Immortal (29 page)

“Ye…Yes, sir.” She responded. She got up
slowly from the floor. She bent back down and picked up her
gun.

“And Amelia…” He said.

“Yes, sir.”

“As soon as they are dead. Carry out my
order.”

“Yes, sir.” She said, as she looked at her
comm unit with disgust. It indicated that he had disconnected. She
pocketed the unit, and began a slow walk towards the tunnel. She
knew it wouldn’t take that long to walk through, having been
through it once, but she didn’t know how long it really would take
to actually walk through. And she had no idea what the floor of it
would be like. She could see the rails as they led in, but was
worried that if she walked between them, the skid might come back
and run her over in the dark before she ever knew what hit her. As
she approached the large opening, she stood to the side, took a
deep breath, and began to walk. She had traveled a few hundred
feet, and walked even slower as the tunnel darkened when she heard
a voice.

“Hold it right there.” The man said. She
stopped, and flattened her back against the wall. She turned to
glance back from the way she had come, and could still see the
mouth of the tunnel. Whoever was there had seen her plainly
silhouetted against the brightness of the opening.

“Who’s there?” She called out, as she raised
the gun in her hand to point towards the ceiling. Silence was the
response. “Hello?” She called out again, as a strong hand closed
around her wrist, and quickly removed the gun. “Ow!” She yelled, as
she jumped back and slammed into the wall.

“Take it easy.” The voice said. “Who are
you?”

“Give me back that gun!” She yelled. The hand
took her by the arm and began to lead her back towards the tunnel
opening. She did not like to be handled this way, but she was glad
to be headed back to the light. She no longer fought the grip, and
walked peacefully. “I’m the Chancellor’s assistant.”

“Charles?” A different voice asked from the
dark.

“Yes. Charles.” She replied.

“What’s your name?” A female voice asked.

“I am Amelia.” She answered, as they
approached the end of the tunnel. Suddenly the grip on her arm
forced her to the side of the tunnel wall and held her there
tightly.

“Be very quiet, Amelia.” The voice next to
her said, as she watched two figures approach the opening on either
side. In the dim light, she could clearly make out that one was a
man, and the other a woman. A moment passed as they scanned ahead,
then the woman called back.

“It’s Clear.” She said. The hand on Amelia’s
arm moved her towards the opening. She blinked in the brightness of
the light as she exited the tunnel. The man that held her arm,
released her. She stepped back and looked at the young man, then to
the woman ahead, and then the other man. She turned back to
Jericho.

“You’re them.” She said, as her lips barely
moved. He ignored her, and ran to join the others. Now spread out
three wide, they began to check the room for dangers. She spoke up,
louder this time. “You’re them.” Still they ignored her, and
cautiously moved deeper into the room. “There’s no one here but
me.” She said. The girl turned back to her.

“No Guardians?” Gabrielle asked, then turned
back to continue their sweep.

“No. No Guardians. They all went to through
to the other side.” She replied. The older man turned back to
her.

“And you expect us to believe you’re the only
one here?” He said, as he smirked. She noticed the control stick in
his hand.

“Believe what you want. It’s just me.” She
walked towards them. “I know who they are.” She said. But who are
you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Jonah said, as he
glanced back at her.

“It might.” She said, as she still approached
them from behind. “Are you from the farm?” She asked.

“The farm?” He replied.

“The farm?” Asked Gabrielle. “What farm?”

“You know.” Amelia answered. “The farm. The
village. The road. The factory. The farm.”

“We’re from the village.” Jericho said. “But
we don’t know anything about a farm.” Jonah stopped, and turned to
her.

“That’s what you call it, isn’t it.” He said,
as he stepped towards her. She stopped and took a step back,
suddenly uneasy at the way that he approached.

“Well. Yeah. That’s what it’s called.” He
stepped up into her face, and grabbed her by the wrist. She tried
to pull free, and he pulled her closer.

“You know, don’t you? You know what’s going
on here. Don’t you!” She twisted her arm as she tried to get free,
but he held tight.

“Yeah!” She yelled back. “But not-”

“How can you just let this happen?” He said
and slung her hand away from him. “They are people, damn it! Just
like you and me! They are not animals!” She stumbled backwards, and
just caught her balance before she fell.

“I didn’t know…” A soft sob escaped her. “I
didn’t know until today.” She said as she began to cry softly.

“What do you mean?” Jonah asked angrily.

“I had no idea!” She pled with him, as tears
streamed down her face. “I thought it was all grown in some lab
somewhere.” She turned away, and sobbed uncontrollably. “I thought
it was tissue cultures or something. For rejuvenation. For God’s
sake, they have commercials!” She fell to her knees, and sobbed.
The anger eased on Jonah’s face, as he recognized the emotions she
felt. The same emotions he had been through just hours before.

“Charles knows?” He asked her. She looked up,
her face wet as tears dripped from it. She nodded. “And Roger?”
Without hesitation, she nodded again. “And where is your place in
all of this?” He asked. She shook her head.

“I don’t know.” She said. “I’m the
Chancellor’s assistant. I…I help.” She began. “I help with
scheduling meetings, and…and…doing reports…and…and checking to make
sure his tunic is straight before a meeting. I swear...” She said.
“I didn’t know anything about all of this.”

“Take it easy on her.” Gabrielle said, as she
stepped up to Jonah’s side. “Maybe she really didn’t know.”

“We can’t trust her.” Jonah said disgustedly
and turned away from her. Gabrielle approached her, and helped her
up from the floor.

“Why not? We trusted you.” Jericho said, as
she approached Gabrielle. Jonah spun around.

“That’s different. I wasn’t a part of this.
No part of it.” He said. “She’s neck deep in it!”

“No-” Amelia began, when Gabrielle
interrupted her.

“I think she’s telling us the truth.”

“Me too, Gabby.” He patted Amelia on the arm
then turned and continued to survey.

“So that’s it?” Asked Jonah, in disbelief.
“You magically believe her, so she’s just part of team now?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that.” Said Gabrielle. “I
said I believe her. That she didn’t know until today. How she
really feels about the death and the lies and those tanks of little
babies upstairs-” At this Amelia, burst out in tears again and
began to sob.

“Those poor little babies.” She sobbed.

“Maybe she is part of the team.” Jericho
said. “Jonah. Is that the door we were looking for?” He said as he
pointed to the far wall at the large impression. Jonah followed him
over for a closer look.

“This is it.” He said, as he lay his hand
against the metal, and felt the groove where the door would part
and slide open. “Do you see a control panel anywhere?” Both he and
Jericho began to scan around the edges. “There it is.” He said.
They both approached the side with the panel. Jonah looked it over
then turned back to Amelia. “Okay, if you’re with us. What’s the
code to open the door?” He asked sarcastically.

“Stand aside.” Roger said through the hole in
the door to the Guardian as it stood on the other side. The
Guardian turned around, looked at him through the hole, and then
stepped aside. Roger climbed through the ragged hole, careful not
to get his coat dirty or snagged. Inside the huge room, he turned
and glanced at the Guardian, sniffed, and then turned and walked
away. He followed the wall to the left, until he came to the aisle
that led to the center of the room. He saw the disabled Guardians
all along the floor and stared in disbelief. As he reached the
center of the room, he could see the evidence of the explosion at
the front of the skid, and to the right, the pieces of Guardian
scattered about. He glanced at the exploded stacks, and shook his
head. “Charles!” He yelled. There was no response. He walked around
the front of the skid, and bent down and inspected the wreckage of
the Guardian that had exploded there. “Charles!” He yelled again.
“Where the devil is he?” He asked himself. He stepped back around
the skid and walked to rear. Charles lay on the ground motionless.
“What’s this?” He said, as a smile came across his face. “The
little lass seems to have done her job.” Charles stirred. “Damn
it.”

“Unh.” He rolled over onto his back, and
blinked his eyes.

“Get up.” Roger said, as he shoved at his leg
with his foot. “Charles! Get the hell up!”

“Roger?” He said as he still blinked, and the
focus began to come back into his eyes. “Help me up.” He said, as
he lifted his arm. Roger grasped his hand and heaved him into a
sitting position.

“What happened, Charles? I thought you had
them trapped.” He looked around. “Not much of a trap, I’d say.”
Charles, climbed to one knee, and reached out to Roger again. He
helped him to his feet. “Well?”

“Well what.” Charles replied.

“Well? What the hell happened?” Roger asked.
Charles looked at the wreckage around him, the pieces of the
Guardian, the wrecked skid, and the jammed door that led into the
tunnel.

“They must have controlled me somehow.” He
said. “Was the Guardian still at the door?”

“Just standing there, and as useless as a
rock.” Roger replied.

“Then…they went that way.” Charles said, as
he pointed towards the tunnel. He began to climb onto the skid.

“What? We’re going to walk through
there?”

“I don’t see much option, sir.” Charles
stepped to the rear of the skid and jumped down into the tunnel.
“Are you coming, sir?”

“Yes, damn it! I can see it’s the only way
anything is going to get done around here.” Roger climbed onto the
skid as well. He keyed his comm unit. “Amelia.” A few seconds
passed with no response. “Amelia!”

“Yes, sir.” She replied.

“They have escaped from Charles again.” He
said sarcastically. “We think they are headed your way through the
tunnel.”

“Yes, sir.” She said.

“Be ready for them.”

“Yes, sir.” He disconnected the link.

“Charles. Is she armed?”

“Yes, sir, she is.”

“Good. Maybe you did something correct after
all.” He jumped down into the tunnel.

“They’re coming!” Amelia said to the others,
as she put away her comm unit. Jonah looked back at her from the
control panel, while Jericho stayed focused. He could see the
series begin, but could not feel his way through to the end. He
began to key several times, and hoped the last part would fall into
place, but each time the panel blinked red, as it indicated the
incorrect code.

“It only took us ten minutes to come
through.” Jonah said excitedly.

“Here, take this.” Gabrielle said, as she
handed him a gun. He took it, hefted it, aimed it towards the
tunnel, and then dropped it to his side. “I’ll take the other one,
and Jericho can use the control sticks.”

“What about me?” Asked Amelia.

“What about you.” Gabrielle answered.

“What will I use?”

“Why do you need a weapon?” Jonah asked.
“Aren’t they expecting you to be here?”

“Yeah, but-” She began, when Gabrielle
interrupted.

“Wait. That’s exactly right. You can buy us
some time. Come over here.” Amelia followed her to one of the last
stacks near the wall. “Jonah. Give us a hand.” She started to take
the boxes down, and throw them about. Amelia began to help, as
Jonah approached.

“What’s the plan?” He asked, as he reached up
and grabbed a box.

“Just toss it over there.” She said, as she
pointed. “Then start on that stack over there. Just the top few
boxes.”

“I don’t get it.” Jonah said, as she stepped
to the next stack.

“You will. Hey Jericho! How’s it going over
there?” She yelled.

“I can’t get the last part.” He answered. The
frustration was evident in his voice.

“Give me a minute and I’ll see if I can
help.” She called back.

“Amelia, when we get done, you’ll lie down
behind these boxes over here.”

“Why?” She asked.

“Step back.” She told her. “Jonah, step
back!” The three of them took several steps away from the partially
disassembled stacks, and Gabrielle raised her gun and fired. The
remaining part of the first stack exploded.

“Hey!” Yelled Jericho. “Couldn’t you give me
heads up before you do that?” She fired again, and the second stack
exploded.

“I’m done. Sorry.” She said. “Okay, Amelia,
lay down over there. If we can get out of here before they get
through the tunnel, just tell them we shot at you, and you got
knocked out. You don’t know where we went.” Amelia nodded. Jonah
led her over to the rubble, and helped her to arrange the wreckage.
Gabrielle ran over to Jericho.

“What have you got so far?” She asked.

“All but the last three digits. I get that
far, and I just go blank.” He said as he shook his head in
frustration. She touched his shoulder, and he moved aside. She laid
her hand over the keypad, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
Slowly she exhaled, and reached out with her mind, as she tried to
visualize the sequence. But try as she might, she was totally
blank. Nothing came to her. She tried to remember how it had
happened before, when Jericho had been unable to enter the correct
code to open the door. She had just walked up, laid her hand over
the pad, and felt the correct sequence. Now she felt nothing. She
looked at Jericho and shook her head.