The safety chamber was a large rectangular building with windows facing all directions giving the runners a chance to see where they had come from and where they were going—to see the dangers behind or the possible dangers ahead. Ironically on the inside there was plush furniture, a snack bar area, and a drink dispenser. And on one of the counters was an open box of Tiberian cigars. Under other most circumstances this would have been an enjoyable lounging area.
Ben was standing in front of the window, which looked out upon the next zone. In front of him he could see three paths leaving the safety chamber—one to the left, which traveled at an angle for a hundred yards and then disappeared around a small hill. And the path to the right did the same thing, except in the opposite direction, but the one in the middle traveled straight for fifty yards and then it seemed to end at a doorway.
The nervous chatter in the room became a little louder, and he turned to look at the other runners. In times of war it’s natural for combatants to pair up with others for the upcoming battles, and this was no exception. These runners were already forming into small groups of two, two, and three with Ben being the outsider. Dahms and Gaal were sitting on a couch talking. The tall blond woman seemed composed. She wasn’t nervous or fearful, which seemed peculiar under the circumstances. Sam and Rennie were standing near the counter with Rennie talking nervously and rather loudly. Sam reached into the box and pulled out a cigar. He lit it up and started puffing and blowing a blue, white smoke into the air. Harold, Jos, and Hal were sitting in chairs close to each other. They were talking in whispers.
Sam left Rennie in mid sentence and walked over to the food dispenser. He punched a couple of the buttons and two different kinds of energy bars suddenly appeared in the slot below. He grabbed them up, stuck one between the waistband of his shorts and his stomach, ripped open the wrapper covering the other one, and began eating. He sat down in one of the lounge chairs, leaned back, and closed his eyes as he continued to crunch his energy bar.
Just then, the man named Harold walked over to where Sam was sitting and said, "I would like to make a pact before we start out." and then a little louder he continued, "a pact with everyone. Right now I'm not so worried about myself as I am about my wife and kids. So, I'd just like to agree that if any of us make it through to the outside that we'll look in on the others' families and help them however we can." He paused for a moment, but no one said anything. "Is it agreed?"
Most of them nodded or gave their consent. "I especially mean you, Sam," said Harold as he looked down at him. "We all know that your father is one of the city councilmen—the only one who actually tries to help the people. And I personally admire you for joining the cause, because we know you're rich, and you could be home right now enjoying the good life. And because you're rich, and I know you'd help my family if you could, I'm going to do everything in my power to see that you make it through, or at least as far as I do."
Sam opened his eyes and looked up at Harold. "I'll do whatever I can," he said. He closed his eyes and popped the rest of the energy bar into his mouth. "But right now," he continued in a mumbled voice as he chewed on the bar, "Hurd is probably laughing his ass off because you're considering the idea that any of us might make it through."
"Nevertheless. . . ," started Harold.
"Nevertheless, if I make it out, I'll do what I can to help your family.”
Dahms frowned. "It’s been reported,” she said, "that a couple of the runners actually made it through. What happened to them after that we’re not sure, but my sources tell me they were sent to the city prison.”
“So,” said Sam, “if they made it through the run, it doesn't matter, because they're still not free, and that means there will be no help for anyone’s family."
"True, but there might be another way," she paused and then said, "I don't want to give anyone false hopes, but I heard information on the outside which could be useful. And for right now, one of those things is that the runners usually split up and take different paths, which proves to be their downfall. If we stick together we have a better chance of making it."
"Is there anything else?" asked Harold.
"Yes, but we'll go into it later." She pointed at the ceiling. "When Hurd's not listening.” She lowered her hand, then said, “Did you hear that Hurd, you bastard. I’ve got information that’s going to help some of us get out of here.” She looked around the room, then her eyes stopped on Ben. She gave him a wary look. “I’ve never seen you before,” she said. “And I know you’re not one of the rebel forces. I’m sure you’re not one of Hurd’s spies, because the odds of you living the rest of the day are against you. And since I like to know who I’m going into battle with why don’t you tell us who you are?”
Before Ben could say anything Gaal said, “I know who he is. His name is Benjamin Hillar. I’ve seen him on the viewer. He’s the greatest swordsman in the Galaxy.”
“What!?” said Sam. He lowered his energy bar from his mouth and said, “I’ve heard of you.”
“We all have,” said Dahms as she leaned forward and stood up. She looked at Ben. “How the hell did you get mixed up in this mess?”
Ben frowned thinking about Hurd, and then he said, “Most of you may know I’m an archaehistorian by profession. Recently I came to Ar to conduct a study on an ancient computer complex, which is located beneath the city park of Newusa. Unfortunately I met Hurd, and he didn’t like my plan to write a history which included this city being run by a psychotic egomaniac who is exploiting the people for his own personal gain and greed.”
Hal let out a low whistle, and Rennie laughed out loud and yelled, “I bet that curled his mustache.”
“Now we know why you’re here,” said Sam.
“It’s still not right,” said Dahms. “He should have never sent you to the run, but then you were right when you said he’s a crazy man. So it looks like we’re in this together.”
Suddenly, there was a soft, high-pitched whistle and then a pleasant, feminine voice said, "Time is up. Everyone must now vacate the safety chamber. You have one minute."
Ben was starting to understand that Dahms considered herself to be the leader of the group. She strode quickly to the door, and as it slid open she was the first one out. She walked about twenty yards down the left hand path, then turned and motioned for everyone to huddle up. "I have another piece of information," she whispered as Ben and the other runners drew in closer, "which I will share with you now, in case I don't make it past the next zone." She paused for only a moment to make sure everyone was listening and then she continued in a whisper, "Always stick to the left hand path—even in the left hand zone if you come across a fork, go to the left. It'll always be less dangerous than the right."
"How do you know this?" asked Sam.
"We have inside information," she said, and then she added. "Actually we were able to bribe a few of the guards who work in here. And also, couple that information with the fact that Hurd is left handed, and you start to see the picture."
Harold frowned as if he had doubts. So Gaal whispered, “For those of you who don’t know—Dahms is second in command of the rebel army. We haven’t told you before because she is the only one who knows the identity of Rogae X. If Hurd knew this, he would do a mind melt on her to find out who it is.” He paused for a moment, then said, “The point is, if she says she has information, you can believe it.”
“Why doesn’t he do a mind melt on all the captured rebels?” asked Ben.
“He can’t,” said Dahms. “He needs a work force to mine the crystals, and then, of course, he needs runners. And I’m sure you know what a mind melt does to a person’s brain.”
“Yeah,” said Ben thinking what he had read about them in college. A person came out of a ‘brain interrogation process’ or ‘bip’ also known as a mind melt, as a babbling idiot and sometimes as a vegetable.
Some of the other runners were nodding their heads as Dahms turned and started down the trail.
"Is there anything else?" Rennie called out.
Dahms looked around at him while still walking. "Yes, but we'll talk about it when the time comes."
"What if you're killed before you get a chance to tell us?"
"When the time comes, Rennie. When the time comes." She looked to the front and continued forward.
It wasn't long until they rounded the bend, and Ben could see a huge wall in front of them blocking from sight whatever was behind it. The path led to a doorway with no door and passed on through. The start of the second zone, he thought, and now the fun begins.
Dahms was the first to step through the doorway. She turned and said over her shoulder, "I can feel a force field. Watch for anything that moves. It's probably a switching mechanism of some kind."
Ben was second in line following Dahms with Sam close behind him, and as he stepped though the doorway he could feel a tingling sensation coursing through his body. He walked on through and continued toward the next zone following Dahms.
Finally, as she came to a halt, he stepped beside her on her left side, and looking forward he noticed that the landscape was similar to that of the first zone. It was flat the entire distance to the next safety chamber. There was a path crossing the zone, but instead of being straight it was winding like a sidewinder lying in the sand. The path was more of a compact type of clay, but the surrounding soil was sandy with small clumps of green, leafy vegetation sparsely located throughout.
She put her hands up indicating that no one should go any further. The wall to their left was forty feet high as was the wall separating the left zone from the middle. But now there were two more walls only twenty feet high, one inside the complex wall and one just inside the wall separating the two zones. These two smaller walls were flush with the bigger walls.
“Why are there four walls?” grumbled Ben as he looked at Dahms. He was still angry that he had been sent to the impossible run.
“I never got that information,” she said. Then she pointed at something ten feet in front of them. "There are laser beams crossing our path,” she said. "The force field must have switched them on."
The red beams were barely perceptible. From top to bottom they were six inches apart to a height of ten feet. They traversed the entire distance from one short wall to the other.
"Is there any way around them?" asked Gaal.
"It doesn't look like it," said Dahms. "And you can bet as soon as we touch one of these beams it's going to trigger something real nasty."
"Let's throw a rock over the beams and see if anything happens when it hits the ground." Sam was looking for any kind of debris to throw as he spoke the words. Finally, he saw a dirt clod, bent over and picked it up. He took a puff on his cigar, flicked the ash, then gave the clod a heave. It cleared the beams and landed thirty feet down the path.
Three small, black heads popped out of the ground. The heads weaved back and forth. Little forked tongues flicked in and out. And then the heads disappeared into the sand.
"Damn," said Gaal. "Black sapphires. I read about them in a magazine. Once bitten you're dead within five seconds." He paused for a moment. "And they're very sensitive to footsteps."
"I’m assuming that's going to make it impossible to get through the field," said Dahms in more of a question.
“Not if you’re real fast,” replied Gaal. “But anything that makes you slow down will result in your quick demise.”
"I've got an idea," said Rennie. He waited for everyone's attention then said, "Let's tell Hurd we've changed our minds." He chuckled, but no one else thought it was funny. So he sobered up.
For a moment Hal studied the path, which wound its way through the field. "Maybe there are only a few groups of snakes here and there. We could throw dirt clods ahead of us to determine where they are."
"Yeah, maybe," said Dahms. She sounded doubtful. “But that sounds too easy.”
While the others were talking, Ben was studying the smaller walls and finally decided they had to be the key for getting through the zone. This was supposed to be the easiest zone. During preparation one of Hurd’s guards told him, in a whisper, that each zone was progressively more difficult to pass through. And then he added that it was possible to make it through each of them, even the last and most difficult one. He said that they all had an alternate route, which would take you out of the extreme danger and put you in a much less danger.
It was obvious Sam was thinking the same thing as Ben. “I’m going to check out the smaller wall,” he said. He started walking toward the right hand wall, following a parallel course next to the beams
“I’m going with you,” said Rennie, and he started out after Sam.
Gaal called out, "Watch for snakes. These black sapphires aren't the fastest, but like I said, once bitten, you’re dead."
“I’m going to check the wall on the left,” said Ben.
Dahms continued to look at the field, then said, “I’m going with you.” And she hurried to catch up with him.
“Me too," said Harold.
And Jos, without saying anything, followed along.
Gaal was still studying the path and the empty, barren field. "I'll wait here," he said.
"Me too," muttered Hal.
*
The Aeolian Master Book One Revival Page 44