by C. G. Hatton
There was a manual release. I saw him reaching for it, grabbed the bar and stuck it through the handle on our side, jamming it tight. It would hold, but not for long.
I turned.
Maisie was doubled over.
“Luka, go,” she gasped.
“I’m not leaving you,” I muttered, grabbed her arm and pulled her up and forward. Another conduit overhead exploded in a shower of sparks and green vapour. We ran through it, stumbling towards the next blast door. A siren started screaming, emergency lights flashing red. I could see the warning lights, hear the mechanism whirr. Flares of light were flickering across my eyes. We couldn’t move fast enough. My knee gave way. Maisie pushed me before I could stop her. I stumbled forward and fell.
The door slammed closed.
I got to my knees and turned, cold. She was on the other side. I could see her on the floor. The alarm was still shrieking. I shouted and screamed, pounding at the door and the release panel but it wouldn’t open.
It felt like I’d been kicked in the chest. I couldn’t let it happen again.
I turned and ran.
There was only one way I could get that door to open. I could hardly breathe and that was nothing to do with the electrobe poisoning. I found a maintenance hatch, bust it open with trembling fingers that were slick with blood and worked my way through and down, falling as much as climbing, an icy vein of panic clutching at my stomach. The band around my forearm was still vibrating with what I guessed was a warning that the electrobe concentration was bad enough to be beyond shit.
The level housing the AI core was quieter, the droning hum of the power plant above just a distant reverberation. I made my way through it, running on pure adrenaline. They couldn’t track me down there. There’s so much interference around an AI, there was no way they could have tracked the lifesigns of a horde of invaders. I saw a bunch of technicians in environment suits but it wasn’t hard to avoid them.
I didn’t have much of a plan, and from the burning in my chest I didn’t have much time, but it didn’t need any finesse. All AI cores, even the old ones, are protected from meltdowns and outside attack. That’s why they’re usually buried so deep. No one ever anticipated someone being stupid enough to climb into one though.
I found the interface that led to the main manifold for the cooler system surrounding the core, hacked open the control panel and slipped inside.
The sound was deafening. My heart was beating in time with the thrumming din. The cables were pulsing. Tiny remote maintenance drones were buzzing around in all directions. I could feel the electrobes in every breath, every blink. My skin was crawling.
I reached out my left hand, fingers spread wide, and touched a conduit that was warm and soft.
This was a main artery that fed the thing that had killed Charlie. And now it was killing Maisie. I know there are places that recognise AIs as sentient. To me, it was a machine and it was programmed to be vicious and ruthless and murdering. I didn’t care whose side it was on. I knew what the consequences of what I was planning would be. With the AI gone, the whole base would be in chaos, the defence grid would be down and without the automated defences, the garrison would fall. You ever heard of the Kheris massacre? Well, that was all down to me. But right then I didn’t care. I’ve done a lot of stuff in my time with the guild, but that night…? It was either my best or my worst. All I wanted to do was get Maisie to safety.
I pulled out Charlie’s knife and gnawed away at the cables with the blade until I had enough bare wires exposed that they started to spark. The air around me erupted. I was knocked back and sent sprawling as the cables caught fire, the electrobes in the air flaring and dying with a flurry of brilliant light as it set off a chain reaction.
I can remember thinking that was probably enough.
Then the whole compartment blew.
I was thrown backwards. I curled up and shielded my head, fingers burned and nerve endings raw. Alarms were screaming, the sound distorted and far off. I crawled back to the interface, scrambled through and pushed myself to my feet.
And looked up into the sights of a hunter killer drone, right there, hovering at head height.
It was spinning, scanning round. It stopped, homed in on me, weapons bearing round, and shifted so fast, it was inches from my face before I could move.
There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. This was it. Its actuators were humming as it adjusted its aim, its laser targeting system shining red between my eyes. In all the times I’d raided the garrison, I’d never seen one active in there. They’d sent it after me.
I froze, waiting for the shot.
It backed up and dropped to chest height. I tensed, staring at it, chin up, defying it to kill me. An arc of fine blue beams speared out of it and danced over me, scanning. They focused in on the tags around my neck and shut off abruptly. The drone spun and shot off, hunting down the next life signs it could detect.
I reached for the chain, Charlie’s tags, and stood there like an idiot, staring after it, still not breathing and starting to tremble.
Another compartment inside the core blew. I was on my knees before I knew what was happening. The heat was immense. I covered my head and crawled through broken glass and shards of plastic that burned into my skin.
I made it to the hatch and climbed back up to the power plant.
The blast doors were closed, the conduits still spewing out green vapour. The alarm had changed to a wailing siren and an automated message calling for immediate evacuation. I hit the release button and that time there was no AI to countermand the instruction. The door opened.
Maisie was sitting with her eyes closed, head leaned forward against the wall. She wasn’t moving. I scrambled down next to her, a cold knot twisting in my stomach, but she twitched as I reached for her, swore and jerked upright, grabbing my arm.
She coughed.
The level was filling with smoke fast. There was a crash and a bang at the other door, yells. They were still trying to get through.
I pulled her up and we moved, both of us doubled over coughing, me limping and half blind with the pain. There was no way we had time to make it to the tunnel entrance. But there was another route. We were screwed anyway. I took her straight down through the burning AI core and into the substructure beneath the whole garrison. I couldn’t tell what was worse after a while, the heat, the pain in my knee and hand, the electrobes in my chest or that dull droning vibration that was almost subliminal in its intensity.
Whole compartments were collapsing around us. Sections blowing out. Pipes and conduits buckling. I don’t even know how we found the tunnel access but we dropped down into a chill, damp space and let the hatch slam shut above us, shutting out the heat and noise with a bang.
It opened out into a tunnel. The air was stale but breathable so there must have been some kind of ventilation.
Maisie was struggling to keep herself upright but she grabbed my arm and hoisted it over her shoulder, slipping the other around my waist again.
She made a choking gesture around her throat as we moved as fast as we could manage, and whispered, “I take it this is bad?”
I nodded. I coughed, chest hurting. If you’ve ever had electrobe poisoning beyond critical, you’ll understand how much it hurt. I didn’t know if my eyes were watering from the pain or the electrobes. The band on my forearm had stopped vibrating. It was just humming, constricted tight. I had a feeling that was a bad sign.
We could hear the explosions above us. Part of the tunnel ceiling up ahead started to rain dust and debris, the steel wall supports groaning, starting to bend.
We couldn’t move any faster. Maisie lost her balance and we stumbled, staggering, almost going down, desperately trying to hold each other up.
There was a noise way back in the tunnel. Distant voices echoed, a faint clatter of armour and weapons.
We turned, staring.
They were trying every possible way to get in, to get to us.
Another r
everberating shockwave behind us sent dust flying past. I flinched and glanced back. The tunnel was going to collapse. We were going to be trapped and caught or buried alive. I didn’t know which would be worse.
Chapter 26
We didn’t stand there to wait and see. We turned and staggered back into a run, stumbling towards the collapsing section of tunnel.
The pressure against my chest was getting worse. I could feel Maisie getting heavier and heavier against my arm. Chunks of the tunnel lining were crashing down. We ducked falling concrete, clambered over rubble and dragged each other through the narrowing gap, tumbling and sprawling clear as the roof came down behind us in a billowing cloud of dust.
I pushed to my elbows and looked back. It was only partially blocked but there was no way they’d get through that easily in powered armour. And from what I knew of the plans, there was no other way in to this tunnel. They’d have to clear a way through to get to us.
Maisie coughed. She looked up at me, tears welling. She was shaking.
I crawled to her and hugged her tight.
I pulled back and looked at her, so close our noses were almost touching. She moved towards me and I thought she was going to kiss me, but she put her finger against my lips and just breathed, “Kiss me when we’re out of here.”
I could hardly speak, throat beyond dry, but I nodded and croaked, “Race you to the end?”
She managed a smile and we staggered up and on.
We were almost on our knees when we hit the end of the tunnel. I pushed her up the ladder ahead of me and we emerged into warm, clean air, and chaos. I squinted, shielding my eyes. It was bright outside, the rising sun already high. The sky was full, ships taking off, gunships and drop ships buzzing over the space port. The noise of vehicles and voices from the gate was at fever pitch. Deep rumblings and the sound of explosions were carrying from the direction of the garrison.
I twisted around to look. Smoke was billowing out across the entire skyline as the KRM bombed the Imperial stronghold and took out every outpost. I didn’t find out until later how bad it was. It wouldn’t be long before the onslaught reached the space port. And this base hardly had any defences. The panic to get out was overwhelming.
Maisie sank down to the ground. We weren’t far from the medical centre. I couldn’t get her to her feet, couldn’t gather the strength to lift her, every muscle screaming, too close to dropping myself.
I squeezed her hand and gasped, “Wait here.”
I didn’t even know if she heard me. She didn’t respond. I dragged myself away from her, limping, stumbling, towards the emergency room.
There was no one there. They’d abandoned the place already. I pushed my way through and slipped into a side room, rifled through drawers and threw dressings and jars aside, no idea where they’d keep any antidote. I leaned on the counter, vision narrowed to a dark tunnel, looked up and saw that sweet little label on a box in a glass cabinet. It was locked. I smashed my elbow through it, grabbed the box and tumbled out the single injector left in it.
There was only one dose.
My hands were shaking.
I turned and ran, staggering back out into the open.
It felt like time slowed.
I could see Peanut waving at me from across the compound, there was shouting from the other side, powered armour-clad soldiers emerging from the tunnel. And Maisie was lying out there on the tarmac.
I had one dose of antidote clutched in numb fingers.
I looked at Peanut. He had the courier ship out from its maintenance bay, engines fired up, and he was standing on the ramp, gesturing at me like mad to get over there. I didn’t know if he could even see Maisie. He shouted again, yelling to me to get to him. That was my chance to get away.
I looked across to the other side. The guy in black was striding across the tarmac. He had his helmet in his hand, face like thunder.
There was no way I could leave Maisie.
I looked from Peanut to the IDC guy again and back to Maisie. She wasn’t moving.
I staggered out to her and sank down beside her, heart pounding, trying to feel for a pulse, and fumbling the vial of antidote in fingers that felt like lead. She wasn’t breathing. I injected it into her neck and held her tight. I couldn’t even feel if her heart was beating, mine was pounding so hard. I cradled her there, my head against hers, tears streaming down my face, hearing the shouts getting closer.
I couldn’t lose her. After everything we’d been through, I couldn’t bear to lose Maisie as well. I stroked the hair back from her face, not caring that I was dying there with her.
Footsteps thundered up, weapons clattering. They were on me in seconds, dragged me away from her and threw me forward.
My knees hit the dust and I almost sprawled except someone grabbed the back of my shirt and hauled me upright. They grabbed my arms and pulled my hands behind my back, restraints clamping my wrists tight.
I squinted, head pounding, stumbling as they pushed me forward. The bindings were cutting into my skin. My knee had gone. I couldn’t put any weight on it at all. And the pressure in my chest was almost unbearable.
I tried to twist round to see Maisie but they wouldn’t let me.
It was quiet.
For a second.
Then they started shouting, searching me roughly, hitting me about the head and emptying my pockets, throwing all my stuff onto the ground in front of me, kicking it around to see what it was as if they didn’t want to touch any of it, screaming at me the whole time, yelling right in my ear.
I didn’t listen to what they were saying. They shouted louder but I zoned it all out and didn’t fight them. I’d trashed their AI and left them wide open to attack from an enemy that was in frenzy, the entire colony rising against them. To say they were pissed and to say I was screwed was the understatement of the century.
I knelt there in the dust, agonising waves pulsing up and down my leg, hands tied behind my back, head down and a gun barrel pressed against the back of my head.
End of the line.
Not exactly Latia’s firing squad against the wall but not far from it.
I could almost feel the finger trembling on its trigger, almost see the look of disappointment in Latia’s eyes. I was glad Charlie wasn’t there to see me like that.
The IDC guy leaned down in front of me and picked the key out of the dust. “Bad mistake, kid,” he said. “Kill him.” And he walked away towards his ship.
The soldiers tensed. Someone grabbed my shoulder, hard, and the gun pushed, forcing my head down.
I closed my eyes.
Then someone shouted.
I was vaguely aware of vehicles pulling up and skidding to a halt all around us, wheels kicking out dust, and doors slamming. There were more shouts, someone ordering them to stand down, barking at them, and I felt them back off, even the pressure of the gun against my head easing back slightly.
Footsteps crunched up ahead of us. I squinted, blinking dust out of my eyes, to see boots, uniforms.
They stopped.
The same someone gave a command to get me up, a quiet voice but loaded with so much authority that they hustled, helping me up and even dusting me off. I had to balance on my right leg and they had to keep hold of me to stop me sinking back to the ground. I kept my head down but I looked up, eyes hooded, not sure if this was a reprieve or something worse.
Whoever it was stepped forward. He wasn’t a big man, not like most of the soldiers, but he had a presence about him, dark eyes that were piercing with a glint in them that made me dare think this might be okay.
He looked at me for a long time, what felt like forever.
“You get to choose,” he said.
And it felt like everyone else disappeared, faded out into the background, and it was only me and this man standing there in the heat of the sun. I still had my arms restrained behind my back, chest wheezing with every breath.
“You come with me, right now,” he said, “or you get a bullet in
the back of the head, right now.”
I stared at him.
He had the sleeves of his fatigues rolled up, Earth Marine Corps uniform, colonel’s tags on his arm and a black band like Charlie’s around his wrist. He lowered his voice even though it felt like there was only me that could hear. “Understand this,” he said. “You choose to come with me? We go now. You do not get to say goodbye to anyone, you do not get to take anything with you. You cease to exist. You will never return to Kheris. Do you understand?”
I couldn’t move.
“Or I give them the go ahead to shoot you.”
My head was pounding with every heartbeat.
“What is it to be?”
It was an impossible choice. It was everything I wanted. But not just for me, never just for me.
He made it easy.
He leaned close. “You make the right choice, I can make sure that girl over there gets out of this alive. She’ll be fine. Your great-grandmother will be fine. That kid over there who was about to steal a ship for you… will be fine. Be smart, Luka, now of all times. Think about it.”
He stepped back.
I nodded, heart in my stomach, but I nodded.
And that’s how I met Mendhel Halligan.
He said something I didn’t catch and the soldiers around me hustled again, freeing my hands.
I doubled over, coughing, dry retching, and he caught hold of my arm and turned it, looking at the numbers scrolling on the band there.