Banished Worlds

by Grant Workman

  I looked down the stairway. “It looks like the landing splits, going in two different directions.”

  “Yes, it does,” Roberts explained.

  “Which one do we want?” Nelson asked.

  “The one I take, follow me.” Roberts started down the stairs with Daiman, Price, and Jane right on her heels.

  “Looks like the kid is learning, Nelson. It must make you very happy,” I commented.

  “Go to hell, Harry.” Nelson started down the stairs after the group.

  “Jenkins, bring up the rear. I know she said we can’t be followed, but safety comes first. Who knows what we might walk into, and I need someone to cover as rear guard. I’ll take Bikes.” I put a shoulder under Bikes, and we started down the narrow stairway.

  The walk down to the second landing was slow for us, but we could see the group ahead and the path they had taken. Nelson had waited at the second landing for us. I eyed him warily, but Nelson stood sucking heavily on the stale air.

  Jenkins followed and walked over to the rail of the second path. “Harry, look at this.”

  Bikes and I walked over to him with me keeping an eye on Nelson. “What do you have?” I asked.

  Jenkins pointed.

  I leaned forward to see what he was looking at, and that was when Jenkins betrayed my trust. I saw the move, but with Bikes so close I could not stop or block it.

  Jenkins caught me with the butt of his rifle. The second strike I barely saw, then nothing.

  CHAPTER 9

  I do not remember the fall, only waking up in pain. “Son of a …” My head was pounding. Everything hurt more than it had, up to this point, and my body was protecting the abuse. I looked around and found Bikes. His blank stare told me I owed Jenkins a good beating before I killed him. I tried to move and screamed in new waves of pain. My left leg was injured, but I was hoping it was not broken.

  I gritted my teeth and forced myself to sit up; had to know what I was dealing with. There was a long gash, but it was not deep. The shin and calf were discolored and swollen. I could move my foot, so I did not think it was broken.

  I did, however, find the source of the pain in my foot; Bikes steel bar that had freed us and that I had told him to hold onto, had cut through my left boot and was stuck in the top of my foot. The steel bar had cut my leg as well. I pulled the bar out and the boot off which left me sitting there bleeding. I looked around and apologized to Bikes as I shredded his shirt, using it to bandage my leg and pack my foot. I laced the boot tight, knowing there was no choice. After all, I had men to kill, or Roberts would not be safe, and Bikes would have died for nothing.

  I looked over at Bikes once more and knew he had shielded me in the fall down the stairs since I went over unconscious. He had protected me so I could save Little Boss. I took the half bottle of water I found on him, and his steel bar.

  My rifle had fallen further than we had. I could not see going after it, not with so many stairways to climb. I had to go up to the second landing, then down after my group, after Jenkins and Nelson.

  “Some days, Bikes, I really miss body armor.” I patted my dead friend’s chest and got to my knees. I could feel the cut along my calf pull open, it would bleed again from the walk ahead. I stood up, put weight on my injured foot for the first time, and yelled. I screamed up the shaft of the stairway, partly out of pain, but mostly out of pure hatred and frustration. I screamed to see if there would be a response, and was greeted with silence.

  I looked up. There were a lot of stairs above me. How I fell, unconscious, this far and lived with no major injuries would only be due to Bikes. He protected me throughout the fall, and not himself. I owed Bikes my life, and I owe him Jenkins life too. I started my climb.

  The stairway was in good shape, so I used the handrail for support. As I walked up, it came to me that my prison, on Lark, had to have an escape exit like this place. There would be a route for the higher ranks to disappear into and escape in the case of a planetary emergency, or as in our case, a prison break. Like Tirus, Lark’s escape system must be hidden away in some unseen part of a building, waiting for someone like Mia Roberts to pop in and put it to use.

  The thought of Mia made me think of her crystal blue eyes and I wondered what Nelson and Jenkins would try with me out of the picture. She was so familiar to me, like we had a past, and I knew we did not, but the feeling was there and persistent. I needed to get to her. The thoughts that arose made me ignore the pain and increase my pace just a little.

  The walk was long, and I had to pace myself to make sure I could get there, but at the same time I had to get to the group while there was still a reason to reach them. I pushed and reached the split landing faster than I had expected. I started down the second side at once and walked fast, the traveling down the stairs was easier on my injured leg than the trip up had been.

  After a time, the pain in my leg was too great, I had to stop. I sat down on a step, opened the water bottle, and took a drink. My foot had gone from throbbing to numb and back to throbbing. The good thing about the pain, was it fueled my anger towards Jenkins. He would die screaming as I beat the life from him, for Bikes and me. If he hurt Roberts in my absence that was even more fuel for the fire.

  I leaned forward to check my foot and the bandages, only to bump the water bottle. In that second, it rolled and fell over the edge, tumbling downward to warn my enemies that someone was above them. I cursed at my own mistake. That did not change the problem, so I forced myself to deal instead with the injured foot.

  I was still bleeding, so I tore off a piece of my shirt, unlaced my boot, and packed more cloth onto the injury. I laced the boot as tightly as I thought safe, careful not to over tighten the bandage. I wanted nothing to hamper my efforts to reach Mia.

  I looked over the rail and listened for any reaction to the fallen bottle. With no sounds from below, they either missed it, or saw it and would lay in wait. If I was lucky, they would quicken their pace away from me.

  I pushed up to my feet, tested the re-wrapped foot, and started back down the stairs. The last level of the stairway opened into a wide landing with electric tunnel cars parked to one side. There were four car slots; three had cars in them. The missing car had a lot of foot prints in the layers of dust.

  Also, in the dust at the bottom of the stairs lay my fallen water bottle. It was undisturbed and there were no foot prints around it. The dropped bottle had fallen after the others had departed in the fourth car.

  There was one last swallow remaining in the bottle, and I needed. I stuffed the empty bottle in my back pocket, walked to the next car in a slot, opened the door, and was greeted with lights. This was a sign that the vehicle had some power, or had charged up since Mia had activated the power core again.

  I looked down the tunnel car tracks. The good thing about tunnel cars is that they only ran between two locations. I did not know if it would be different for extraction system cars, or not, but I was not going to find the answer here.

  I climbed in, sat down, and looked over the controls. It was an early model, a museum piece on any planet still in the network, but it appeared functional. The battery power level was three quarters charged, so I saw no reason not to get underway. I slowly pushed the power level forward, and the car slid out of its slot. The location appeared to be as I thought, pre-programmed into the system, as the car disappeared into the tunnel.

  As designed, all a rider could do was turn the car on, engage the power lever, and go. I sat back for the ride. The vehicle destination could be fifty yards or halfway around the planet, but it was underway and fast.

  I searched the car as it traveled to see if I could find anything useful; a weapon, first aid supplies, a protein bar, anything that might be of help at the other end. The car was not stocked, it was only a simple transport; light weight, mostly plastic, and wiring.

  What did concern me was a blip on the dash screen. I slowed my car as it approached the location. It was the first car. I stopped behind it, wai
ted a moment, then got out. Walking over to the first car, its door was standing open; there were no lights, no one was around, but there were footprints on the dusty tunnel floor leading away from the car. I followed for a short distance, then grinned.

  Nelson had not waited long enough for their car to recharge to reach the next section. It had shut down, and they had been forced to start walking again. This would be my chance to make up for some lost time.

  Turning back to the two cars, there was a problem; the dead car was blocking my car’s track. Nothing had been easy on this job, and again found myself wishing for body armor. I walked to my car, opened the battery compartment panel, and looked at the massive amount of cables to and from the device. With the proper tools to do the job, changing the batteries would be fast and give me an advantage. A steel rod was not one of those tools. One wrong disconnect and there would be a long walk ahead of me. I closed the panel.

  With Mia moving away every minute, a fast fix was needed.

  Reaching into my car, I took out Bikes’ steel bar. It had proven to be almost as useful as the man himself had been, and with it in hand I returned to the front car. I pushed the steel bar under one track wheel and lifted. I was not in the best shape, but having no choice I pushed up and pried with the steel bar. The wheel cleared the track and I lifted it off. Sitting the corner of the vehicle down gently, I moved to the next corner and lifted another wheel. Not as high as the first, but was able get it off of the track too. Inching my way around the car, I got it off balance and managed to roll it off of the track altogether.

  I dragged myself back to my car, climbed in, and again started my pursuit. I did not slam the power level forward and race ahead; time was needed to breathe and recover some small measure of strength. I sat back and watched the lit tunnel and the clear screen. Sleep was essential, but if they were walking, I had to watch to be able to stop my car without running over Mia, but I could live with hitting the others at this point.

  After another thirty minutes on the car timer, the approach lights came on. The car entered a service bay, like the first one, only this one was bigger, and there were no stairways that I could see. A door was cocked open with light coming out from inside. I got out of the car and walked slowly and softly to the door. The room beyond was empty, but it led to a second door. I approached it and even as I did I could hear raised voices.

  “Look, it doesn’t work that way. Yes, I hacked the door codes, but the ship computer does not work the same,” I heard Roberts telling someone. “None of you can go.”

  I heard a heavy thud and a groan of pain.

  “Just stop. Do you think I am lying to you, is that it?”

  There was another heavy thud, but the groan was not as strong.

  I tried to open the door a fraction more to see what the situation was. I peeked in. Nelson was close, and that was a good start. I opened the door fully, wrapped the steel bar around his throat before anyone knew I was there. While holding him with one hand I took his pistol with the other and pointed it to his temple. I dropped the steel bar, removed the assault rifle from Nelson’s shoulder, and pushed him out to arm’s-length with the rifle barrel.

  “Harry, you’re alive!” Roberts yelled, and a grin spread across her face. It made her split, lower lip open up more and bleed.

  I looked over at Nelson, down the barrel of the gun, then turned my attention to Jenkins with the pistol pointed at him.

  “Harry, I can explain …” Nelson started.

  I shook my head. “I want you to explain, and loud enough that Bikes can hear you.”

  Without batting an eye he offered his explanation. “He was slowing us down. We had to get here in time for the launch, get back out to the network.”

  Jenkins just stared back at me. “You would have had a problem with just leaving him or killing him.”

  “Yeah, you might say I have a problem with that.” I lowered the pistol and fired a round through the top of his knee.

  Jenkins collapsed to the ground screaming, then I turned the gun Nelson’s direction.

  “Now, Harry. I wouldn’t have shot you, you know that. After Jenkins’ attack, well, what was the point not going on with the mission? You remember the mission, get the girl and get off the planet. We can still do that, you just have to have Roberts open the ship and let everyone onboard.”

  “Thanks for the update, buddy.” I glanced around the room that led to the ship’s door. I determined that the tunnels led to something like this, but here it was; an old, small Nessa Class shuttle, properly stored and looking good.

  On the floor was Price. He had taken a beating, becoming their leverage against Roberts. From the bruises on her face and the split lip, they must have started on her, only moving to Price when they did not get her cooperation. Further inside the room, near the shuttle entrance, stood Daiman and Jane.

  Daiman had his rifle trained on Roberts. I still had the rifle pointed Nelson’s direction. “I haven’t had any problems with you, so far, but I am in a problem solving mood.”

  “She can’t get us out,” Daiman said. “All of this for nothing, we’re going to die here.”

  “So we stay here, what’s the issue. We have power, unlike anyone else on the planet. We can survive,” I told him.

  “I can’t get everyone out,” Roberts volunteered. “I can’t get Nelson or Jenkins off planet. Everyone else, Daiman, Jane, you, me, and Price can go.”

  “She’s been lying up to this point. Why should anyone believe her now?” Nelson joined the conversation. “She said before that we could get out.”

  “No, I said that. Roberts said there was a problem, she objected to your coming on this trip right from the start. So did Price,” I reminded the group.

  “Price didn’t have body armor. For me that was his objection,” Nelson argued.

  “I didn’t have your DNA code. It’s a sixteen digit, alpha numeric number that I have to manually enter into the onboard computer for the shuttle to fly. In the old days of Tirus, they had ID cards that carried their DNA. Swipe the card and go. We don’t have that. We can’t fly with passengers onboard that the ship can’t scan,” Roberts explained to Nelson. She looked to me. “It’s a fail-safe against prisoner escapes.”

  I still watched Daiman. “So, Daiman, you can get off world back to the Network? You, like me, Price, Roberts, and Jane were part of the original rescue plan. She has your code. Do we have a problem?” I still had my pistol on him.

  Slowly, he lowered his rifle. After a few seconds, Daiman walked over to Price, helped him up, and took him to the shuttle. He opened the hatch, taking Price inside.

  “Jane, go with them,” I ordered.

  “Look, I thought I was clear on this. I’m not leaving without Kevin.” She folded her arms and stood, starting at me.

  “Same problem,” Roberts told her. “Even if he were here and not out there on the surface, we have no code for him.”

  “I don’t care. I want him here, or I’m staying.” Her sixteen years were showing, and I realized in that moment that I was getting old, or soft, or both. My attention had drifted off of the matter at hand.

  Jenkins had been shot, was down and in pain, but not out. He pulled a knife and slashed at my left leg, just getting me with the tip. The cut was not deep; it was a distraction and an opening for Nelson.

  Nelson must have been watching Jenkins more closely than I, because he brushed the rifle barrel to one side and punched me. His angle was bad, his blow hit more of my shoulder than jaw, but it gave Jenkins a second opening, and he cut me on the outside of the thigh. Nelson and I staggered several steps away as we fought for control of the rifle. I had also dropped the pistol in our struggle.

  Behind us, Jane was shrieking and clutching at Roberts who was trying to push her away to come to my aid. Roberts got close to Jenkins who grabbed her leg and pulled them both down to floor level since he could not stand.

  Nelson jerked the gun free and rolled away from me. He came up to a kneeling
position with the rifle pointed at me. “Stop, Harry, just stop!” Nelson ordered. Slowly, he got to his feet.

  Jane had been pushed out of the three-way fight as Roberts fought for the knife. She bolted for the ship, and better cover.

  “You two also stop! Stop, or I shoot Harry!” Nelson yelled at them.

  I could hear it in Nelson’s breathing; he was exhausted. As was I.

  Roberts released her hold on the knife and rolled completely away from Jenkins, and out of his reach.

  “You still need her, Nelson.” I wanted his attention only on me and not on her.

  “Oh shut up, Harry.” Nelson took a deep breath, but it did not appear to help him any.

  “What now, Nelson? You’ve got the gun pointed at me, now what?”

  “God I hate you, Harry. I hate you more than I ever did before.” He lowered the barrel of the gun a hair. The weapon was getting heavy, and his labored breathing was getting worse. “Tell me, Harry, tell me you’re more concerned with getting Garrett’s daughter off planet than you are with saving Marty’s little girl. Complete the mission, Harry.” Again, he aimed the gun level at me. “She’ll do it for you. She’ll reprogram the damn ship computer, so I can get onboard too, or she’ll watch you die.”

  “Marty?” I said confused, and wondered if I had one too many hits to the head while I’d been here.

  “Yes, Harry, stop playing dumb. Tell her to fix the ship, or I’m going to shoot you dead.”

  “Both of us,” Jenkins said from his position on the floor. “We both go.”

  Nelson turned the rifle and fired one round, then turned the weapon back my direction. He looked to Roberts. “Fix the ship, or I kill him next.”

  I looked to Roberts. “Marty’s daughter?”

  “Martin Isaac Aston. Roberts was mom’s maiden name. I changed my name when I joined up and became an agent,” Roberts explained to me.