Alien Home

by Mark Zubro

  They raced forward into the darkness. The light became dimmer and dimmer. Soon they were stumbling forward. There was nothing on the floor in their way, but the alley they were in began to take numerous turns.

  Finally, Mike put out a hand. “I have to stop.” He bent over, panting. Vem seemed worn out as well. “What good is it going to do to run? They’ve seen us. This entire area will be flooded with guards in minutes. Every passage will be crammed with enemies.”

  Vem spoke between gasps for breath. “I studied the ways here carefully. We are in the old and unused ways. We might make it. I think we should try taking any down turning for a while.”

  Mike peered behind them. In the distance he saw several points of light. “There they are,” he announced.

  Vem said, “At least they can’t move faster than we do down here.”

  “They’ve got lights. We don’t,” Mike said. “We might as well use light, or they’ll catch us for sure.”

  Vem nodded.

  Mike asked, “Why haven’t we come across a major street with transportation vehicles?”

  “I’ve led you away from such places. Vehicles would be easy to spot and stop. I took the way I thought we had the best chance.”

  “What happens to you if we get caught?” Mike asked.

  “They execute me.”

  “Don’t you have protection because of Ove?”

  “Yes, if I can get to Ove. They can’t get at me or do anything to me in my home system. The problem right now is I’m fifty seven point three light years from there, and here is looking worse every minute. In this case getting there would be all the fun.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Moving as fast as they could, they took ramps and stairs down. When they turned corners after long corridors, they could see pursuers behind them.

  “We’ve got to try something,” Vem said.

  “I could blast the path behind us closed,” Mike suggested.

  “You could also bring a good part of a mountain down on us.”

  “I can control this thing pretty okay. I can bring it down behind us, between us and them.”

  “As a last desperate attempt, maybe.”

  Another turn, another ramp down, Mike’s sense of direction had long since left him in these vast caverns. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but the vast weight of the immense world surrounding him began to weigh on his mind. Glancing back, it seemed that their pursuers were no closer. At the end of this ramp, they scouted the turn. Two guards with communicators at the ready were looking straight at them.

  Mike increased the power of his communicator. The guards fell unconscious.

  Vem looked frustrated. “This is not working. This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

  Mike turned around. He tapped on the front of his communicator. He cut a portion of the ceiling, and it crashed down in the path behind them. The noise caused his ears to ring, and the dust blinded him until it settled. When he could open his eyes without them tearing up, he saw that chunks of debris had hit within inches of his left foot. He felt faint and shrank to the ground in a heap. “My control isn’t quite as good as I thought it was.”

  Vem straightened up and gazed at the massive obstruction. He stated the obvious. “We can’t go back that way anymore.” He reached down to help Mike up.

  “What happened to me?” Mike asked.

  “If you’re feeling well enough to move, I will answer your question as we walk.”

  Mike nodded.

  Vem said, “Using those communicators can exhaust someone from our system. You’re not from here. Moving part of a mountain takes just about more effort than anything else. You’re moving a physical mass in a small space and trying to not let the rest of the mountain crash down on us.”

  “But I’ve done some pretty strong things with this thing so far and not felt bad.”

  Vem said, “Have you been feeling physically okay?”

  “I get a little nauseous in the mornings, and I’m a little more tired than usual.”

  “That doesn’t sound good. If we get somewhere safe, we should have a doctor look at you.”

  Mike wasn’t sure how much he wanted alien medicine.

  Vem said, “I almost wish you hadn’t brought down that part of the tunnel.”

  “We weren’t going in that direction anyway. There’s a million guards down that way. Now, we’ve got a few minutes to think. What’s on either side of these walls?”

  Vem tapped. “Unused storage.”

  “Which way is the nearest little-used road with a transport vehicle?”

  Vem tapped on the side of the tunnel nearest him. “About half a mile this way.”

  “What’s between that and us?”

  “Walls, rooms, storage.”

  “Guards?”

  “Not as many as in the tunnels. I don’t know how fast they can flood this area with guards. They don’t have an infinite supply.”

  “They can’t flood these with water?”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  Mike pointed at the wall. “Let’s go through that.”

  “I haven’t the power.”

  “I do.”

  Mike took his communicator and began to carve a hole in the wall. He felt his strength begin to leave him just as the wall fell in. His lightheadedness returned. He wouldn’t be able to carve their way out if they had to go through a whole bunch of solid rock. He turned around as they entered a completely dark room. He made four large cuts in the ceiling behind them. Within seconds the part of the wall behind them in this new room caved in. This time some of the debris feel on them. They leapt out of the way.

  Vem choked on the dust for a moment. He gasped, “You gotta work on that. You also might consider what’s above each of these rooms. You could set off tons of mountain raining down on us. These tunnels are the best constructed in the universe, but that doesn’t mean they will last unto eternity, and they can be damaged. There hasn’t been a cave-in in centuries, nonetheless, I don’t think you should do that anymore.”

  Mike let the blue glow build. The room they were in was vast. Piles of old, undisturbed dust lay all over the floor and on top of metallic disks the size of manhole covers.

  “What is this place?” Mike asked as they crossed the room.

  “I believe we’re in some of the more ancient parts of the storage facilities. When you have a written history as long as ours, there is a great deal to store. This might be some of the oldest records.”

  “They have copies?”

  “Everybody’s got copies. These might be originals.”

  They made much faster progress now. The facility they were in stretched ahead of them some way. They were no longer running. Mike had never felt more tired in his life. Despite his hours of daily exercise in his various cells, he was bushed.

  They came to a balcony overlooking a deserted square. Looking out, Mike saw what on his own planet he would call streetlights. A lone guard stood next to a ground transport vehicle about ten feet from the wall above which they stood.

  Mike tapped on his communicator, and the guard crumpled. They crawled over the edge of the balcony and let themselves down.

  The guard was unconscious but breathing. Mike threw his red robe over the one Vem had given him. He discovered that under it, the man wore extra-long, metallic-looking boxer shorts. He said, “This may give us a few extra seconds at some point.”

  Vem took a metal rectangle the size of a cell phone from the guard’s tunic and fitted it into what on an Earth car would have been a dashboard. The vehicle began humming softly. Vem drove. “We can’t stay in this thing long,” he said. As he spoke they turned a sharp corner. Not fifty feet ahead they saw a check point at a large intersection. “Perhaps far shorter than I thought. I think this is just about it.”

  “Let’s see how much power this little darling has.” One of the guards held up a hand. Mike tapped on his communicator. All the guards collapsed. Alarms began to sound.

&
nbsp; “We’ve rung the alarm bell,” Vem said.

  “They may have weapons to use against me, but they’ve got to get close enough. The first time I was unaware of what they were doing. I know we can’t fight our way off this planet, but if I could just buy us some time.” Their way was blocked by the guards’ vehicles all of which were twice the size of the one they were in now. “How about we destroy all of them except one? It seems bigger. Maybe it’s better. We can abandon this one, wreck it, and use that.”

  Vem thought for several seconds. He said, “I’m out of options. We’ll try what you think.”

  It took Mike only a few seconds to summon the power in his communicator. Soon the car they’d been in and four of the guard’s vehicles lay in ruins. He took all of the guards’ communicators and weapons and threw them in the rear seat of the last remaining vehicle. He noted they were all breathing. He was glad of that.

  Once again, Vem drove. He said, “These transports provide some protection, and we’ll have more time to react if something is in front of us. We could probably fake our way out except for your ability to block their mental probes. And even if you couldn’t block them, the difference in your brain’s physiology would give us away. I was prepared to help you escape. I wasn’t prepared for this many problems.”

  Mike said, “How else could this have really worked? You took a hell of a risk on my behalf.”

  “And on behalf of my boss.”

  “And you’re probably getting into deeper shit with each law we break. I assume we’re breaking one every time we do something that helps us escape.”

  “Yes”

  The guard transport rushed through the tunnels. Mike hunted through the weapons in the back.

  “Do you know which one of them works that oxygen deprivation deal?”

  Vem glanced over at the few that Mike held in his hand. “Not a clue.”

  The roadway they were on now was about twice as wide as the tunnels they’d been running through. The walls here dripped a chalky, white substance. “What’s that stuff?” Mike asked.

  “A chalky white substance.”

  “Everybody’s a comedian.”

  “The very oldest parts of the diggings have that. It’s a mixture of water, lead, and enzymes that eat at rock over eons of time. These tunnels have been here for at least twenty-five thousand years. The cleaning job for all these tunnels is massive. Obviously at some points neglect begins to happen.”

  “While we were taking a break from the meeting earlier, Joe said that the planet could be sealed against any possible escape.”

  “That’s true and not true. If you get beyond the sealed areas, of course you can escape. It’s getting past the seals before they are closed that’s the key.”

  Mike asked, “Where’s the nearest shaft to the surface?”

  “I’m heading in that direction. There’s an old, old prison around here.”

  Mike didn’t find that thought comforting.

  They raced through the tunnels for what Mike judged to be about twenty minutes. They saw no check points.

  “Perhaps we got around their last perimeter,” Mike said.

  “Would that it were so,” Vem said.

  He slowed at the entrance to a gargantuan opening on the right. Vem said, “We can hide the car inside this building. There should be a transportation shaft on the far side.”

  Vem drove the car as far into the building as he could. They got out and hurried forward again. Mike didn’t risk dropping part of the ceiling on the car. The noise of the last two drops had been horrific.

  The building was a maze of rooms and passages and stairs. Unlike the roads and tunnels, this place was unlit. Mike activated his blue aura but kept it at a minimum. After several minutes when they seemed to have passed the same spot before, Mike asked, “Are we lost?”

  “My communicator is searching some deep memory banks. Even on Hrrrm where we are so proud of how well documented and organized we are, things change or get remembered or recorded wrong.” They remained in the same spot as Vem looked for records. The time stretched on. Each passing minute increased Mike’s fear that they were once again being surrounded.

  After several minutes Vem pointed. “There.”

  Mike looked. About fifty feet away, light winked on in a space that looked like an elevator car on Earth. They hurried forward. Up close Mike saw that it had room for the two of them as long as they didn’t take deep breaths. The interior of the elevator car did not inspire Mike with confidence. The white, chalky substance covered all four walls. Flecks of stone gritted under their feet. Mike touched the walls. Bits of the chalky stuff came off on his hand. He wiped it on his jeans. At least it didn’t start dissolving the fabric or his hand. Vem tapped at the ancient side panel and then checked his communicator.

  “Can I help?” Mike asked.

  “I’m not sure what I’m doing,” Vem said. “This isn’t going to be solved by dropping chunks of a mountain on it.”

  Mike said, “I’m not some violence-prone barbarian. I’m not the one who first made weapons. I’m not the one who started using weapons. One of your guys tried to kill me. I’m not the one…”

  “You don’t need to justify yourself to me.”

  Mike heard voices outside. “I think we’ve got company,” he said.

  Mike lowered his glow to a small point of light fixed on the control panel. Vem punched three combinations. “If this works…”

  The door slid shut.

  Vem said, “When we get to the top, we will know if we are going to succeed. The doors will open onto a star covered night with or without several thousand guards standing around.”

  “Won’t they know where this comes out?”

  “If they saw where we were, they can easily figure it out. They’d have to get somebody to the top from a guard post faster than we get to where we’re going. If this thing even goes all the way to the top. My schematics says it did. Like I said, things can change over millennia.”

  The journey stretched for quite some time. Mike discovered that the floor of the elevator and the ceiling moved, but the walls did not.

  “How does this work?” Mike asked.

  “It’s an old system, kind of gravity mixed with old fashioned pulleys and weights. It’s going to take us a while to get to the top.”

  Mike felt himself becoming nauseous. The ride up was rapid. His lightheadedness almost caused him to fall against the walls which they were passing. He reached out a hand for Vem.

  “Are you all right?” his companion asked.

  “I think so. I hope so.” Mike straightened up. He felt like he might be coming down with the flu. He fought the feeling of tossing his cookies. Just as he thought he might lose the battle, Mike felt the vehicle begin to slow down. Mike took out his communicator and caused a blue glow to surround the both of them.

  Vem smiled and said, “If violence is necessary, the whole point of what we are doing will be useless. The firing of a weapon anywhere on the surface of the planet would bring everyone and lots of firepower.”

  Mike kept the blue glow ready just in case.

  The car stopped. The doors hesitated, then swept back into the sides like all elevator doors Mike had ever seen.

  Blessed starry night greeted them. A fierce wind blew across heaps of rocks and boulders. Mike thought they were natural formations. The air was cold. No red clad guards. Mike shook his head in the clear, cold air. He said, “I’m feeling pretty dizzy.” He collapsed.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Mike awoke inside another sterile room. This is getting monotonous, he thought. He turned his head. The room spun as one had not since he got drunk for the first and only time, the night after he’d had sex for the first time. The woozy feeling was disorienting.

  “Please don’t move,” said a deep sonorous voice which Mike did not recognize.

  Mike held his head steady and stared at the ceiling. The room stopped spinning. He figured this was a good thing. He felt a trifle bette
r.

  “Who are you?” Mike asked.

  Vem’s face appeared above Mike’s. He said, “We’re in a doctor’s office on a space station that rotates above Hrrrm. You looked quite ill. This doctor has allegiance to Ove. His name is Luf.”

  “I’m contracted to Ove” said the sonorous voice, “and I’ve always honored my contracts.”

  “How long have I been unconscious?” Mike asked.

  “Several hours.”

  “What’s wrong with me?” Mike asked.