by M. D. Cooper
There was no sign of Max and Pippa, the general din of the place masking any sounds they might be making.
Neither replied, and the general EM interference in the warehouse didn’t allow for high fidelity triangulation of their Link signals.
For a moment, Erin thought she heard footsteps, but before she could pinpoint them, they faded away.
She turned to Fetzner. “Walter, my AI, has called for backup and has the exits covered, but the man who ran away is dangerous. We have to comb through this place. Watch this exit till your team shows up.”
Leaving the guard to organize the search, Erin walked into the warehouse and ventured down an aisle, wondering what was going on. She knew that it was on the risky side of things, but if Max was in there hurting Pippa and she didn’t at least try to find them, she’d feel guilty forever.
She could understand why Max had made a break for it. He’d been found out and could expect the full weight of the governor’s wrath to fall on him. She could also kind of comprehend why he’d attacked Pippa; he probably felt as if she and Anwen were somehow responsible for his own appalling actions.
But why had Pippa run after him? There was no need for her to do that. If she hadn’t interfered, the guard might have had a chance to bring Max down before he got away. And why wasn’t she answering?
Whatever was the reason for Pippa’s odd behavior, Max had to be found. Given the use of antimatter, and the devastation it had wrought, Tanis may take over the interrogation herself.
Erin began to jog along the rows, realizing that the warehouse was far deeper than she originally thought, possibly as deep as half a kilometer. As she ran, she listened for any sound other than the whirring of the drones or the soft trundle of autolifts. She also repeated her command to Max and Pippa to return to the entrance, or at least to answer her, but she met no response.
Erin slowed her jog to a walk as she turned down an aisle.
She was far enough into the warehouse that the guards weren’t yet close to her position, so she continued the search, focusing on the area that their pattern would hit last, growing more frustrated as the minutes passed.
Then she got an idea and reached out to Anwen.
Erin had forgotten that she’d asked Anwen to wait where she was, but she was a little surprised that the woman had listened. It was easy to see which of the twins had the less confrontational personality.
Suddenly, a figure walked across the far end of the aisle ahead of Erin.
“Pippa,” she shouted.
The woman turned and saw her. She waved and began to stride toward Erin.
As soon as she drew near, Erin said, “Where have you been? And what the hell do you think you were doing, running after Max when I clearly told you not to?”
Pippa hung her head. “I know. I’m sorry. I was just so angry at him. Anwen and I have put up with his constant complaining and sulking for months. Then while we were waiting to see you, he just lunged at me. I had to fight him off. You saw, right? I think he was trying to kill me.”
“Have you seen him in here?” Erin glanced around, frustrated at Max’s evasion, but glad Pippa was OK.
“No, I lost sight of him. But when I saw the guards were in here, I realized I might get shot if I was skulking around.”
“Smart move.” Erin gave a long sigh. “I guess Max must have figured that the game is over; he’s been found out, so he took his final opportunity to get his revenge.”
“What game?” Pippa asked. “What do you mean?”
“The accident on Irridia was no accident. It was sabotage, set up by Max to discredit you and Anwen. He’s been angling for a position as chief engineer for so long, he got desperate. Only his plan backfired when he became a murderer.”
“Stars,” Pippa exclaimed, her eyes round as saucers. “I had no idea.”
“Really? That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Anwen said you took responsibility for reviewing the data coming in from remote stations that caught the initial blast. How come you didn’t pick up on the missing beta particles?”
“Shoot, they were missing? I’m sorry. I don’t know how I missed that. I guess I was too focussed on getting the ore moved out so I could take samples from the blast site.”
“I guess that’s reasonable,” Erin replied, knowing she wouldn’t have made the same mistake, but not wanting to push the issue. “Well, I guess it’s all moot now anyway. Max all but proved his guilt when he attacked you and ran. He wouldn’t have done that if he had anything left to lose. Now all I have to do is find him.”
“Maybe we could join in the search for Max,” Pippa suggested.
“Absolutely not, you’re in enough trouble. I want you to stay with your sister. Excelsior’s security is searching for Max; they’ll find him. I want you both to wait for me until this is over. I still have questions to ask you.”
“Okay.” Pippa turned as if unsure what direction to take.
“It’s that way,” said Erin, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. “Turn left at the end.” She took a breath.
Erin hadn’t given up attempting to reach Max on the Link, but she’d had no luck.
A drone turned down Erin’s aisle and flew toward her. Its path was erratic, and it collided with the edge of a shelf before rebounding, only to collide with the shelves on the opposite side before righting itself and wobbling toward Erin.
Walter said.
Erin turned and began to run from the warehouse, following the route she’d indicated to Pippa. She contacted the guards, who were already aware of the situation and trying to combat it. Next, she reached out to Pippa and Anwen.
The buzz of the careening drone behind Erin grew quieter. When she looked back, she saw that it had changed direction. She looked forward just in time to see an autolift speed across the end of the aisle. The background noise from the warehouse’s automated transports seemed to be growing louder, as if all the vehicles were converging on the area.
Erin knew what would happen if those were exposed to oxygen; she picked up her pace. Then, as if on cue, an explosion shook the ground and air around her.
Walter said.
Movement above caught Erin’s attention, and she leapt aside just as a drone dropped out of the air directly into her path. She managed to skirt it as it lifted back off the ground and began to wobble toward her.
A second blast shook the warehouse, and she felt this one more than the last.
Damn, that’s close by.
She was just a hundred meters from the exit, and pushed herself to the limit. Though her ears still rang, Erin could hear the noise of the warehouse transports growing even louder. She hadn’t spotted any in her aisle, though—she expected to see them block her escape at any moment.
Suddenly, the shelving to her left quivered. She blinked, wondering if she’d really seen the movement.
She was still forty meters from the end of the aisle when the shelf moved past its tipping point. All around her, containers began to slide off the shelves and crash to the ground. One fell right in front of her, and she dove to the side as it split open and cultivator blades flew out.
Then another crashed next to the first. Erin tried to stop herself, but she slid right into the pile, slicing open her shin.
Knowing there was no way she’d get out in time, she ducked down next to the container, tucking herself into a ball. Something hit her shoulder, causing her to gasp in pain. Blood trickled down her back.
Her hands over her head, Erin peered upward. The shelves were dropping like felled trees. She braced herself for impact, but it never came; the toppling rack smashed into the one on the right side of the aisle, and by some miracle, it held.
She peered around the crates, considering making a run through the narrow gap to the exit.
With a slow groan, the row of shelves to her right gave way and fell, hitting the next row, which went down under the combined weight. Erin clasped her ears as the thunder intensified. It sounded like the entire place was collapsing, the cacophony seeming to go on forever.
When the din finally stopped, she looked up to see that the two crates together had managed to support the rack’s weight, saving her life.
She patted one and spoke into the eerie silence. “Glad you were better made than these racks.”
Erin peered out. To her left, the warehouse looked almost normal. Except for downed drones and halted autolifts, the storage area appeared as neat and orderly as before. To the right lay utter devastation. Row after row of shelving had fallen, all the way to the edge of the warehouse. It was like the shelves and containers had gone to war and, whoever had won, it was a pyrrhic victory.
“Wow,” Erin breathed. She moved to stand up.
Walter said,
Erin looked down at her bloody shin, and then remembered the cut on her back as well.
Erin hoped that the man hadn’t been able to use the disaster to make good on his escape—she’d sorely underestimated him.
She consoled herself with the fact that, realistically, Max had nowhere to go. It would be nearly impossible for him to survive on Carthage without accessing the Link, and as soon as he connected, he would be identified and found.
Sooner or later, he’d be caught and would get his just desserts.
A JOB IN PARADISE
STELLAR DATE: 03.16.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Shuttle approaching Usha City
REGION: Tyre, New Canaan System
The shuttle entered Tyre’s upper atmosphere, and the window shutters lifted, giving Isa a magnificent view of the world’s surface. Watching the world slide by below, she accessed its welcome infopacket, matching the recitation against what she was seeing.
‘Of the four habitable planets in the New Canaan system, Tyre orbits closest to Canaan Prime and is the only planet that did not require terraforming. Tyre’s land masses lie primarily along its equatorial line, yet due to the high altitudes of the central regions, their climates aren’t tropical. The past seventy-eight million years of tectonic activity have resulted in several mountain ranges all but girdling the planet. However, nowadays, most of Tyre’s volcanoes are dormant, and earthquakes are rare.
‘Tyre’s three major cities are Ushu, Kedesh, and Mount Carmel. Ushu is the planetary capital—'
Isa peered down to see the settlement that was the site of the air and spaceport, but something else
distracted her and caused her to catch her breath. Poking out from the cloud cover was the tallest mountain she’d ever seen. She hadn’t noticed it at first because the slopes were the same blue-white of the columns of cumulus that were hiding Ushu. But the mountain rose much higher than the highest cloud.
‘The tallest of Tyre’s mountains is the supervolcano, Mount Athos. Several peaks crown the mountain, but the highest is 28,562 meters above sea level.’
The plain words did no justice to the sight that greeted Isa as the shuttle bore her down. Quickly, before she drew so close to the mountain she wouldn’t have a good view, Isa began to record what she was seeing. Just the prospect of viewing the spectacular natural structure in real life should be enough to draw visitors to Tyre, she reasoned.
She wondered if Mount Athos were tall enough that the peak would be visible from its slopes, due to the planet’s curvature. She thought it probably was. She would have to wait for a cloudless day to check, but as she planned on spending a couple of months on Tyre making her infomentary, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Excitement was churning her stomach. It felt good to have a purpose again, and her former boss’s immediate acceptance of her application for the role had been a nice ego boost. She loved Erin and Martin, but being around two such smart, capable people dampened her self-esteem at times.
The shuttle dropped into the clouds, and for a while, all Isa could see was white vapor. Then the clouds broke, and Ushu spread out beneath her. The city lay to the south of Mount Athos, which entirely dominated its northern aspect. Grassy foothills and forested slopes were all that could be seen in that direction. Ushu was tiny compared to Landfall. When Isa looked up its population, she was amazed to see it was only twenty-one thousand. Ushu was barely a city, and yet it was the biggest one on the planet.
Tyre had plenty of scope for expansion, and Isa would make it her job to drive it.