by A. K. DuBoff
He returned to himself and opened his eyes. “Three levels, guards on all. Most activity on One, and there’s something I can’t identify on Three. There aren’t many people here.”
“This must just be a small research site,” Kira assessed. “Everyone else from offices on Duronis and the other planets must have gone elsewhere.”
Lexi got the impression he had said that only for the benefit of Kira, because another telepathic conversation ensued. The medium was so much faster, it was inefficient not to. Lexi was a little disappointed that he hadn’t included her in the telepathic network, but these people knew how to work with each other and understood tactics she’d never been in a position to learn. Grateful to even be here, she left them to the planning.
They must have reached a decision because eight of the Agents continued down the stairwell; two stopped at the next landing and the remaining six continued to the bottom. When they were in position, all three doors suddenly ripped from the wall and were tossed aside out of the way.
The Agents all rushed in. Sounds of struggle were quickly silenced.
Lexi’s heart pounded in her chest. This is getting intense!
She followed Jason and Andy’s team through the first door. Unlike the ground entry level, this interior branched out in three directions—straight ahead and to either side. The Agents split up to cover the different areas.
Lexi followed Jason and one other Agent at a distance along the left branch.
The Agents halted a short way down the hall, just shy of an intersection. Several Coalition guards flew from around the corner in front of them, flailing. For a moment, Lexi thought that they had been thrown or jumped, but then she sensed they were under telekinetic holds; the two Agents had sensed their presence and taken proactive action.
While the Agents began securing restraints on the guards, another man suddenly jumped out and took aim with a pulse handgun.
Lexi instinctively gripped the assailant in a telekinetic vise. By the time Jason had looked up, she had already levitated the man in the air, high enough that his toes couldn’t brush the ground.
Jason looked at his Agent companion. “I told you there was another person.”
The other man shrugged. “There wasn’t anything going on in his head. They were standing so close together, I thought it was just one really big guy.”
Lexi gently twisted her captive’s arms behind his back, using just enough force to exert authority without the risk of hurting him.
Jason raised his eyebrows. “Nicely done.”
Lexi beamed. “Told you I could handle myself.” She applied a tie from the pouch on her tactical belt and secured him to a fastener on the wall.
“I never had any doubts.”
“Jason, over here!” Kira shouted from down the main hall that had been straight ahead from the level’s access point.
They ran back to her, leaving the other Agent to tend to the Coalition guards.
Two Agents were telekinetically holding a dozen more armed guards, and Kira stood next to a doorway on the left.
She motioned into a room. “I think we’ve got captives.”
Lexi and Jason jogged over to take a closer look. Inside the room, five people were confined in holding cells; a sixth cell was empty. The men and women were standing at the front barriers of the enclosures, hands pressed against the transparent walls. Their mouths were open in shouts of distress, though no sound was audible through the barriers.
Lexi gleaned the surface of their minds. They were all Gifted, and it appeared they had been subjected to all sorts of tests. Whatever the Coalition was working on, these were the subjects of their experimentation.
Melisa? She searched their faces, but none of them were her missing friend. Either she was already dead, or there were possibly other facilities like this.
Jason entered the holding room and was working with another Agent to locate the controls.
The captives sobbed with relief as the doors opened.
“Thank the stars!” one cried out, stumbling forward.
“We’ll get you to safety,” Jason said. “Who are you? How did you get here?”
A man from the middle cell was the first to answer, “I was picked up on Veraria. I think I’ve been here for a week, maybe two.”
“What have they done to you?” Kira asked.
“Tests. Hooked us up to equipment, scanned us, took blood and cheek swabs.” He took a shaky breath. “I don’t know what they were planning, but they weren’t treating us like people. We were things.”
“What about that empty cell?” Jason nodded toward the unoccupied chamber. “Is there anyone else?”
“She’s been gone for the last day,” an older blonde woman who’d been in the adjacent cell replied.
Lexi’s stomach turned over. Holding people captive? Experimentations? Whatever was going on here was a new level of horrible. Coupled with the rumors of a new bioweapon, she didn’t imagine the Coalition expected any of these ‘test subjects’ to make it out of the facility alive.
“Delia, why don’t you escort these people up to the surface,” Jason said. “I just got word from B Squad. Something strange is happening on the bottom level, and it’s spreading.”
Chapter 24
You’re almost free. Just a little further. Leon repeated the mantra in his head to stay in the moment. The oppressive buzz in the air was closing in around him.
He had no idea what might be happening back inside the lab, but it obviously wasn’t going according to plan. Nothing in the scientific models had indicated that anyone other than the test subject would experience physical sensations related to the transdimensional bridge being opened through Rachel. It should have been a quick process.
No, something else was going on here, and he didn’t want to be anywhere close by. Based on the previous test’s energy escalation rate, this current test was now past the point of no return. No shutting down, no turning back. Evacuating the facility was the only move.
Leon ran through the maze-like halls of the facility with the four other scientists and lab tech who’d had the good sense to get out. They’d already taken several wrong turns and needed to backtrack.
When he rounded the corner into a new hallway, his heart jumped. Approaching ten meters up ahead were a man and a woman dressed all in black, the A-line cut of their overcoats unmistakably TSS.
A yelp of joy lodged in his throat. He took a ragged breath and ran forward at a quicker pace.
The woman’s glowing hazel eyes held a spark of recognition. “Leon Caletti?”
He nodded emphatically. “Yes. These other scientists were taken to work for the Coalition, too. I don’t know them, but they want out.”
He didn’t feel comfortable vouching for the people since they had continued to help with the project even after they knew the horrible intentions for the research. The TSS could sort out the morality of it and levy charges as they deemed appropriate once their investigation was complete. For now, all that mattered was getting everyone as far away from this place as possible.
“You’re safe now,” the male Agent stated.
“No, we’re not,” Leon waved his arm behind him to indicate the location of the lab. “There’s another experiment underway right now. I think it’s going to blow this whole place up, and it’s already too late to stop it.”
“Is that what this energy field is?”
“Yes. They’re trying to open a transdimensional bridge through a person.”
The Agents exchanged concerned glances.
“Is there anyone else down here?” the male Agent asked.
“The people who caused this mess in the first place. Everyone who wanted to get out is here.” His cheeks flushed. Whatever happens to everyone else is on them. They deserve it after what they’ve done.
There were a few seconds of silence, and both Agents got a distant look in their eyes—likely a telepathic exchange, from Leon’s experience of the tells.
“Ev
eryone this way,” the woman said the moment her focus returned. She set a quick pace down the hall in the opposite direction of the lab.
After three turns along corridors, they reached a stairwell, where they encountered four other Agents coming from different directions. The group entered the stairwell and raced upward two stories. At the landing, Leon spotted the one person he’d hoped to see more than anyone else in the universe.
“Kira!”
Her face brightened at the sight of him, and she ran forward and embraced him.
“Stars, I’ve missed you.” He held her close—not the most comfortable hug, given her body armor.
When they parted, she gazed into his eyes. “I knew you would be okay.”
“Yeah, well, none of us will be for long if we stay here.”
“What do you mean?”
Leon recognized the man who’d spoken as Jason Sietinen; he was surprised to see him personally on a field op like this. The he noticed Lexi standing behind Jason.
“Lexi! How did—” He cut off, realizing the details weren’t important right now. He refocused. “Listen, the crazy people in charge of this facility are doing another ‘test’ right now. The tech isn’t remotely stable. I think this entire facility is going to go up.”
“Then we need to stop it,” Jason said.
“You can’t,” Leon explained. “I’ve seen the models. At this stage, there’s no diffusing it. Once the energy is released, the transdimensional bridge will collapse because its tether to spacetime will be destroyed.” He didn’t want to spell out that the anchor was a person.
“How big of a blast are we talking?” Jason asked.
“I have no clue! But you guys can make telekinetic shields, right?”
Jason looked to his fellow Agents and they nodded. “All right, we’ll isolate this facility from the outside.”
“Now come on! I don’t know how much time we have.” Leon grabbed Kira by the hand and urged her to run.
It was no doubt a difficult decision for the Agents to withdraw rather than diffuse the situation. However, Leon knew it was the right call. Rachel was already dead, no matter what. At least this way, the entire rescue party didn’t need to die.
Leon kept the information to himself about the captive in the test chamber. He didn’t know Jason well, but he suspected that the Agent would have run into the lab in an attempt to save her, regardless of the dangerous realities of the situation. Everyone who could be saved was already out. Those left in the lab had made their choice to see this horrendous ‘test’ through to its completion—and it would be their end.
— — —
Jason raced with the group up the stairs toward the planet’s surface. He recognized that Leon was holding back information about what was really happening on the lower level. However, he also trusted the man when he said that they needed to get out now.
Jason checked through the telepathic link with the other TSS Agents that everyone knew they were evacuating. They hadn’t searched the entire facility, but he’d performed a remote sweep using his abilities and didn’t detect other people beyond those on the lower level where Leon had come from and those they had already freed; the captured guards had already been escorted out. While not an ideal situation by any means, he couldn’t risk harm to the rescue team. They would look for other survivors after the explosion. The important thing now was to get in position to get a shield around the facility to prevent damage to the nearby city.
At the top of the stairs, the group ran down the entry corridor heading outside. The bound guards had been secured in the shuttle already. Likewise, the captives liberated from their cells were safely strapped into passenger seats.
“Get on board!” Jason instructed. He hung back at the entry door to make sure everyone was out of the facility before him.
Lexi lingered.
“Go!” he urged her.
“You’re not going back in, are you?”
He had considered it. There were still people here, enemy or not, and he didn’t feel right about leaving anyone in harm’s way. The Agent code of conduct demanded a respect for all life. Besides, the leadership of this facility might be valuable to interrogate about the Coalition’s other activities.
Leon was halfway to the shuttle with Kira. He glanced back over his shoulder and stopped when he noticed Jason wasn’t following them. “What are you waiting for? Come on!”
“I don’t want to leave anyone behind,” Jason replied.
“Jason…” Lexi urged.
“This isn’t a bomb with a set timer,” Leon said. He came back toward the building entrance and dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “They’ve turned a person into a higher-dimensional conduit. All of that energy is going to explode when the vessel can’t hold it any longer. That could happen in any moment.”
“The ‘vessel’ is a person,” Jason realized. “The missing test subject.”
Leon’s grim expression said it all.
“I have to go help—”
Leon gripped his arm. “She was dead a long time ago, even if the body doesn’t know it yet. There’s nothing you can do. But we have to get out of here if we don’t want to get caught up in the blast.”
“What is it going to do?”
“I don’t know, but it won’t be good.”
The top responsibility is to those who can be saved. He hated this part of the job—making calls about life and death. It was an unavoidable aspect of command, but it never got any easier.
Jason looked between Leon and the door back into the facility. “Let’s get everyone to safety.”
They all made a run for the shuttle. Steps away from the back hatch, a discordant hum filled the air, emanating from the underground facility. It continued to intensify.
“Oh no! We’re out of time.” Panic filled Leon’s eyes and tone.
“Strap in,” Jason told them as they ran ahead. He was the last into the shuttle. He slapped the hatch controls on the way inside. “Cody, take us up! Hold at a two-kilometer elevation.”
The placement was a bit of a guess, but he figured that would be a high enough vantage from which to project a telekinetic shield without being so far up that he couldn’t be precise in his movements.
“I’d offer to help, but I have a feeling I’d just hold you back,” Andy said in Jason’s mind.
He smiled at the other Agent from across the passenger area. “I’ve got it. But I appreciate the offer.”
Jason summoned his power and visualized a bubble forming around the facility below, isolating it from the rest of the planet. He fed energy into it, making its walls as robust an impenetrable as he could. He hadn’t drawn this much power for a long time—not since his last use of the Conquest’s telekinetic energy weapon.
His senses were heightened in that state of draw, making him aware of the other Agents assessing his shield with their own enhanced senses. They were impressed and confident; whatever was about to transpire on the surface, it would be contained.
He held the shield, waiting. Leon had made it sound like everything was about to—
The force of the blast caught Jason by surprise. He held the shield in place without faltering.
Except, the decimation ripped right through the shield as if it wasn’t there.
Jason gaped at it in disbelief. How did…?
He tried to sense what was going on with the explosive blast and why it had so easily bypassed the shield. Any physical matter and kinetic force should have easily been absorbed.
But that’s not what we’re dealing with… he realized with horror.
The blast had disintegrated all of the organic matter in its path. The grass was replaced with bare dirt, the former trees were only evidenced by a hole in the ground where their root systems had been, and there was no way to tell from orbit how deep the damage had gone. The ground was almost certainly unstable, as a result. And the radius of destruction was continuing to widen.
“I don’t know how to stop it,”
he whispered, as much to himself as anyone on board.
The other Agents watched the grim reality of the situation unfold, unable to offer any suggestions. No one had expected this. If Jason couldn’t contain it, then no one could.
The radius of destruction was still spreading outward, turning the organic matter momentarily to gray ash as it broke down before it dissolved completely. With nothing to control its destructive force, any organic compounds in building materials and other manufactured items would likely be destroyed, as well.
“Take us up!” Jason ordered. Stars, no! Why is this happening?
The pilot directed the shuttle upward, quickly and steeply enough that it took a moment for the stabilizers to adjust to the new trajectory, causing a brief jolt and sensation of his stomach dropping.
He stumbled to the nearest empty seat and strapped in. The viewport next to him offered a partial view of the devastation growing outward from the facility, expanding at a rapid rate toward the city.
Please, stop. Not the colony…
The wave hadn’t slowed down in the least. Jason had to look away as it reached the edge of the civilization. It would be over in a matter of seconds.
He choked back a shaky breath, knowing he needed to be the strong leader for his team. Nothing needed to be spelled out. They all knew they were witnessing the total destruction of a world. Its population wasn’t large, but they were all innocents.
“I don’t understand,” Leon murmured. “The bridge shouldn’t have been sustained for long enough to reach this far. It should have been a zone of a few hundred meters, tops. I don’t…”
The young man seemed on the verge of tears. Kira kept her lips pressed into a thin line, but Jason saw the confusion and pain in her eyes. They came from a small, remote world not unlike this one, and the loss no doubt hit close to home.
Lexi had unmitigated disgust painted on her features. She’d been rallied against the Alliance—and its Coalition parent organization—for over a year, consistently disappointed by their selfish disregard for life. She had shared her feelings with Jason during their bedtime chats, and he’d gotten the impression that she had felt they were at a turning point where the Coalition was going to begin losing. No more death and destruction.