I stomp my foot in irritation. “Seriously, guys?”
When Red calms himself, he stands up straight and claps me on the shoulder. “You are most definitely just like your mother. Come on, let’s get this over with.”
My ego slightly bruised, I follow Red toward the main cavern.
At the entrance he turns toward me. “You two go right and find the comm antenna. There are plugins all along the wall near it. Plug your tablet in and find out what your dad and friend know. If you see any galactic troops coming toward you, walk along the same wall, around those machines at the edge of the hole. They can’t follow you near the dig. You still remember how to stay out of trouble near the abyss?” He looks narrowly at me.
“Of course. Then where will we meet up again? We need to figure out what to do about what we saw down there.”
“We?” he scoffs. “I just needed to show you what I had found.” He shakes his head. “I’m not really sure what to do next.”
“I do. Move.” Markov hisses from behind us.
I look up to see galactic troops piling into the main cavern from the far side. If I’m going to try to talk to Derek, I have to do it now.
I slip around the rock wall, trying to blend in behind the miners working this side of the cavern. Most of them are carrying supplies amongst the uniformed troops, probably from one of the supply ships we landed with. They have a tall stack of crates near the comm line, so I slip behind them with Markov right behind me. I glance over my shoulder to see Red slipping into the crowd of miners, easily blending in. I’m suddenly self-conscience with my newly pressed pants and dress shirt, I thought would impress the officers. I hunch my shoulders and head toward the wall and plug my tablet in with an earpiece so no one hears my transmission.
Derek picks up right away. “Bren? You all right? What’s going on over there? I thought I’d hear from you sooner.”
“I’m all right,” I whisper. “I need to know if you were able to get any more information on who I need to avoid over here. Now.”
Derek’s eyes widen. “We’ve got most of it now, but none of the commanders listed in the data are in this quadrant. And it only lists pirate ships and a few couriers.”
“So Mr. Creepy commander isn’t one of them?” I look around quickly to see if anyone heard me over the machinery noise. So far no one is heading our way.
“No, but it doesn’t mean you should trust him.”
“Oh, I won’t. If he’s not guilty of this, he’s guilty of something.” I look up to see the troops slowly pressing through the crowd. “Send me the names of any of the private couriers involved.”
“All right. I sent it. Now tell me what’s going on over there.” His brown eyes are drilling into me, and I smile. He’s always able to help keep me calm.
“We’ve figured out what they’re after, and why they’re attacking the asteroids, but I still need to figure out who.”
“Seriously? What did you find?” Derek leans forward, his face filling the whole screen.
Just then, I feel a pain in my arm, and I look up into Markov’s terrified face as he pulls me away from the wall. I pull the plug out just before it breaks and shove it into my pack as Markov drags me toward the drilling hole and the large, metal monsters.
12
Trapped
I chance a peek backward as Markov drags me along and watch as a clump of troops has just come around the wall where we were just standing. They haven’t noticed us yet. I twist in Markov’s grasp and motion for him to follow me.
I run toward the wall and turn the corner sharply at the same time I grab onto the emergency railing and allow my momentum to take me around the corner. I slide around the rock wall, holding onto the railing as I stare down into the black depths of the mine.
Markov’s momentum is more than mine because of his larger build, and he ends up toppling into me, which forces me toward the edge. I grab desperately for a better grip on the railing before I fall off into the deep pit. Shooting pain goes up my elbows as I catch myself right before I go over. I look up to see Markov has managed to stop himself with his feet braced against the lower railing right before the ledge. His face is a mask of horror as he sees me dangling.
I take a deep breath and start coughing. The oxygen mask is saturated with dust. Figures it would give out now that I’m hanging hundreds of meters over a giant hole.
Markov reaches down and grabs my arm. I can feel my shoulder pop as he pulls me to safety. We sit side by side with our backs against the wall and our feet braced against the lower railing. I’m still coughing so I reach into my bag with my good arm and pull out another filter and swap it out. I motion for Markov to do the same.
Over the rhythmic drilling of the machinery, I can feel a whole lot of steps coming toward us. I pull myself desperately up and motion to Markov to follow. I walk the narrow path, one hand on the railing and one hand on the wall, until a tunnel branches off. I quickly duck into it and pull Markov along with me. We brace ourselves against the rock in complete darkness, Markov’s lean body pressing me into the course wall. I turn my head away from Markov so I can press my ear against the wall. After only identifying mining machinery, I finally allow myself to take a deep breath and slide out from Markov’s protective body. I slide down the wall to sit hard on my butt, my shoulder sending bolts of pain down my arm.
Markov slides down next to me and leans close. “Now what Bren? Do you know where we are?”
I lean my head back against the warm rock. An active mine is always warm and moist close to the main dig from the water needed in the drilling process and the friction from the machinery. “We’re in a feeder tunnel. Miners use them for emergencies, or to get around a collapsed hole. If these miners used the normal pattern when creating this area, I should be able to get us away from here.”
“And then what? Are we going to just hide from the troops forever? They’ll find us eventually, Bren.”
I close my eyes against the thick darkness. It’s easier to handle the complete darkness in a mine with my eyes closed. Then I can allow my other senses take over. “That is the million cred question, Markov. What are we going to do? We need to let my dad and Derek know what we’ve found, but we also need to stay ahead of those troops. They wouldn’t be looking for us unless they knew we found their secret, right?”
I hear Markov straighten up next to me. “What if they’re just worried about us? We did just kind of disappear on the team that brought us here.” He reaches for me in the dark and puts a warm hand on my forearm.
I reach over and squeeze his hand. “That’s a good point, Markov. There is a possibility they don’t know we were down in the abandoned section. But how are we going to figure that out? Go up to one of them and ask?”
A loud crash down in the hole reverberates through the wall, and the tunnel feels suddenly not so safe.
“Yes,” answers a nervous-sounding Markov. “I’ll go and find out. I can tell them you’re helping a hurt miner or something. If I can somehow figure out if we’re safe, I’ll be back for you.”
“And if you find out they’re suspicious of us?”
“Well, either way I don’t want to lead them back here. You said you could find another way out?”
“Yes.”
“Then meet me up at the docks. Keep out of sight. You should be able to figure out what I’ve discovered by my body language, right?”
I narrow my eyes at him then berate myself for the stupid act. It’s pitch black in here, and I just wasted a perfectly good dirty look since he can’t see me. I blow a stray hair off my face and turn toward Markov. “Yes, I think I’ll be able to figure it out.”
“Make sure you stay out of sight. You need to be safe and let your dad know what we found out. Maybe he can send a security team over here so we have some proof of what’s going on.”
“Proof. Yes. I should’ve thought of taking pictures while we were down there.” I make a disgusted sound in the back of my throat.
“
You can’t think of everything Bren. Now stay safe.” Markov squeezes my arm, but I don’t let go of him.
“Can you do me a favor?” I turn so my bad shoulder is toward him.
“Sure, what’s wrong?”
“I put my shoulder out when I caught myself on the railing. Can you put it back in place for me? Please?”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” He scoots around so he’s in front of me and takes hold of my arm. “Ready?”
“As much as I’ll ever be.” I trust he knows what he’s doing, but I also know this is going to hurt. I grit my teeth and ready myself.
Markov expertly pops my shoulder back into its socket.
“Thank you, Markov.” I flex my shoulder stretching the sore muscles.
“Welcome, Bren.” He still has his hands on my arm, his face close to mine in the darkness.
After an awkward silence, he releases me and scoots back. “I’d better get going now. You stay safe and meet me at the docks.” I hear him stand up.
“What about you? Why do you think it’s all right if you go talk to them?” My heart races as I think about the danger we’ve gotten ourselves into. Trust no one. That’s what everyone keeps telling me. But I trust Markov, and now he might be heading right into the enemy.
“They just think I’m a medic whose training to become a doctor. I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary.”
“Except disappear into a secret experimental cavern with the lead investigator and a billionaire mine owner. When we were supposed to be with the galactic troop’s guide,” I say, my words dripping with sarcasm.
Markov chuckles. “Well we can’t just sit here and wait for them to figure out where we’ve gone. I’ll meet you at the docks. And remember, if it looks suspicious, leave and find a way to get a message to your dad. I’ll be fine.”
I hear him scoot toward the tunnel entrance. “You’d better be, Markov,” I whisper after him.
I wait until I can’t hear his footsteps on the rock path. I take a deep breath and fasten my pack on tight. I stand up and place a hand on either side of the tunnel. I don’t want to chance turning my flashlight on yet, so I take careful steps away from the main cavern. The darkness in the narrow tunnel is almost suffocating. I force my mind back to myself as a child running through the tunnels with the other kids. I wasn’t afraid or fearful back then. I draw strength from all I learned growing up in that environment. I was taught how to walk softly so as not to disturb too much rock dust, how not to be afraid of the thick darkness pressing in all around, and best of all that mining operations are dug in generational patterns. The tunnels are always dug in a pattern that any new miner can figure out, so they don’t get lost. All I have to do is figure out which pattern this mine follows, and then I’ll be able to choose which tunnels will lead me up to the dock.
The rock under my hands is growing cold so I know I’m winding my way away from the main dig. I feel along the walls until I find rows of lines etched high on one wall. I trace my fingers down the lines to a wheel pattern. I continue to trace the spokes of the wheel and the symbols etched in between until I’ve memorized it. This is what the miners call a legend. Like the maps they used on Earth when explorers would leave behind a way for others to follow. I told Markov comms couldn’t be trusted down here. I smile as the pattern becomes familiar in my mind.
I take off the oxygen mask and take a few shallow breaths. The air here is fresher, which means this is a tunnel that is used more often. I reach up and feel around until I find the O2 feeder tube running along the ceiling in both directions. This should lead me straight to the dock. It’s the only place far enough from the main dig, but large enough to store all the O2 recycling tanks.
I start walking again and keep one hand touching the tube overhead while my other follows the lines etched in the wall. The vibrations from the machinery get fainter, but a new sound comes through my senses. Ships docking. There must be more supply ships landing.
A strong vibration goes through the rock, and I stumble, catching myself on the wall. I frown and place both palms against the wall. It feels like a big ship is landing above. A shiver goes up my spine. Another galactic troop ship probably. Charon’s Ice, what more could go wrong?
I get my balance and hurry up the tunnel. I’m soon out of breath as the tunnel takes a steep turn. I must be getting close to the dock. I hear metallic clanking and the mixed tones of many voices echoing off the rock walls. I slow my pace as I see a sliver of light up ahead.
The rock here is freezing cold, proving I’m at the dock. Although there are force fields to keep breathable air in the dock, it’s impossible to keep out the bone chilling cold of space when you’re inside a giant moving rock.
I allow my eyes to adjust to the light as I take tiny steps toward the end of the tunnel. I crouch down and peer around the corner, my hands gripping tightly to the rock wall.
I find total chaos. The whole bay is filled with troops. The few couriers or suppliers unlucky enough to be down on the floor of the dock are being shoved to the side or up against the wall. It looks like the troops are searching everyone. I strain my eyes looking for Markov. Most of the miners have dark hair, or at least dusty colored hair, so it should be easy to spot a tall blond medic.
I finally find him up against one of the troop ships. He doesn’t look happy, and it looks like they have his hands tied behind his back. My heart drops. This isn’t good. I look around the bay trying to find Red, but I don’t see him anywhere. He could’ve been caught and onboard one of the ships already, or still hiding in the mine. I lean back on my haunches and watch the flow of personnel. Most of the troops are actually moving back toward their ships. But a line of them stays close to the entrance of the mine, their eyes constantly moving around the sea of humans. There’s no way I could blend into this crowd.
I watch helplessly as they force Markov aboard one of the troop ships. I shiver as I see the galactic commander’s cold expressionless face not far from Markov. He’s here. “Now how am I going to get Markov out of this?” I ask myself.
“You’re not going to.” The deep whisper startles me, knocking me off my haunches, and I almost fall out of my hiding spot. Strong hands pull me back behind the rock wall and pin me to the ground.
I look up into the worried face of Red. “You can’t go out there Brenna. They’re looking for you.”
All the air goes out of me in relief, and I relax into the cold rock underneath me. “Markov was just trying to protect me, to find out if they knew I was down below.”
Red looks toward the tunnel entrance. “Kind of looks like they do know you were down there, don’t you think? You’re not safe here.”
“Do you think they’ll kill me or something? Just because I saw part of their experiment?” I push him off me, but I stay lying down. At least here I can’t be seen from the dock.
“They attacked innocent people, blew up millions of creds worth of equipment, all to hide their experiments. Failed experiments at that.”
I close my eyes. “I know. You’re right. But I just can’t leave Markov with them.”
“He’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t say anything.” Red stands up and holds out a hand. I take it and heave myself up.
I peek at the dock again and then pull myself down farther back into the tunnel and lean against the cold rock wall. “Now what am I supposed to do? Looks like the hospital ship is gone, and now they have not one, but two galactic security ships here. And I haven’t even finished my investigation.”
“Did you reach your dad? Did he find anything on who did this?”
“A few names, mostly couriers, but none of the commanders in this quadrant seem to be involved. That’s it so far.”
“Show me the courier names,” Red orders.
I get my tablet out of my pack and pull up the message Derek sent. On the top in bold letters, it says PLEASE BE CAREFUL BREN! I smile and wish Derek were here with me instead of back on Delta station. And then I remember how much da
nger I’m in and change my mind.
I scroll down the list until I find the names of couriers known to be in the area of the attacks and turn the screen to show Red.
I watch his face as I hold the tablet. The contrast between the tech and the dirt-covered miner makes me smile. His eyes flick to one spot.
“What do you see?”
“I see a pattern. These are all inter-related courier families.”
I turn the screen toward me and read down the list. “None of the names are the same or even similar. How do you know they’re related?”
“I’ve worked among them, remember?” He grins, and I notice his teeth are perfectly straight and clean. “And most on that list are employed by me.”
“Any we can trust?”
“A few.”
The large cavern is suddenly quieter. I look past Red and slow my breathing. Yes, definitely quieter. I give Red a deep glare before I turn and inch toward the tunnel opening. Most of the troops are lined up in neat rows marching back onto their ships. I don’t see Markov anywhere.
I scoot back into the tunnel where Red stands. “They’re leaving.”
“They think you’ve already escaped.” He grins.
I throw my hands up in the air. “Well I haven’t. And now I’m stuck here.”
13
Body Ship
Red leans against the wall opposite me. Calmly resting as if we weren’t being hunted down by a whole quadrant’s galactic troops. “I need to get you safely off my asteroid.”
I look sideways and study him. Now I can see the decent posture, not the withered rounded shoulders of someone who’s lived their whole lives walking in tunnels. His clothes, although dirty and dusty, are new. I berate myself quietly for not seeing it when we first met. “Why do you say it that way? Why do you need to get me safely off your asteroid? So I’m not a liability to your operation?”
Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 26