Authors: Doug J. Cooper
Crystal Deception (23 page)
Sid rounded the corner at a trot and
stopped. Juice stood motionless in front of him. She stared at him with wide
eyes. A Kardish had his left arm around her neck. His right hand held a weapon that
he was pushing into the back of her head.
Sid put his hands up and surrendered. As he did, he wondered
if the alien understood the gesture. He looked into her captor’s eyes, and as
they locked, the alien smirked. Sid felt something press into the back of his
own head. He toggled to see himself through Juice’s dot and saw that her captor
had a twin. The twin held his weapon on Sid.
The Kardish disarmed Sid, backed up, and moved around to his
left. He motioned with his weapon. Sid turned to see a cart parked in an alley immediately
to his right. The Kardish holding Juice dragged her to the cart, and Sid
understood he was to follow. Juice was pushed into the front seat. Her captor
slid into the driver’s position next to her. Sid was directed to get in the
back, behind the driver.
When Sid’s captor slid into the backseat next to him, he moved
his weapon off Sid and pointed it straight ahead toward Juice. The Kardish in
front, his weapon pointed at Juice as well, engaged the cart. Sid was fascinated.
Both weapons on her, none on him, and they seemed convinced he was controlled.
They were right, of course. For now.
They drove out to the road dividing the box city from the
open field and headed for the drone parking garage. They traveled past row
after row of the structure, turned down a corridor between two rows of cubicles,
and made their way to the dividing wall. Drone-filled stacks passed by in
endless succession on either side.
Sid studied his adversaries. He believed he could disarm and
shoot the one next to him using the alien’s own weapon. And he could follow up
and shoot the driver before he could turn and respond. He would survive, but it
wasn’t at all clear that Juice would. Vigilant, he waited for an opportunity
that promised a better outcome, or at least better odds.
And then he heard Criss say through his dot, “I am awake. I
will help you soon.” Sid saw Juice turn her head slightly and flick her eyes
back. Criss had spoken to her, too.
They reached the dividing wall, a door opened, and they
passed into a section of the vessel that held pods of equipment and machinery. The
cart purred along while his brain cycled furiously as he searched for a chance
to take action. It seemed certain they were getting closer to more Kardish, which
would only make escape more difficult.
* * *
Criss made a judgment call. He observed
that the otherwise calm professionalism of the group could be affected by their
personal feelings for each other. Sid did not know that Cheryl was alive. With minutes
to go before a critical sequence, Criss decided that now was not the time to
reveal that information. He chose to execute the next steps in a manner that
would avoid such emotional complexities.
“In two minutes, I will be shooting the driver,” Criss said
to Sid. “I will immediately follow this by shooting the guard next to you. I
will give you a countdown to prepare. I will fire the shots just as you draw
even with the three pillars up ahead. The shots will come from behind and to
your left. If you lean forward and down at the zero mark, it will maximize the
chances of two clean shots.”
* * *
Sid looked at Juice and, from her
lack of reaction, decided she hadn’t received a similar message. He wasn’t sure
what to make of that. He also wondered what sort of weapon Criss could access. Instinct
suggested Criss had succeeded in infiltrating the Kardish subsystems and would
use an automated security device of some sort to pull off this action.
He saw the pillars up ahead and scrutinized them and the
surrounding area to learn what he could. He didn’t see anything that gave him a
better sense of what was to come. The pillars drew closer as Sid played out different
scenarios in his head, preparing for both success and mishap.
“You are passing the three pillars on your left.” Criss said.
“Slouch in three…two…one…now.”
Sid leaned forward and touched the tips of his boots.
* * *
Cheryl could hear the approaching
cart and responded to her next instruction.
“Move behind the pillar nearest the cart.”
She shifted her position, keeping the broad pole directly
between her and the sound of the approaching vehicle, fighting the urge to sneak
a look.
“Thirty seconds,” Criss said. “It’s just like the cart you
rode in with Jack. There’s a Kardish driver with Juice in front. Sid and another
Kardish are in back. Sid is behind the driver. The Kardish is behind Juice.”
Cheryl was comfortable with her mental image of the
situation. In her head, she stepped through the sequence of actions she would
take, recognizing the possibility she may have misunderstood an important
detail in the impending scenario. In her years of training, she’d worked through
hundreds of drills where the instructors prepared her using one set of facts and
then followed with a live exercise where the facts were scrambled. That
practice had been intended to train her for just this event. In the drills, she’d
proved herself as someone who was able to adapt as new information became
available. She reassured herself that she would be able to do so now.
“As the cart begins to pass,” said Criss, “come around
behind the pillars and approach the cart from the rear. You will have to move
quickly so your target remains close. Shoot the driver first. He will be on
your near side in front. Then shoot the other. He will be on the far side in
back.”
“Got it,” she said, more to herself than anything else.
The cart seemed like it was right on top of her. “Start
moving around behind the pillar,” Criss told her. “Good. Come around. Breathe.
Now, Captain.”
Cheryl stepped out from behind the pillar and, taking long strides,
approached the cart. Her mental image matched what she saw in front of her, and
she maintained her pace as she leveled her weapon. She targeted the driver and
fired. Without hesitation, she moved her eyes back to identify Sid and then
over to target the Kardish next to him.
As she shifted the weapon onto the second alien, she saw Sid
slump.
Oh my God,
she thought.
I’ve hit him!
She became flustered.
She didn’t want to compound her error by hitting Juice. Her aim wavered and her
second shot went wide. The Kardish in the backseat turned his head and made a
move to swing his arm around and return fire.
* * *
As Sid leaned forward, he could
almost feel the energy of the first shot when the bolt passed just to his left.
It hit the driver, the impact centered in the back of the alien’s head.
Nice
shot, Criss,
he thought. With the driver down, the cart slowed.
He heard the second shot and then heard an impact on a piece
of equipment far off to his right. Criss missed!
He paused, not sure if Criss would fire again. Then the guard
next to him reacted. Sid saw him move his weapon off Juice and toward him. Sid
realized he was going to be shot. His reflexes took over.
Sid swung his body up and moved in the direction of the
guard. In the same motion, he grabbed the top of the guard’s weapon in his left
hand and pulled the hand up to amplify the guard’s own actions. As he pulled,
he applied pressure to twist the weapon inward.
While controlling the movement of the weapon with his left
hand, Sid snapped his right arm straight up. With his hand flat, he thrust his
palm into the guard’s face. He heard a crunch as the guard’s nose broke. A gush
of blood followed. The guard was momentarily distracted as he processed his
pain.
That distraction was what Sid sought. He brought his right
hand down to help his left. He continued moving the weapon inward, forcing it back
until it was pointed at the guard. He used his thumbs to push on the alien’s fingers,
trying several times before the weapon fired. The weapon pulsed, and the guard’s
body arched, slumped, and slid slowly out of the cart. Sid could see the burn
mark on the side of his chest as the Kardish sprawled lifelessly onto the deck.
Someone or something touched him from behind. Sid swung his left
elbow up and back, throwing his weight into it as he turned. He felt a
satisfying thud as he connected with the side of a head. Pivoting his body to
follow through with a punch, he stopped, astonished, when he recognized Cheryl.
She crumpled forward into his lap.
Juice, still in the cart, surveyed
the scene. Behind her, Sid cradled Cheryl’s limp body in his arms. She turned
her attention to the driver. Given the impressive wound in the back of his head,
she was certain he was no longer a threat. She stepped out onto the deck, pushed
a toe into the side of the guard on the ground, squatted down to study him, and
concluded he was down for good as well.
She came around the front of the cart and approached Sid.
She put two fingers on Cheryl’s neck and felt a strong pulse. She watched
Cheryl’s chest rise rhythmically and steadily.
“She’ll be okay, Sid. It wasn’t your fault.”
Juice realized at that moment that her experiences over the
last days had given her a new perspective. Perhaps it was strengthened
confidence. Maybe it was a sense of self-reliance. Whatever it was, she knew
Sid had been her source of emotional support. She had drawn energy from him
over and over.
It’s your turn to give back
, she thought.
She stood next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder, and
scanned the area for signs of danger.
* * *
Sid stroked Cheryl’s hair. She
moaned. Her eyes fluttered, opened, and connected with his.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she said in a weak voice.
The two hugged for a long time. He whispered in her ear, and
she whispered back. He helped her to a sitting position, and she gingerly
touched her temple where his elbow connected.
“Is it bad?” he asked, his voice anxious.
“No worse than the last time you knocked me down.” She
started to grin, but her expression turned into a wince.
Sid, satisfied that Cheryl was recovering, exploded. “Damn
it, Criss. What the hell was that?”
Criss deflected the issue nicely. “Jack needs our help. Time
is critical. He is not doing well.”
Cheryl’s eyes opened wide as she sat all the way up. “Jack’s
been captured by the Kardish. He was headed to the rooms over there.” She
pointed to the wall partition along the near side.
“Criss,” said Sid. “Can you locate him?”
“He is being held in a side room. He is being interrogated.”
“Can you get us to him?”
“Yes. It will be fastest to drive.”
Sid helped Cheryl into the backseat, then moved to the front,
grabbed the dead driver by his royal costume, and tossed him onto the deck. He climbed
into the driver’s seat, and upon looking down, realized he wasn’t sure how to
operate the vehicle.
Juice got in next to him and pointed. “That thingy,” she
said.
Sid got the cart moving, and Criss gave him turn-by-turn instructions
to guide them to Jack and his captors.
“Criss, other than screwing up ambushes, how are you doing?”
Sid’s phrasing reflected his belief that the crystal’s miscues had caused him to
hurt Cheryl.
“I am fine. Thank you for asking.”
“Is the cloak still working? Are you being threatened in any
way?”
“I am safe and secure for the moment. I will notify you if I
need assistance.”
After a few more turns, Sid had an idea. “Can you show us Jack?
Can you show me on my dot?”
“Me too,” said Juice.
They both saw an image of Jack. He was bound to a chair, naked
from the waist up, and had nasty-looking red marks on his shoulders, arms, and
chest. His head slumped forward, and he wasn’t moving.
Two Kardish stood in front of him. Sid and Juice couldn’t hear
sounds from the scene they were watching, but it was apparent the aliens were
disagreeing about something. The younger male had his arms folded across his
chest. The older female was waving her finger at him as she spoke in an
animated fashion.
“That’s Victoria Wellstone,” said Juice. “I’ve met her at
least a dozen times. I’d always thought she was a horrible bitch. Now I know
why.”
Sid was quiet for a moment as he studied the scene. “I’ve
seen Jack take a hell of a lot of punishment. He looks bad. Criss, what’ve they
done to him?”
“They have infused him with drugs designed to elicit
truthful responses. The drugs were created for the Kardish physiology. He is
gravely ill.”
“What are the red marks?”
“At first they thought he was faking his affliction. They
struck him a number of times before they realized he was not.”
Sid stopped the cart a short distance from where Jack was
being held and hopped out. Looking at Juice, he said. “Swing this around and point
it for a quick getaway.”
He turned to Cheryl. “Can you help?”
“I’m good.” She stepped out of the cart, and Sid noted that
she steadied herself with both hands as she did so. It was clear she was
hurting, but he didn’t have other options.
As they walked up to the door, Cheryl checked her weapons.
“I couldn’t see whatever you and Juice were looking at. I’m going in blind.”
Sid nodded. “Criss, will the door open? Any locks or
anything I need to know about?”
“Just lift the latch and push.”
“What kind of access do you have to the subsystems? Could
you cause a distraction for us in there?”
There was a moment of quiet. “Sid, on your mark, I will open
a relief tap in the back of the room. It will make a loud hissing noise. Your
dot will let you see how they react. When their attention has been sufficiently
misdirected, you enter, approach, and dispatch. Cheryl, I suggest you go
directly to Jack and free him. It will likely take both of you to move him to
the cart.”
“He’s sitting about fifteen steps forward and to the right,”
said Sid as he reviewed the scene inside the room. He put his hand on the latch
and counted for Criss. “Three…two…one…go.”
They heard a violent hissing noise coming from inside the room.
Sid watched as both aliens turned to look.
“Here we go,” he said to Cheryl over his shoulder. He lifted
the latch and pushed the door open. He took four long strides into the room and
shot the aliens in quick succession. The male fell silently. Victoria was able
to turn around and throw a glare of hatred before she crumbled.
Sid ran to where Cheryl was fussing with the restraints,
freeing Jack just as he reached them. Jack was unconscious. Sid squatted in
front of the chair and pulled Jack forward and over his shoulder. He stood up, took
a stutter-step as he gained his balance under the weight, and walked quickly out
to the cart. He leaned forward and laid Jack across the back seat.
Cheryl perched on the edge of the cart seat and tended to
him. Sid hopped in front. “Hit it,” he said to Juice.
Juice engaged the cart and drove them through the maze of
pipes and equipment. There was a palpable change in mindset at that moment. The
survivors were together now. The highest priority on their to-do list was to get
off the Kardish vessel and on their way home. A close second was to leave a
ball of fire behind them.
Sid watched Juice hold an animated discussion with Criss on
the best route to the dividing wall and back to the scout. He heard her end of
the conversation, but his mind was preoccupied, and he didn’t process the words.
After several minutes of quiet brooding, he started a
separate conversation with Criss. “You’ve clearly succeeded in gaining access
to some of the Kardish subsystems. What can you do and what can’t you?”
“I can access anything on the vessel. Once I have done so, I
am able to control it. I am constrained by a slow connection, so taking on a
new task requires that I drop something I am already doing.”
“Can you get that big hatch above the scout open so we can
fly out?”
“Yes, but the scout does not have the fuel for a return trip
to Earth, or even the moon. We used the bulk of our reserves to get here. And
we’ve been moving farther away from both planets since our arrival.”
“The Kardish must have fuel we can use.”
“I believe I can gain control of a Kardish transport to use
as an escape vehicle. If I can, I will move it near the scout. The scout should
remain your destination.”
* * *
Jack’s eyes opened to slits, though
the rest of his body remained still. He said something without moving his lips.
Cheryl couldn’t understand him and leaned in close, putting her ear right next
to his mouth.
“I told you he would come,
chérie
.” He wheezed as he
fought to take in another breath. His eyes closed. His lungs emptied for the
last time.
* * *
Sid heard an anguished cry and glanced
back. Cheryl was looking at him with a hand over her mouth. The other rested on
Jack’s chest. She shook her head as her eyes reddened.
Sid shifted onto his knees in the front seat and leaned back
toward Jack. “What’s Jack’s status?”
“I am sorry,” Criss said to all of them at once. “The
Kardish drugs have poisoned him. He has died.”
Sid reached out and put a hand on Jack’s arm. He bowed his
head and didn’t move for several seconds. Then, avoiding eye contact with
Cheryl, he turned forward and sat down. Professionally, he knew it wasn’t productive,
yet he couldn’t stop the fury from welling up inside him. He rubbed the corner
of his eye with the back of his hand.
All three of them looked straight ahead, lost in their
private thoughts. Proper mourning would have to wait. Sid thought that some serious
revenge between now and then would help ease the pain.
The dividing wall loomed ahead. Criss opened a door and they
passed through without slowing. Juice turned the cart and they purred along, travelling
parallel to the wall. They passed row after row of drones as they made for the
open area where the scout was hiding.
“Where are they?” Sid asked Criss. “What kind of time
pressure are we under?”
“There are only two dozen living Kardish on the ship at this
point. They have taken to fighting among themselves, so that number is
dwindling. Our immediate concern is the six soldiers moving into the box city. They
are maintaining mission silence, so I can only infer their final destination
from their movements. I have enough evidence to conclude that their objective
is to kill us.”
“There’re only two dozen of them?” said Sid. His experiences
on the vessel were so surreal that he’d thought he was done being surprised. He
didn’t wait for an answer. “What do the soldiers have in mind?”
“Their movements have followed evasive tactics. They have
split, doubled back, merged, and then split again. I am tracking them, but with
thousands of different box units as viable destinations, my matrix of possible outcomes
remains too large to draw a useful conclusion.”
Sid stared ahead as the cart cleared the end of the drone
garage and angled on a slanting path across the open field. Juice was doing a
great job of driving. He knew roughly where the scout was located, presumably
still cloaked and secure, and sensed they were right on target.
They were a short way onto the field when Criss spoke to all
of them with clear urgency. “Juice, stop the cart. Everyone get out and
separate. Run in different directions. This is an emergency. Move now.”
