way out!”

  Octavious replied, “Not anymore.”

  Octavious sprinted to the hole left by the drill bit and shined a light up through it. It looked to be roughly twenty meters high, where he could still see the drill bit spinning out. Octavious then looked at Lucas and said, “What is the protocol for this?”

  Lucas said, “They know they broke through. If I were up there, I would send a Zip-cell down to get us.”

  Octavious nodded, acknowledging what he suspected. He looked over to the side and could see the smoke getting worse. Donovan was helping them and yelled, “Octavious, the smoke is coming through the rock. We can not stop it.”

  Octavious yelled back, “Keep trying….”

  The tunnel stopped shaking for a minute, before mildly shaking again. They could hear something coming down the shaft. A few seconds went by. Finally, a Zip-cell carriage emerged from the hole. It was a tube-shaped cage, with a pointed steel top attached to a cable. When Octavious opened the cage door, someone inside had painted ‘RRR.’ He smiled. He looked at Lucas and two other miners and said, “Get in, two at a time. Hurry.”

  The two miners got into the cage, and Octavious hit the cage three times with the rock hammer. The Zip-cell quickly went up the shaft. Thirty seconds went by, and the Zip-cell had returned, empty.

  Belinea 6.16

  Earth, Northeast Japan

  Meyers had walked out of his meeting with Kimakawa down a long hallway. He went to his office and opened the door with his palm print. Once inside, he spoke to the computer and said, “Computer, lock office, no visitors.”

  The Computer voice said, “Acknowledged.”

  Inside the office, Meyers walked over to the bookshelf. He pulled a specific book out, and on the other side of the room, a hanging art piece swung open. As he walked over, he pulled out a black box from behind the art. After pushing a button on the side, a tablet came out of the box, and Meyers furiously began to type. After a minute, Meyers stopped, the tablet blinked green and slid back into the box. The computer voice said, “Message sent.”

  Meyers put the black box back into the wall and shut the art piece in front of it. He walked over to his desk and reached for his tablet. He said to the tablet computer, “Get me a C-Bar transmission to the terminal at Marist.”

  Belinea 6.17

  Avola

  Cataco Cut Pass

  Two by two, the remaining soldiers and miners were being jettisoned out of the shaft through the Zip-cell. The cave was getting hot. It was clear flames were outside the hole they had patched outside the shaft. The smoke in the cave filtered to the point of almost zero visibility. Octavious and Cortes were left with another soldier, Donovan, and two older miners, Lucas and Virgil. All six were huddled on the ground waiting for the Zip-cell to return. When it finally did, it nearly crashed next to Cortes.

  She opened the gate to let Lucas and Virgil get on, but both went to the side, attempting to let Cortes get on. She yelled at them, “Go. We will be right behind you.”

  Virgil said, “We will go last. There is no time to argue.”

  Octavious looked at the old men and said, “We do not leave people behind, go.”

  But the older men just shook their heads. Donovan then jumped in, followed by Cortes pushing the other soldier into the Zip-cell cage. She slammed the door behind them while Octavious banged on the cage three times. The Zip-cell shot up and out of sight through the hole. As it went away, Octavious grabbed Lucas and said, “Listen to me, you got us this far, we would have never made it without you. You are getting on that next car.”

  The older men looked at each other and just shook their heads. Lucas said, “We leave last.”

  Octavious yelled. “This is not a debate; this is an order!”

  Lucas said, “We do not take orders from you. You lead them, not us.”

  Virgil added, “We were born in these caves. We knew one day we would die in them.”

  The Zip-cell cage landed next to them. Lucas grabbed the door and opened it for Cortes. She climbed in. Octavious climbed in and yelled, “I am sending the cage right back for you!”

  Lucas said, “Nobody is going to follow us, but they will follow you!”

  Virgil hit the cage three times and, as the Zip-cell was leaving, said, “Give our children hope!”

  As Octavious and Cortes were zipping through the shaft hole, they both looked down and could see the smoke through the grate. As they kept going, they eventually saw the flames below engulf the cave. As they got to the top, Cortes and Octavious quickly got out. There was a room of about twenty people. When Octavious emerged, one miner yanked him out while another miner threw him mining clothes. Sterling said, “Change clothes, now.”

  Octavious yelled back, “There are two more down there!”

  Octavious and Cortes were now out of the Zip-cell as the gate closed, and it zoomed back down. Both of them, in front of everyone, changed into mining clothes. Once they changed out, they looked back down the hole. A few filter ventilators were managing most of the smoke from pouring into the cave they were in. Sterling looked at Octavious and said, “You sure, there were two more?”

  Octavious yelled, “Yes, two more!”

  They waited. And waited. Ten seconds turned into thirty seconds quickly, but there was nothing. Sterling yelled to the miner operating the Zip-cell. “Pull it up.”

  Octavious yelled, “Did they bang on the cage?”

  Sterling looked at him and said, “They are gone.”

  After twenty seconds, the Zip-cell came up. It was entirely black, burned in a couple of spots.

  There were no signs of the old miners. It was clear they died in the flames. Octavious looked distraught. Cortes was still on an oxygen ventilator when Octavious screamed, “Fuck!”

  Sterling grabbed Octavious’s shirt and said, “Quiet! We still have to get you out of here.”

  They began heading down a tunnel. They slowly made their way up a two hundred meter path of rocky terrain, narrow passages, and low ceilings. At the end was a train car, grabbing ten miners at a time. As they sat down, Octavious looked at Sterling and asked, “What is your name?”

  The train car began to move. He replied, “My name is Sterling. I am the crew supervisor.”

  Octavious answered, “Octavious Killian.”

  Sterling replied, “I know who you are. We all know who you and your sister are.”

  Octavious nodded and said calmly, “Thank you for rescuing us.”

  Sterling continued, looking down at the old guy at the end of the train. “Do not thank me. Thank that old guy down there, Butler. When we got that SOS-CCP message, I had no idea what it meant, and I have been mining for twelve years. Butler was the only one who knew.”

  Octavious nodded and said, “Will do. How do you suppose we get out of here?”

  Sterling said, “Walk out of the mines as miners like everyone else. They have not checked security badges for over a year. Where the Guild prevented c
hild labor of any kind, the Majvakee are fine with it. A lot of miners began bringing in their children to help make ends meet, so the Majavkee turned a blind eye. If more was getting mined, they could care less about how it was done. They only care about money.”

  They continued on the train and now could breathe easier as they got closer to the surface. The small train they were on stopped. All the miners, including Octavious, Cortes, and the rest of the soldiers, crossed an area to a much bigger train car that carried over one hundred miners. Some of the miners were dumping the Vait into large containers off to the side before getting on the open-air train. Finally, the train began moving, and it accelerated to top speed in about a minute. It was a ten-minute ride back up to the surface. When the train met the station, all the miners got off. They lined up to walk through the scanner in a straight line.

  Sterling looked at Octavious and said, “It’s fine. They are only scanning you for Vait.”

  There were three scanners, each with a single file line of miners moving through them. Octavious walked through the vertical door frame scanner. Sterling followed Octavious, and when they got out, they continued towards the villages. Octavious got next to Sterling and asked, “Where are we going?”

  Sterling glanced at him before answering, “You are coming with me. Every one of your soldiers is going home individually with one of my miners.”

  Octavious raised an eyebrow. “You trust all of them?”

  Sterling looked puzzled at the remark. “You trust all of your soldiers?”

  Octavious said proudly, “With my life.”

  Sterling answered, “So do I. Keep walking, we need to get you somewhere safe.”

  They walked down a few more blocks and finally entered an apartment complex made from the red rock and hills of Avola. Sterling walked into his place, and Octavious followed. They were greeted by Sterling’s wife and his toddler. Sterling said, “Octavious, this is my wife Felicia and my son, Nix.”

  Octavious said, “Hello. Sterling, I need to get out of here with my soldiers. I am sure they are still looking for us.”