The Orion Deception (21 page)

Lainne nodded as though she understood and followed Heck into the crawlspace, locking the hatch behind them. They crawled on their hands and knees for a hundred meters before they came to a place where they could stand. It was a large room with crawlspaces that branched off in a number of directions, like strands on a spiderweb. There was a storage locker in the room and Heck opened it, revealing a number of biohazard suits.

"Put that on," he instructed as he tossed the orange and yellow suit to her. Lainne did so without question, and without complaint. Once they were both dressed in the biohazard suits, Heck helped Lainne put on a helmet with a self-contained air supply.

"There is a radio in the helmet," he told her. "Tap the left side of your helmet with your finger to speak. But keep the conversation to a minimum, speaking uses up more air."

Lainne nodded her head in understanding as Heck locked her helmet in place. Then she did the same for him. In a moment Heck opened a door in the room labeled
sally port.
The two entered the sally port and closed the outer door. This was a very small room, big enough for perhaps three people to stand uncomfortably. There was a bench where three could sit and fog nozzles were located in various places along the ceiling and walls. The door at the opposite end of the small chamber bore a sign with a litany of warnings about the life threatening hazards beyond.

"Are you ready?" came the question from Heck through Lainne's helmet radio. Heck stood at the door, one hand on the control that would open the door to a world of filth.

"What's out there?" she asked, pointing to the placard-laden door.

"It's essentially a sewer system, Lainne. But these suits will protect us from harm." He took a length of cord with a carabiner on each end and clipped one end to his belt. The he clipped the other to Lainne's belt. "It's going to be dark and hard to move in there, stay close."

"Ok. I'm ready," she said with a nod.

The placard covered door opened and Heck walked out into another room with three doors, one to the front and one on either side. He went to the door straight ahead of him, a biohazard placard glowed brightly red above it. Heck tapped a button by the door and it opened silently. They stepped through it into a tube that went from left to right, an amber infused fog very quickly turned their suits an ocher color. Health hazard meters on their wrists blazed red and the biohazard placard flashed its warning, any breach of their suits here could have terrible consequences.

"What is all this junk?" asked Lainne. She tapped a button her wrist comm and activated her face shield wiper. It was a primitive device, similar to an eyelid, but it did a good job of keeping her vision clear.

"A mixture of human waste, chemicals and any other type of refuse you can imagine."

Heck trudged along slowly, there were handrails on each side of the passage and the floor was rough to allow better footing. Even so, the going was difficult. The noxious vapors were moved along through these passages with enough force to make one lose their footing. He was beginning to feel anxiety and was having a difficult time keeping focused on controlling his body. A heads-up display inside his helmet alerted him that his respiratory rate was elevated and he was using more oxygen than he wanted. He scowled at the thought that he, the legendary Heck Thomas, could be susceptible to that most basic human experience.

"Don't they recycle that stuff? Jettison it into space?"

"All of the waste is converted into its smallest, and least harmful, state. Some of it is sublimated directly into a gaseous state with harsh chemicals, while other wastes are incinerated. The byproducts of the disposal process, usually gasses, liquids, and ashes, are dumped into these tubes and flushed out into space."

"Space? Are we in danger of being..." Her voice trailed off as she glanced up and down the tunnel.

"No. The waste is moved through these tubes by powerful fans. The fans are covered with baffles that prevent solid objects, like us, from getting sucked in and damaging them. Each fan also acts as an automated control station. It checks for matter that cannot be expelled safely through the fans or any other hazardous or dangerous situations. If the scans clear the computers, the matter is moved through to the next point. We are between two of those points."

Neither of them spoke for the next thirty minutes as they trudged along through the refuse tube. Lainne had long ago given up paying attention to what was happening around her. How could she do otherwise? It was nothing but a long, dark, wet tube of floating refuse. It was completely devoid of markings and there were no navigational aids that she could see. She shuddered at the thought of being a sewer worker, forced to trudge these lonely tubes every day, and wondered if any had ever become lost down here.

Finally, it seemed Heck had reached his intended destination. He stopped at the first hatch that she had seen since they entered the tube. There were a few markings that she could not read and arrows pointing in different directions. It was hard to tell in the amber fog, but she thought that the arrows might be different colors, indicating a path to a specific destination. As she looked at the door she saw there was a large blue square upon it and assumed that marked the destination for the blue path.

Heck opened the door and stepped into another sally port chamber. There was a bench, as before, and myriad spray nozzles about the chamber. The door on the other end of the chamber seemed to beckon to her, she could almost imagine stairs leading to a comfortable bed. Then she saw a man standing there, peering through the porthole in the door. But the man was actually a cat with green whiskers and-

"Lainne!" came Heck's voice through the helmet radio, startling her. "Your eyes were closed. Are you ok?"

She looked around, alarmed that she could have fallen asleep standing up. The face in the porthole was gone, it had never been. It was a dream.

"Fine. But I'll need a good rest, and soon."

"We're almost there," he said comfortingly. He eased her down onto the bench and punched instructions into the computer console on the wall. "After we decontaminate our suits and dispose of them, we'll be just about done. I'm sure you'll be able to rest then."

Lainne nodded and leaned her helmeted head back against the wall of the air lock. After a moment shower heads mounted on the ceiling and the walls blasted an array of chemicals and solvents designed to decontaminate their biohazard suits. Lainne forced herself to stand and endure the process that would bring her closer to what she wanted right now more than anything, sleep.

Finally the two were decontaminated to the standards of the sally port computer and the other hatch opened to allow them egress. Once inside this room they removed their suits and placed them in a bin for destruction. In minutes Heck was leading Lainne out into the seemingly never-ending, monotonous, tunnels in the depths of ROS.

"It is about time!" drifted an accented voice through the passageway.

"Gelad!" said Lainne with relief.

"It's good to see you, Gelad," admitted Heck, despite himself. He wondered bitterly if he was getting soft. Gelad was waiting near a maintenance hatch and Heck, in his fatigue, almost missed him.

"Mr. Thomas, I am very pleased to see that you and Ms. Connor made it safely through your ordeal. It must have been quite a shock to see the ghost of Stephen Doolin."

"More than you know, Gelad." Heck said in a tone that made it clear the matter was to be dropped immediately. He wasn't surprised that the Israeli agent had known. By now the solar flare would be long since over and communication systems would be back online. News reports would have reached all levels of all governments, and the intelligence machine would report what the media didn't know. "We need to get this poor lady to a bed where she can rest."

"Indeed. I think you both deserve some well-earned rest. But I am afraid there is one last leg on this journey."

Heck nodded in understanding and smiled reassuringly at Lainne's despondent gaze. Gelad handed each a pair of darkened goggles.

"Whoa, what's this?" complained Lainne as she put the glasses on. "I can't see at all!"

"Sensory dampeners," answered Heck. He smiled as Lainne grabbed on to him, suddenly unsteady on her feet. "We'll hardly be able to walk, much less remember where we are being led. It's for our own good."

"I am sure you understand, I cannot allow you to see the manner in which our special forces conduct their covert ingress and egress from this station. To do so would only make your own existence a liability to my government. Mr. Thomas, please hold onto this tether," Gelad handed Heck a cord that was tethered to the Israeli's backpack and Lainne was tethered to Heck's own belt.

"Alright, Gelad. Let's go."

Gelad led the pair silently down a short hallway, then through a series of turns that Heck had no hope of memorizing. Finally they stopped and the sound of a hatch opening reached their ears. Heck was gently guided through the hatch and made to take a seat on a bench. In a moment, Lainne was next to him and the hatch closed. Then a sudden burst of movement told Heck that they were in a car of some kind, being transported through secret means to the consulate.

"Heck," Lainne began, a question on her lips.

"Please, Ms. Connor. No talking."

Lainne quieted as she had been asked, but Heck found himself longing for the sound of her voice.
Longing?
he wondered what was getting into him. Was this first step to complete loss of mental control and sanity? He shook his head ruefully, certain that Gelad could have seen his embarrassed face.

The car stopped and the two were guided out of it and made to stand. The only sound Heck heard was that of the vehicle door closing and then nothing more. Gelad took the darkened glasses from them and Heck found himself blinking in the bright lights of a lavishly furnished room. A room with four walls and only a human sized door leading out. There was no sign of the vehicle they had seconds ago been riding in or of any place where such a vehicle could even have traveled.

"How did they do that?" asked Lainne in awe.

"Don't bother asking, Lainne. He won't tell."

"I never heard it leave.
We
didn't leave!"

"Indeed, Ms. Connor. You did not. Now, please make yourselves comfortable. I am afraid this is all of the comfort we may provide you at the moment, but no one will bother you."

"Thank you!" said Lainne as she dropped onto a full leather couch. The room was paneled in rich, dark wood and a number of paintings depicting the Holy Land adorned the walls. The carpet was thick and soft and Heck thought he could sleep on the floor if he had to, but that leather recliner looked much more inviting.

"I will have some food and refreshments brought to you. Please, rest and eat. There is some time before we must execute the next phase of our plan."

Heck wanted to argue, wanted to insist on getting on with the rescue mission. But he couldn't. He could hardly see past his nose and his eyes were so heavy. He started to walk past Lainne, toward the recliner, but her hand shot up from the couch and locked onto his. He sat down on the couch next to her and lay down; in seconds the two were fast asleep.

Chapter

Nine

~

Gelad returned sometime later for Lainne and Heck, silently appearing in the doorway. And though it seemed like only minutes had passed since the Israeli had left the two in peace, it had been nearly eight hours. The Israeli officer was flanked by two armed men, each wearing a plain and unadorned uniform. The men wore grim expressions and displayed their Raptor Assault Rifles with skill. Their black high-collared coats bore dark gray stripes above each cuff and gray buttons down the front, their trousers were black with a gray stripe down the leg. The only adornment on their uniforms was an embroidered badge, a dark gray Israeli flag over the heart.

"I don't feel as though I've slept at all," grumbled the woman.

"Me either. All right, Gelad. Let's get on with this."

Gelad turned on his booted heel and the two followed after. A few moments later they were all standing in a lavishly decorated hall, tributes to the historical might of the nation of Israel adorned the walls. The door before them was large and made of wood, a rare thing to find in the drifts. In the center of the door was a retinal scanner with a DNA scanning palm pad.

Gelad looked into the eyepiece and placed his palm on the DNA scanning pad. A holographic message flashed before them,
Identity Confirmed.
Then the great door swung inward and Gelad strode in with Lainne and Heck in tow. Lainne gawked at the contents of the room like a tourist. It was a command center for the Israeli Police and the Defense Ministry. There were massive vid screens and holodisplays everywhere. Computer stations were manned across the room by Israelis uniformed similarly to the men who walked with Gelad. Operations happening in real time across the Solar System, some Israeli and some not, were being monitored closely.

"Quite an operation you have here, Gelad."

"You were
never
here, Mr. Thomas. Understood?"