Randoms (37 page)

We ran and closed the gap, racing past dark junctions in the hall, but the guards never wavered. Neither did we. My legs pumped and my lungs filled with air, and I sidestepped one of the yellow laser sights as the guard turned and fired, and I heard the sound of the rubber of his boot skidding sideways on the floor as he lost his balance, just for a second. I saw it all happen, not in slow motion, but clearly, as he stumbled and righted himself. He held his breath as the pistol began to slip from his fingers, and he reached out to catch it in midair. It all happened over the space of a second, but it left him vulnerable. I raised my PPB pistol, placed my laser aim at the center of his mass, and fired.

One of the guards was neutralized. That's right. Neutralized. Because that was how I was rolling. I had my space pistol, my space coat, my space nanite augmentations. It was a bad idea to mess with me.

Without missing a beat, I aimed at the other one. He threw himself against the wall, which was not going to save him. However, he must have pushed a button or activated a panel, because a metal bulkhead shot up from the floor, completely cutting him off.

Being separated from us, and having access to a shuttle, was going to save him. It might also be the end of us.

•   •   •

We turned to run back to the last junction. We had no map, no idea of where it might lead, but I had to hope there was some kind of alternate route and that I had a chance of cutting him off. Tamret, who seemed to have a directional sense that humans lacked, said she was sure we were going the right way. That was good, but if it took us to a dead end, the right direction would be of limited value.

The next junction seemed to loop around to head toward where we wanted to go. The bad news was that we were sloping downward. I didn't like it, but I liked the idea of backtracking and trying to find another path even less.

After about maybe a quarter mile of running, we came to an open circular ditch maybe sixty feet across. It was illuminated with floodlights and littered with excavation tools: scaffolding, ropes, ladders, and a few workstations covered with a heavy coat of dust. This was clearly an archeological dig, a deep one, and seemingly long abandoned. I couldn't see the bottom, and I had no interest in finding out how far down it went.

Tamret shoved me against the wall, pushing me out of the way of the laser aim. The wall exploded with dust as it was struck with PPB fire. She'd probably just saved my life. I'd have to thank her later.

I looked up. There was a makeshift bridge about thirty feet above us. The guard had used it to cross the chasm and was now standing at a doorway, firing at us. He was talking into his data bracelet.

“Not good,” I said. “Who is he talking to? Can he communicate with the Phandic cruiser?”

Tamret checked her own data bracelet. “No way. The comm is still jammed, and I set up an alarm to let me know if someone undid my lock. He might be trying to get help from someone on the surface.”

“There's no one here to help him,” I said.

“I don't know,” Tamret said. “It sounds like someone is talking back.”

I tried to concentrate on what they were saying. Before, I would not have been able to hear anything. Now, though I couldn't make out the words, I detected a distinct voice coming over the bracelet. He was definitely talking to someone, and if the shore-to-ship comm wasn't working, it meant there were more Phands on the surface.

While Tamret reviewed the schematics on her data bracelet, I returned the guard's fire and tried to find some way to get across. There was a doorway at our level, but we had no means to get from one side of the pit to the other. I sensed that even with my augmented strength and power and agility I could not leap across, and I wasn't up for falling to my doom.

I searched around for something, anything. Surely my enhanced brainpower ought to be able to come up with an idea. I looked up. There was a cluster of ropes toward the ceiling, retracted, held together by a thick metal cable. Before, I would never have believed I could do this, but my aim, my strength, and my stamina were all improved. It was possible, maybe even probable, and it was too perfect.

I looked at Tamret, who was done checking her bracelet. “You want to try something really stupid?”

Her eyes widened, and her lips turned up at the corners. “Absolutely.”

I didn't dare fire a PPB blast at the cable holding the rope. It was too powerful and might damage the rope itself. Instead I took out my plasma wand and fired it up. The ejection of the metal rod prior to the glow of energy almost ruined the coolness of the effect. Almost.

I held it in my left hand, which was now much stronger and more accurate than my right hand had ever been before. With my pistol in my right hand, I fired off five quick shots at the guard above us. Then I aimed carefully at the metal cable high above us and tossed my plasma wand. It flew, spiraling in a perfect arc as it cut through the binding cable, leaving the rope unharmed. The wand landed against a far wall and tumbled into the pit below while the rope uncoiled and fell three feet in front of me. I reached out and grabbed it and pulled it tight, at a sharp angle.

Tamret was firing at the guard as I did this, giving me room to maneuver. I pulled harder on the rope, getting an even steeper angle and making certain it was securely anchored. I could feel the tension in it, feel the strength of its base. It would hold us.

I fired at the guard and moved over to Tamret. I put one arm around her waist and she put one around my shoulder. She looked at me and grinned, not for a second fazed by the insanity of what I intended. I could tell she loved the idea. Somehow, impossibly, she knew exactly what to do and precisely what to say. Of all her amazing powers, that was the most remarkable one of all.

“Good luck,” she said, and she kissed me on the cheek.

If she turns out to be my long-lost sister,
I thought,
I'm going to be extremely angry.
And then I pulled on the rope and jumped in the air. Tamret and I were flying.

•   •   •

Once we hit the other side, we ran. Now I was hoping we might be able to circle around the guard entirely. Our corridor was sloping upward, which was a good sign, and ahead it merged with another corridor from the general direction the guard had been going. Also good. Farther beyond that was the hangar, which was only good if we got there first.

We didn't. I pumped my legs, tearing up the ground in a dizzying whir, but I wasn't going to make it in time. I could see the form of the guard approaching a shuttle, keying the access into the shuttle's exterior panel. He was going to get inside in about three seconds. Once he was in, he would be on an independent comm line, and I knew without Tamret telling me that it would take maybe fifteen seconds for him to signal the cruiser. He didn't have to explain the details. He didn't have to explain anything. An unexpected communication from one of the shuttles would be enough to alert them.

I had one chance now. I threw myself forward and down. I wanted a static shot. I hit the floor and raised my pistol, feeling myself skimming fast across the floor. I didn't care about the pain. I needed a good shot. And then I had it. The yellow light was at the center of his chest, but before I could squeeze the trigger, there was a flash, and the guard went down.

There, beyond him, was Charles. He was too far away for me to see the expression on his face, but I was sure he was smiling.

•   •   •

We tied up the guard, and then I checked the time. Just less than three hours until the check-in. With the hangar secured, Tamret, Charles, and I headed back to the main control room, where Nayana had her eye on the courtyard.

“No activity,” she said. Then she caught sight of Tamret. “You look totally disgusting.”

“You too,” Tamret said.

“Whatever,” Nayana opined. “I don't even want to know what you were doing to get all that blood on you. The point is that everything has been quiet here.”

That was good. I was still worried about surprises, but so far there had been none. A few hiccups, like Tamret being impaled and a couple of guards almost escaping, but otherwise, smooth sailing.

Then, through the window, I saw the door to the prison facility open. Steve and Mi Sun walked out, hands over their heads. Behind them were eight Phands marching them toward us.

“Where did they come from?”

“I don't know,” Tamret said. “We accounted for everyone in the database. There must have been guards in the compound who weren't assigned here. Maybe they had another function.”

I tried to think, focus on what was important now. “Could they have contacted the cruiser?”

“Not unless they have a shuttle outside the hangar,” Tamret said. “I think we can assume, for now, that the cruiser still doesn't know about us.”

“This is still bad,” Nayana said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “but it could be a whole lot worse. We have the element of surprise. They may not know we're in here.”

“Unless Steve and Mi Sun told them,” Nayana said.

“Which one of those two do you think gave us up?” I asked.

Her face went dark. I realized that maybe it had never occurred to her that our friends might not betray us to save themselves.

“What is the plan?” Charles asked.

I looked out across the courtyard. Steve and Mi Sun were about two hundred feet away and getting closer. There was no plan but a showdown. “Tamret and I have pretty good aim,” I said, underselling the matter somewhat. With our maxed-out skills, either of us could both probably pick off a flea at two hundred yards. “And we're quick. I think we can take out the guards without hitting our friends.”

“With these pistols?” Nayana asked. “No way. They're not that fast.”

“In the right hands they are,” Tamret said.

“I am so sick of your arrogance,” Nayana snapped.

“Tell me about it some other time when I'm not busy saving you.” Tamret began to walk toward the door. I followed her. This was going to be tight, even with our skills. We had to open the door and fire off eight perfect shots before any one of those guards decided to take aim at Steve or Mi Sun. I didn't like the odds, but I could not take the chance of these Phands communicating with the cruiser.

Just as I threw open the door, I saw a flash of light. Several flashes, and the guards went down. They were all down. Every last Phandic guard on the planet—I hoped—was down. And behind Steve and Mi Sun, walking toward us, were the people who had taken these last Phands out: Captain Qwlessl, Urch, Ystip, Wimlo, and a dozen more of the crew of the
Dependable
.

•   •   •

“For the record,” Steve said, “we let ourselves get caught so Captain Qwlessl could blindside them.”

“Absolutely true,” Mi Sun said. “We let them catch us as soon as they showed up from nowhere and took our weapons.”

“My story is better,” Steve said.

I threw myself at the captain and gave her a hug. “It's good to see you,” I said. “They made us think you were dead.”

“I thought they might do something like that,” she told me. “They likely fabricated the images. I'm sorry about that, Zeke. I also know you're here for your father, but first things first. What's the operational status?”

“Our plan,” I told her, “is to take one of the shuttles and fake our way past the cruiser. We then deliver a Phandic shuttle to the Confederation and have them reverse engineer it.”

“That's not such a great plan,” Captain Qwlessl said, pointing at me with her trunk. “Do you really think you can simply slip past them?”

I felt a little foolish. “I was hoping that by the time they realized we were making a break for it, we'd have enough of a jump on them to tunnel to Confederation space.”

She shook her head. “Too many variables. You've been lucky so far, but you can't count on luck holding. I have a plan that should allow us to deliver the cruiser to the Confederation, which is a better prize than a shuttle, don't you think?”

“Um, yeah. But how does it work?”

“First, I can get us past the 0200 check-in.”

That was good news. “How?”

“We've been working on our escape since we got here. We've had the plan, just not the opportunity to execute it.
Now you've given us that opportunity. I know the codes for the check-in, so that won't be a problem. Then, the daily supply shuttle comes at 0400. We surprise them, load up the shuttle with a shock team of twelve or so, and take the cruiser.”

“How many on that ship?”

She shrugged. “It's bigger than the one we faced at Ganar. I'd say eighty? Eighty-five?”

“And you think you can take it with a dozen soldiers?”

She looked at me with her huge eyes going wide, and her trunk jabbed in my direction with good humor as she spoke. “Zeke, you just led five alien teenagers, most of whom have had no training with hand weapons, to conquer an entire planet. I'm the captain of a Confederation starship. I think my trained officers can perform as well as you have.”

“Point taken,” I said. “Fortune favors the bold.”

“Yes, it does,” she agreed. “Do you want to be part of the team? We could use you, if you think you have the weapons skills. I don't know how you've been using your points.”

“Take Steve and Mi Sun if they want to go. They're very good. I'd love to help, but we're not done here.”

“Right. The selection committee.”

I nodded. “Do you know where they are housed?”

“They're in the lower level,” she said. “They've always been kept separate, so I haven't seen where they're confined.” She put a hand on my arm. “I do know he's very proud of you.”

“You've talked to him?” I asked.

“A few times,” she said. “They never let us talk for long.”