by RB Stutz
Luckily, by 6:30, I was already developing a pretty good strategy; at least I kept convincing myself it was. All I knew about the facility outside of the training section was what was explained by Masters in her initial briefing on day one and that was assuming her information was true. I knew the medical research center and hospital were in an arm opposite the one we were in, across the central section of the HUB. When we were initially brought from the hospital arm, we were put in the back of a motorized transport so we could not see anything along the way. The ride was short so I didn’t think the distance would be far on foot. However, once I was able to get past the locked doors, there was no way to know what sort of obstacles I’d meet between here and there. There was no way to know the amount of additional locked doors, guards, weapons, etc. It was an unfortunate fact I just didn’t have time to remedy.
The good news was I had a plan to get past the locked doors, which was a good start on short notice. Even though we were locked in our section of the HUB, I was pretty sure it wasn’t designed to be an impenetrable prison. If I had the time, I was sure I could find some way out other than the main door, but I didn’t have that time.
We were supposed to be training with the PTD’s that morning to learn additional tactical maneuvers. Typically on PTD days, the equipment was issued first thing and we didn’t turn it in until the end of the day. I felt fairly confident there would be nothing to stop me from jumping to the other side of the main door into the corridor to the rest of the facility. The challenge was separating from the rest of the group and doing it while no one was watching.
Once in the corridor, I’d make my way to the medical arm, again assuming I overcame any unknown obstacles I ran into. If I was quick enough, I could hopefully make it across the facility before anyone noticed I was gone. With the power of surprise, I’d overpower any resistance along the way. The first chance I had, I’d arm myself and use the PTD to get through any barriers. I at least had a chance to make it to Sara, but that’s where the plan ended. If I could just make it to her, I’d do whatever I had to in order to get her out.
I went over the half-ass plan while in the shower. I’d been in there for some time, alone and then Alex stepped in.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked as he turned on the water.
His comment caught me off guard.
“Plan?”
“Come on, don’t try and tell me you’re going to stay here and wait for news of Sara. I know you didn’t buy into any of that crap. There’s definitely a lot they’re not telling us. I don’t trust them anymore,” he said.
I didn’t say anything, but continued to rinse the soap off. Was this a ploy to get information out of me? Was he one of the spies?
Just as I thought those things, I shrugged it off. Alex couldn’t be one of the spies. He was like my brother. It made more sense the spy was someone who acted more distant to the group as a whole, like Brian or James.
“No. Alex is a good guy. He’s not the spy.”
“So what’s the plan? You know I’m coming with you,” he added.
“No. You can’t,” I snipped sharply without thinking about my words. I’d just basically admitted I was up to something.
“So there is a plan,” he said. “I may not have what you have with Sara, but she’s my friend too. I’m going with you.”
“I don’t have a plan, at least not yet,” I lied.
I couldn’t let Alex risk himself. I was probably going to get caught once I was twenty feet on the other side of the door. It was something I needed to do on my own. I probably had a better chance on my own anyway. They’d be quicker to notice we were both missing than just one of us.
I met Alex’s eyes. “You’re right. I don’t trust a word they said. They know more than they let on.”
I wanted to convince him I was going to act, to find Sara, but not to know it would be soon.
“There has to be another way out of here, maybe through the duct work?”
“We’ll figure something out. We’ll get to her,” Alex reassured.
I turned off the water and grabbed my towel. “Thanks man. Let’s talk more later.”
I left the bathroom and walked back into the sleeping quarters. James and Brian were both dressing down and preparing to head into the shower. I couldn’t look at either of them. At least one of them was a traitor to the rest of us. I had to suppress the disgust I felt.
“She’ll be okay,” Brian said somberly as he passed by to go into the bathroom.
“I’m sure their medical team is top notch. She’s in good hands,” James tried to reassure me.
I remained quiet.
“I was talking with Rachael and Emily and we all agreed if we don’t hear any news by tomorrow we’ll all stand together to insist we be informed. We think if we present a united front, they can’t keep us in the dark.”
“Thanks,” I said.
His words weren’t very reassuring since he was possibly a spy. If I failed, I could only count on Alex for sure to try and help her.
That morning, over breakfast no one said anything. Everyone just silently picked at their food. A few hours prior, I would have considered all of the people at the table my friends, I would even say family. I didn’t understand what was really going on, why we were really there. Whatever the truth was, we’d been lied to and I was worried every innocent life at that table was in jeopardy. I wish I knew who to trust, who I could have explained everything I knew and thought to. I wish the well-being of all my true friends at that table could have been considered. There was no time. I could either try to help Sara or them. I chose Sara.
I tried to convince myself if I made it out with Sara, I would be back for everyone else. I was just lying to myself though. The whole thing was a long shot. If I was able to pull it off, I had the feeling there wouldn’t be anyone left to come back to help. I had the strong impression whatever the agenda of the deceivers was; it wouldn’t be easily thwarted more than once. The truth was, even without my feelings for Sara, it was a choice of waiting around to probably be killed or die trying to help Sara. I had to try.
Promptly at 7:30 as instructed, we met in one of the classrooms located off to the side of the main training hall. Batton and Matthew were there waiting for us. During that first session of the morning, they took us through different conflict scenarios and tactics to overcome each scenario. This session was focused on maneuvering undetected through a conflict zone using the PTD. When we had these types of tactical sessions, they usually started with a classroom presentation and then actual drills using the equipment with simulated scenarios.
There was no mention of Sara or anything that had happened a few hours earlier, but it was the only thing on my mind. During the presentation, which was mostly handled by Matthew, I noticed Batton looking at me several times. There was no expression to his face when he did, but there never was. I thought about trying to read them again but decided against it. Batton was sure to notice my focus if I did. I needed to get out soon. I couldn’t risk giving them any indication of what I was about to do.
After the hour long classroom session, Matthew issued the PTD equipment. Once everyone’s equipment was on and activated, we were released to meet back ten minutes later in the main hall. This time was usually given to use the latrine, get a drink or whatever one needed it for. As I followed the rest of our group out of the classroom, I noticed Batton and Matthew stayed at the front of the classroom in discussion. They were most likely discussing when to handle me. I’d anticipated the break. It was my chance to make my move. There shouldn’t be anyone in the training hall yet and I’d have at least the ten minutes before anyone would be suspicious of my absence.
I made sure I was the last one out of the classroom. Emily and Rachael were carrying on a conversation ahead of me, walking towards their barracks. Alex and Brian looked like they were heading towards our barracks. James turned into the latrine just a short distance from the classroom. That is where I was headed as well.
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I followed James into the latrine. He was already standing in front of one of the urinals. I headed to the stall in the far corner. James looked up and nodded. I returned the nod without a word and then entered the stall.
Once in the stall, I didn’t waste any time. The back wall of the latrine was shared with the main hall. The plan was to jump into the main hall and then dash to the large doors at the other end. I needed to do it all as quickly as I could. There was no way to know when anyone would arrive in the main hall. I activated the PTD control and instantly appeared in the other room.
It was good James saw me enter the stall. When I didn’t turn up after the ten minutes was up he’d say where he saw me. Hopefully, they’d assume I just needed some extra time to finish and wouldn’t come looking for me immediately.
The space I jumped into was on the opposite end of the large room from the door. I first looked to see I was alone. I was. I raced across the hall to the door. The dash only took seconds. I checked the PTD to ensure I had it set at a distance of twenty feet. It was, so I made the jump.
CHAPTER 17
For all the time spent in our small section of the HUB, the large steel door was the sentinel that prevented access to the outside. The door represented everything we didn’t know about ourselves and the organization we’d become a part of. What I’d expected on the other side, was not at all what I found. The armed guards and other high-tech security measures I’d envisioned were probably references to movies I didn’t remember seeing but could draw vague details from. All I found on the other side of the door when I appeared was an empty hall.
The dimly lit corridor revealed dark metal rounded walls, twenty-five feet in diameter. The lights were spaced every five feet and set in the top of the tube like passageway. It was dead quiet.
Ahead of me I saw the passage go on for some distance and then turn. There were no guards in sight or any signs of additional security measures from where I stood. Not having much time, I moved swiftly but cautiously down the corridor.
I approached two grey doors positioned opposite from each other on either side of the passage and there were no markings or alphanumeric sequences to identify either of them. On the unlikely chance there was something I could use as a weapon behind one of them, I turned each of the door levers to see if they were unlocked, not that I expected to find weapons behind an open door. Both doors felt heavy and were locked. I didn’t think I’d be able to apply enough force to open them and didn’t have the time to jump into each to explore so I kept moving.
Slowly, I approached the left turn in the passage. Inching up to the corner and peering around, I could see more of the same for another hundred feet and another large door like the one leading into the training hall. I still didn’t see anyone. As I continued towards the door, which I guessed would enter into the main part of the HUB, I was wary of anything that might reveal my presence. I looked at the PTD control interface, which also functioned as a time piece. Five minutes had passed already since we were dismissed from the classroom. I needed to pick up my pace.
I passed another two doors, just like the two I’d previously looked at. I assumed they were locked as well and kept moving. The corridor continued to remain quite, only my boots against the steel floor provided any sound.
Since there were no apparent security measures so far, I assumed whatever was in place for that section of the HUB would be just outside the door I was moving towards. As I approached, I saw a nine digit keypad just to the right of the door. I had no clue what the pass code was and planned on jumping through to the other side.
I reset the PTD control interface to a ten foot jump. I thought if there were guards just outside the door, I could better defend myself the closer I was to the door when I appeared. Once set, I activated the PTD control and jumped.
It turned out what I did was the teleportation equivalent to jumping in place. I did phase out for an instant, but popped back into the same place. That had never happened in any of our training sessions, nor had anyone ever explained it could happen. I tried the jump again, but with the same result. I blurted a few four letter words I hadn’t realized I knew at the time in frustration.
There were only two explanations I could think of, which of course I never considered in my extensive planning for the suicide operation that morning. Either I had grabbed a faulty PTD or I was facing some unseen security measure. Since the PTD had worked on the first door, the latter must have been true. There was something blocking me from jumping through the door. I didn’t know enough about the physics on how the device worked but could imagine some sort of energy field in place on the other side of the door, blocking the transmission of my matter into the next room. This again was probably some forgotten reference to a science fiction movie I’d once seen.
After such a short distance, I was already stalled. I couldn’t even get out into the central section of the HUB. My plan had failed and I was suddenly completely filled with despair. There was a complete loss of the momentum I was in as I moved through the unknown towards my goal. All hope was gone.
There were two soft beeping sounds coming from the key pad before the red lights turned green. The doors began to slide open. A couple of the same four letter words were expressed as I panicked. I had no time to think, just to react. The door was just a few inches apart and I tried to jump again. This time it worked. I appeared just on the other side of the opening door, facing away from it.
In an instant, I spun around to find I was standing only a couple of feet behind three people. Lt. Masters stood center flanked by two guards. Facing the opening door they didn’t notice my presence. Quickly, I looked in all directions for others. There was no one I could see, but saw large pieces of equipment not too far away
The sound of the door opening was just loud enough to overpower the sound of my dash to concealment behind the equipment. They never noticed I was behind them. I looked up from my hiding place to see the doors reveal the open passage. The three started into the passage to the training facility.
Once the doors closed behind them, everything was quiet again. I was in another corridor. The door back to the training facility was directly in front of me and the corridor went to both my left and right. There was still nobody I could hear or see.
I had expected to find … well people. I had expected to have to fight my way to Sara. I had a close call, really close, but there was no one anywhere nearby, at least anyone I could see. It was just an empty corridor.
Based on my limited knowledge of the facility, I knew I should have been in the central section of the HUB. Assuming Marsters was actually showing us a diagram of the facility on the first day, the corridor I was in had to be a part of the central section. I’d imagined a passage from one side of the central structure to the other would take me straight through, but realized maybe the central structure was surrounded by a corridor which gave access to the HUB extremities.
I chose to go right. The distance should have been the same in either direction, but based on the diagram, going right took me past the data center and one of the living areas. That seemed a safer option than the side that housed all of the research, equipment, weapons and the exit. Logic suggested there was more security to the left.
I proceeded as quickly as I could while trying to keep unbridled recklessness to a minimum. I was working against a clock, but carelessness was sure to get me caught or killed. I was at the ten minute mark and would start to be missed soon.
The corridor was brighter than the previous one and quite a bit wider. Everything was the dull grey of steel and the space was filled with a stale still coolness, at least twenty degrees cooler than in the previous passage.
After walking for a few minutes I came upon a set of doors positioned across from each other. The door to my right was marked TC03 and the one to my left QA01. I considered each for a moment and then TC03 began to open. In reaction, I grabbed hold of the handle to the other door. When it didn’t move I activated the PTD a
nd jumped behind QA01.
The corridor behind door QA01 was similar to the one that connected the main corridor to the training area, but shorter. I could see another large door only forty feet ahead. I wasn’t sure if I was seen, before I jumped. I didn’t know if I should proceed or wait. I reset the PTD to a twenty foot distance and watched the door I had just entered. After a few seconds there was a soft beep and it started to open. I made two quick jumps and was behind door number two before the door to the main corridor was completely open.
Now I saw what looked like an elevator and yet another more narrow corridor. There wasn’t time for a good plan so I followed instinct and dashed down the narrow corridor to the first door on my left. There was another nine digit key pad next to it with a red light shining. The door I had just jumped through was starting to open when I jumped behind the new locked door.
The room I appeared in was dark, lit only with the faint glow of a dim light just to my right. At first I couldn’t see anything besides the glow, everything else masked by the surrounding darkness, but after a few seconds my eyes adjusted and I could make out more details of the room.
I was glad I had adjusted the PTD again to a five foot jump because the room was small. In front of me, only a few feet away were a small desk and chair, the light source was a dim lamp on the desk. To the left was a toilet and sink.
I heard a soft movement to my right and I turned to see the cause. There was a bed against the wall and in it was a person covered with a blanket. Their back was to me and I couldn’t tell whether they were someone I had met or seen before. Not that it mattered. All that mattered was the stillness of the body seemed to indicate they were still asleep or laying there frozen, trying to figure out who was in the room.