Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3

by Heather Lee Dyer

  8

  Tunnels

  Derek turns in a circle looking at the thousands of shelves that fill the huge room. The shelving runs all the way down the length of the large warehouse and are filled with more computers than he's probably ever seen.

  "We're not in the dock structure anymore, are we?" Derek finally asks.

  "No, we took a side route into the warehouse next door."

  "Warehouse? Of computers? Will this get us down into the mines?"

  I frown. "No. They keep the brains completely separate from the mine."

  "For security reasons," Derek mimics as he looks down at me with narrowed eyes.

  I grin. "Yes." I grab his hand and pull him down between two tall walls of shelves. "But there's another way back in."

  "Of course there is." Derek jogs next to me as we hurry through the stacks.

  About halfway through the warehouse I take a sharp right at a space in between freestanding shelving full of blinking computers. Straight ahead is a wall of giant fans blowing air across the warehouse. We make our way toward them, our hair and clothes flapping in the wind generated by the hundreds of five-foot tall cooling fans. I walk along the wall of fans until I find one that isn't blowing air. Turning toward it I feel around its metal edges. Although this fan looks like it's running, it's actually fake.

  I look back at Derek as I push the small indent my fingers have found and pull the false panel forward, showing that it's just a flat piece of metal embedded with an image of a fan.

  Derek's eyes widen. "Red was right when he said you knew how to get around here undetected." He scrunches down so he can enter through the door ahead of me. I slam it closed behind us.

  The area behind the fan isn't tall enough for us to stand up completely straight, since it's the same height as the fans. Hunched over, I pull my backpack on tight and lead the way down the dim tunnel. Along the floor in the middle of the tunnel runs a tape light that glows faintly.

  Just when my neck is getting sore from being hunched over, we come to an intersection. It runs left and right, the tape lights fading into both distances. But ahead of us is another maintenance hatch. I bend down and feel around the door for the small thumb scanner hidden near the floor.

  Derek squats down next to me to whisper in my ear. "There's no way all of this was built by the maintenance crews. There aren't any electronics or computers or tools in here."

  Despite the danger of our situation, I laugh. "You ever heard of going space crazy or isolation sickness? To avoid going out of their minds, miner kids for generations have made their own 'tunnels' within the infrastructure of the mines and underneath the domes. Each generation has passed down the secret passages to other kids by word of mouth, creating a verbal pattern map." I stand up as I hear the soft snick of the door opening.

  "And the tech?" Derek points to the glow tape along the floor.

  "Stolen." I laugh. "We know where everything is stored and how to bypass the security systems. Over the years we add more tech piece by piece to our tunnels."

  Derek looks down at me for a long pause. "You should have an excellent guess where the space pirates research is happening then. I imagine all these tunnels created over the generations would have to be in unused portions of the mine or sub-domes?"

  I tilt my head and overlay the secret tunnels over the mine tunnels in my head. "You're right." I pull him into the tunnel and close the door, my heart racing at the revelation. "I do have a few ideas of where to start. But in order for us to get there in time, we don't have the luxury of checking them all out. I still need to narrow it down further."

  A few meters in, I pry away a sheet of metal attached to one wall of the corridor. It opens up to a maintenance ladder. "Down we go," I say to Derek.

  He scoots close to me to look down the maintenance shaft, then back at me. "Weren't you going to check the pattern before we get too far away?" He points to my pack.

  I shake my head. "The security levels here have dampeners. We have to go down farther, away from the security levels, in order for the cube to work."

  "How far down?"

  "I think just one more level." I nudge him to get on the ladder.

  "You think? You're not sure?" Derek gives me a look of mock horror, which makes me laugh.

  I narrow my eyes. "If I pushed you right now, we'd get down there much faster."

  Derek spreads out his arms to hold onto both sides of the opening and winks, daring me.

  "Fine. The only reason I'm not sure is I don't know if they converted any of the medical levels into security wings. The mine has grown a lot in the last year."

  Derek nods and then turns to descend the ladder. We climb down in silence. I'm sure Derek is getting nervous the deeper we go — most new people to the mines do. But I don't say anything to him because I'm trying to be quiet so I can listen for any signs of unwanted activity below us.

  We reach the bottom and Derek steps aside to let me finish climbing down the ladder. The door in front of us has a thumb bio scanner like the one up top.

  I hesitate with my hand over the small scanner. Instead, I place both my palms flat on the door. I feel Derek shift beside me. My hands get cold and tinge pink from the coldness on the other side of the door.

  I turn and grin at Derek.

  "Where are we?" he asks.

  "Medical. I think the floor plan is the same since I left. If I'm right, the morgue is on the other side."

  Derek leans backward. "You had a secret tunnel into the morgue?"

  I cross my arms. "It is where Mom and I worked."

  "Right. Of course." He straightens up and I see the glint in his eye.

  I growl quietly and turn toward the door to hide my grin. The bio scanner is cold as I push my thumb into the blue gel.

  The door is stiff, but I push it open as a carpet of fog rolls across our feet. I step into the darkness and wait for my eyes to adjust.

  Derek steps in behind me and closes the door, leaving us in utter darkness. He places a hand on my shoulder. "Are there any lights in here?" I hear him rub his arms as the cold sinks in.

  "Just wait for it." As our eyes adjust and the sensors kick in, small yellow lights pop on one by one overhead.

  Its just a few lights, but enough to see that I was right. We're in the morgue. I walk between the rows of frozen bodies toward the main door.

  I stop abruptly as I see the door open a crack. I inhale sharply and Derek stops right next to me. I step to one side of the door, and Derek to the other. I peek through the crack and pull my head back, my eyes wide as the door suddenly swings open.

  I stagger backward as I realize the door grazed my temple. Standing in front of me is definitely not a doctor or miner. Great. Space pirate. So much for staying out of trouble.

  As I reach back to steady myself I see Derek lunge at the man. Totally unaware of Derek behind the door, the man is sneering at me right up until the point of impact. His head hits the metal floor with a satisfying thunk as Derek takes him down.

  We both look down at the unconscious pirate.

  Noises from outside the door bring us back to reality. Derek quickly closes the door and motions for me to take one of the pirate’s arms. We pull him down one of the aisles and drop him out of sight. Then we head back to the door to listen for the others.

  As I stand there my face feels warm in the freezing cold room. Confused, I touch my temple. Blood sticks to my fingers and I groan.

  "You all right," Derek whispers.

  I feel at the edges of the cut. "Might need a few stitches," I whisper back.

  Derek goes pale. Which is saying something since we're both standing in the freezing cold.

  "It's all right, we were heading down to the med bay anyway. It should be clear of pirates. They have protocols to completely lock down and disconnect any kind of outside bio scanner or lock to get inside."

  "So how are we supposed to get inside?"

  I try to grin, but it just pulls on the open cut on my face. I
end up just rolling my eyes at myself. "Secret entrance."

  "Yep. Knew you were going to say that." Derek steps in front of me and opens the door a bit to listen.

  While he's doing that I pull out a few gauze pads from my emergency kit in my pack. I hold them tight to staunch the blood.

  "Ready?" he asks.

  I nod and follow him out the door. The corridor is wide here to accommodate any size of stretcher the morgue might need. Of the two identical directions, I point down one corridor. I don't see scuff marks on the floor. I'm assuming that none of the pirates went that way.

  Our shoes make way more noise than I feel comfortable with. I stop in my tracks, cringing at the attention we probably just drew to ourselves. I bite my lip as I picture where we are in the morgue.

  I reach up the wall to my side and depress a hidden button. The door silently slides open and I step into a narrow recess. I turn so Derek can fit in beside me and close the door. He's shaking his head at me. I wonder when he'll get tired of following me into dark tunnels?

  This narrow corridor is an actual maintenance tunnel that serves the morgue freezers and autopsy rooms. It's much narrower than the others and there are electronics and pipes that run down one side of the tunnel. I start walking sideways since it's so narrow, with one hand still pressing the gauze to my wound. I hear crackling in my ear and I stop, causing Derek to run right into me.

  "Sorry," I whisper to him. I tap my ear to activate the comm. "This is Bren."

  "Bren. We're under attack." Loud voices sound over Red's words. "We need to exit the space dock to draw them out and away from you. Understand?"

  My whole body shivers. I do understand. We'll be alone down here without any backup.

  "Yes, Red. Let me know when you're back in range. And be careful."

  "When we return, if you're too deep down in the mine I'll try to send some sort of signal."

  "How are you getting out, Red?" My hands go clammy as I realize they might not make it out without my bio information.

  "Guram's back and will let us out. Don't worry about us. You just find the research and then get back up here."

  I lean my forehead on the cold metal wall. "Be careful, Red."

  "Always. But you need to know one more thing, Bren." Red goes silent for a second.

  "Red?"

  "I'm here. We're just heading out of the dock, Guram came through for us. Anyway, you need to know that the people chasing us are definitely EPL. Some of the inner circle by the look of their fancy ship we found."

  I bang my head a few times on the wall. "Great. We suspected we would. We've come across some pirates here, but I'm not sure if they're EPL or not."

  "You'll know when you see them," growls Red right before his comm goes silent.

  I look back at Derek to see if he heard all that on his comm. There's a muscle tick in his jaw as he grinds his teeth. Yes, he heard everything.

  "We need to wait somewhere safe until they get back, Bren."

  I shake my head. "No, we need to get down there before the evidence is destroyed. The only reason they would risk using a large, public mine like Mars is because they're close to finishing their research. This mine has all the expensive minerals every colony in the galaxy wants. If these people can fine-tune their AIs to find minerals similar to what we have here, they would be forever rich and hard to stop in the future. We need to stop them before they get that powerful."

  "But you heard Red. It's the EPL. Before, they let others do their dirty work, but now they're showing up in person."

  "Exactly why it's even more important to get down there, Derek. Red told us to get the evidence. This has to stop now." I close my eyes and lean against the wall.

  We hear voices on the other side of the wall and I open my eyes to listen. It sounds like the same pirates from earlier. I wonder if they found their injured mate in the freezer.

  After their voices recede, I turn and hurry as fast as I can down the narrow corridor, with Derek shuffling close behind. I finally find the door I want and stop to catch my breath. I look up at Derek and he's not even breathing hard. I punch him in the shoulder.

  "What was that for?" he rubs his muscle.

  "For being in better shape than me. When we get back to Delta I need to start running again." I grin up at him.

  "So competitive." He grins and leans down to kiss me. His lips are warm and I enjoy the moment before reluctantly breaking contact.

  I place my free hand on his chest and push him backward a few steps.

  To answer his puzzled expression, I point to the door. "You were standing in front of the exit."

  He makes a face at me and then gives me that amazing smile with the single dimple that I love so much. Concentrate, Bren. I force myself to turn away from his handsome face, once again grateful that we get along so well now.

  I place my hand on a hidden bio scanner and the door pops open. I freeze, my heart skipping a beat as I listen through the crack. I don't hear anything so I push it open farther and look around.

  "Looks clear, let’s go," I say to Derek as I step out.

  And find myself knocked flat on my back.

  9

  Zion Tavet

  I hear Derek swearing and a scuffle off to my right as I look up at the white ceiling. I carefully sit up and blink to clear my sight. I see Derek pinning down someone in white scrubs. His dark face is contorted with exertion, but I recognize him.

  My head throbs and I'm sure my butt is bruised as I scramble to my feet and grab Derek by the shoulders. "Stop, Derek." I pull him away.

  "Bren, he just hit you and knocked you down." Derek struggles against me and it takes all my strength to keep him far enough away for other guy to scramble to his feet.

  "Stop, Derek. I know him. He's my friend."

  Derek stops struggling and holds up his hands. "What?"

  I turn toward the man. A teen really. My age. "Zion?"

  The dark curly head turns to look at me where he's slumped over. He stands up to his full height, making Derek pull against my grip. His dark eyes are hard as he glares at Derek. At the sound of me repeating his name he slowly drags his stare off of Derek and meets my face. Recognition shines in his eyes as he looks at me.

  And then he closes the distance between us and crushes me in a bear hug. I'm grinning wide, even as I hear Derek protesting.

  Zion finally puts me down, but keeps his hands tight on my shoulders, as if I might disappear at anytime.

  "Brenna."

  "Zion."

  What else do you say when you haven't seen your best friend for over a year?

  Derek clears his voice, bringing the surreal moment to a halt. "Bren, what is going on here? He just hit you over the head and now you're hugging this guy?"

  Zion's face pales as he sees the blood dripping down my face. "I'm so sorry, Bren. I thought you were one of the pirates."

  I place a hand up to my face and gingerly feel around. "You didn't do this one. I got hit by the morgue door when one of the pirates found us." I then feel the back of my head where a small lump is forming. "The lump on the back of my head is your fault, however. But I'll be fine. You still hit like an Earther."

  "Hey, now." He tries to look offended but ends up grinning widely at me. "Looks like you'll need stitches though." Zion softly touches the skin around the open wound at my temple.

  I nod once he puts his hand down. "Zion, this is Derek Paz, and Derek this is Zion Tavet, my best friend here on Mars."

  Derek stiffly shakes Zion's hand but noticeably moves closer to me.

  We hear movement down the corridor and Zion puts his finger to his lips and turns and walks quickly in the opposite direction. I grab Derek's hand and follow Zion through the corridors. All of the rooms we pass are either medical examining rooms or locked double doors to surgery suites. I'm relieved that none of this area has changed. I know this place very well.

  But my heart sinks as I realize those voices we heard behind us shouldn't be here.

&n
bsp; At the next turn in the corridor, I reach out and stop Zion. "How did those pirates get on this floor? The medical floors should have extra protections."

  Anger glows behind his deep brown eyes. "That's what I'd like to know. They've taken or killed most of my staff. The ones that weren't able to escape. Someone had to have let them in." Zion's voice has deepened since I left Mars, and the darkness behind his tone makes me shiver.

  "Your staff?"

  Zion fidgets from one foot to another as he considers my question. "I'll explain later, right now we need to get down one more floor to the recovery rooms. There's nothing of interest down there for them. No drugs, high tech, or important supplies. Just rooms and beds. We can get you stitched up."

  I shake my head. "That's not what they're after, Zion. They're not here to steal stuff."

  "But they're pirates, that's what they do."

  I let go of Derek's hand and step close to Zion. When I left we were the same height, now he's got a few inches on me. "You've heard about all the mines being attacked across the galaxy?"

  "Yes." He narrows his eyes at me. "Is that why you're here?"

  We all hear a noise far down the corridor and as one turn and run in the direction Zion was taking us. As Zion heads for the lifts I pull on his arm and stop him. "No, we can't take the lifts. Here." I pull open a maintenance panel and Derek, used to my crazy hidden paths by now immediately steps in and starts down the metal ladder.

  "Seriously? The tunnels?" Zion's eyes dart down the corridor.

  "They've gotten us this far without being detected. You know them as well as I do."

  Zion pulls his lips into a grim straight line, but follows Derek down the ladder. I climb in and as quietly as I can close the maintenance door.

  At the bottom of the shaft the three of us stand shoulder to shoulder.

  "Now what?" Zion points to the maintenance hatch to this level.

  I touch my temple again. "I think we need to go down one more level. I'll need to find someone to give me a few stitches. Do you know if there's still anyone down there we can trust?"