The Tactics of Revenge (6 page)

“Stop,” one of the guards commanded. “What is your business here?”

Poul stepped forward. “We are here for a recalibration of the comm signals. Just routine—”

His comments were interrupted by an alarm that suddenly began blaring from a speaker on the wall next to the security station. One of the Hyben placed a portable communicator to the side of his head and appeared to be listening intently. The other two creatures began to withdraw their MK’s.

Adam was the first to react, as the flash and ping of three quick electric bolts shot out from Adam’s MK-17. The three Hyben fell to the floor, traces of smoke slowly wafting into the air from the bolt-holes burned in their chests.

Poul turned, his tiny mouth once again forming a perfect ‘O.’ “What did you do that for? I could have got us through.”

Adam shifted the MK and sent a level-two bolt into the speaker on the wall, quieting the alarm, although he could still hear more alarms off in the distance. “I think they’re on to us; that didn’t take long. Now who do you think could have warned them about our coming?” Adam stared straight at the Hyben.

“Only my mates knew—”

“Never trust a woman with a pile of money sitting on the table,” Adam said with a smile, looking over at Sherri.

She frowned back at him, “It seems women everywhere are just as dissatisfied with their men as they are back on Earth. Can’t blame ’em for being pragmatic.”

“But why would they report
me
? They are my mates!”

Sherri looked at Poul, “Maybe you should have brought the credits with you – for insurance. Looks like you’re expendable, Poul.”

“Come on, we don’t have all night.” Adam shoved the still-stunned alien down the hallway. “Find us a terminal.”

“I’ve only been up here a few times, but I think there are some units at the end of the hall.”

They entered a long room with three rows of bench tables running the length of the room. At intervals along them were dozens of monitors and linking terminals, but not all of the terminals appeared to be operating. The lights and monitors were lit at only three stations.

Adam slipped onto an oversized chair with an open back, designed to allow for the tail of the Hyben to fit over the seat. Before him sat a basic comm unit; he punched in a specific set of frequency numbers and pressed the
activate
button.

“Alpha Team to Watchdog. Alpha Team to Watchdog, come in.”

There was no response. He looked up at Sherri, who was standing next to him, with a concerned look on her face. “Alpha to Watchdog, come—”

“Adam, is that you? I mean, Team Alpha, is that you?” Adam could hear Jym’s high-pitched stammer through the speakers. “Eh, this is Watch – eh – dog.”

Adam just shook his head. “It’s okay Jym,” he said into the microphone. “If anyone’s listening, I don’t think they’re going to be fooled.”

“Sorry. I’m not used to some of the terms you want me use. Are you all right? I’ve not picked up your proximity beacon.”

“Yeah, and you’re not going to either. The shuttle is out of commission and we’re stuck here.”

“Oh no!” Jym was always susceptible to fits of excitability. “We’ve been monitoring the reaction to your attack and the planet has been locked down! How are you going to get away?”

“We’re not – at least for the time being. I need you and Kaylor to lay off the planet for about a week – let’s make it six standard days – until things blow over down here. Then come down to our original landing port. We’ll meet you there.”

There was a slight hesitation on the link before Jym’s nervous voice came back on. “I am confused.
What
must blow over? Is there a storm on the surface? I’m not seeing any on my screens.”

Shit!

“Never mind that,” Adam said impatiently. “Just land in six days and pick us up. Can you do that?”

“If restrictions are lifted by then, we will be there.”

“Good. Now we have to go. Someone has tipped off the cops about us being here. Continue to monitor the newscasts. We’ll attempt to make contact with you again closer to the extraction, if possible.”

“I’m still confused about the weather – and what’s a
cop
?”

“Alpha Team out!”
Frickin’ aliens.

Sherri tugged on his rob. “I hear helicopters outside – or whatever they have here like helicopters. I think they’re surrounding the building.”

Adam could hear the thump, thump, thump of the approaching craft as well. He turned to Poul. “Looks like you’re more involved than you wanted to be, and if you want to survive the night, you’re going to have to help us get out of here.”

“No! I can just turn myself in. I can say I was taken hostage!”

Adam smiled back at him. “Let me ask: who was the other male in your chambers, Poul, the one your mates were all huddled up against?”

Poul’s mouth formed the ‘O’ again. “That is my eldest. He is nearing maturity…”

Sherri put her arm on Poul’s back. “Well it looks like your mates might be looking to replace you with some young blood. Do you think that’s a possibility?”

Poul’s back shell appeared to shrink some, as he slumped in his posture. “Yes, I can see that now. My mates have been unhappy with me recently and they have been spending more time with Kiiax.”

“I don’t think they’ll support your story about being taken hostage. They’ve got all the credits now,
and
the young stud. Like I said before, I think you’re expendable.”

“That is a cruel thing to say, but I agree.”

Adam stood up from the seat. “Good. I’m glad that’s settled. Now can you tell us if there’s a way out of here?”

Poul was silent for a few moments. “I suppose we could go through The Baths.”

“What are those?” Adam asked as he hustled them all toward the door.

“They are below us, underground. We Hyben use them much of the time, even though the other non-Hyben workers tend to shun them.”

“Why?”

“I do not know. It
is
quite puzzling.”

“Can we get there from inside the building?”

“Possibly, but I would not take the elevator or the stairways. We could get trapped in there when the authorities enter the building.”

“Good thinking Poul. Lead the way.”

Chapter 7

The Hyben took them to a large double-panel opening in the side of the hallway, telling them this was an access to what he called the building’s carrier-shoot system. The system turned out to an intricate dumbwaiter setup used in place of freight elevators for the building. Within the large metal tunnels – hidden within the walls of the building – ran a continual series of large metal boxes, which conveniently were large enough for the Hyben to crawl into. Adam and Sherri squeezed into a second box, and they all began the journey through the maze to points unknown.

From inside the metal-lined tube, the Humans could hear the sounds of running and excited calls as what seemed like a hundred beings stormed into the building and began to fill the elevators and stairwells. Luckily, no one seemed interested in checking the carrier-shoots.

Eventually, the three of them were delivered to the lowest point of the conveyor system and Poul climbed out of his box, followed quickly by Adam and Sherri. The boxes swung around and began their rise back into the building.

The room they were in was large, dark and dank. There was a loud motor to the left that appeared to be running the dumbwaiter system, and a long hallway leading to the left. The walls were lined with sweating brick and a thick coating of moss and algae – and the place smelled like a sewer.

“Damn, Poul, it stinks down here,” Adam said, brushing imaginary flies from his face.

“I differ with your opinion. The Baths are quite relaxing for us Hyben.”

“So where are they, these
baths
?” Sherri asked, her face also contorted into an expression of disgust.

“This way. I’m sure once you’ve experienced them you will have a differing opinion as well.”

About fifty meters down the long hallway, Poul led them through a wide open doorway. At the opposite end of this new room was a large, dark hole in the floor. Poul turned to the two Humans. “This way – follow me.” And then the large Hyben plunged head first into the dark opening.

Adam and Sherri just looked at each other. Sherri was the first to speak, “I’m not going in there. Who knows what’s at the other end.”

Adam turned toward the exit; already he could hear the sounds of movement at the other end of the hallway. The authorities had apparently discovered their escape route and were closing in. “We can try to fight our way out – or we can follow the Hyben.”

Sherri shook her head while letting out a long sigh. And then she turned away from Adam and disappeared into the dark opening – with the word
‘shit!’
trailing off as she fell deeper into the abyss.

And then Adam, too, nose-dived into the dark, ominous opening….

Adam found himself sliding in the dark, his face showered with smelly, slimy goo scrapped off of the surface of the steeply sloping tunnel. Suddenly he burst out into the open, with a bright light illuminating his path. Yet what he saw in front of him caused him to inhale sharply, taking in a clump of the foul-tasting gooey mess into his mouth. He was heading for a ramp, one that rose steeply up in front of him – and ended in mid-air!

He rode up the ramp and off the end – like a ski jumper – until he was flying through the air, arms flailing as he flew. And then he splashed down, not in a pool of refreshing water, but rather in a lake of thick, putrid goo. The pool he’d landed in wasn’t very deep, and once he found his footing, Adam rose up, with his head and shoulders out of the liquid.

He gagged and began spitting the foul-tasting gunk out of his mouth. To his right he heard other coughing and looked to see Sherri standing not too far from him, pulling her fingers through her hair, attempting to dislodge globs of green and black matter from her once-blonde hair. She looked over at him, her face spotted with globules of goo.

“It’s all in my nose and my mouth!”
she screamed at him. Adam just coughed some more and ran his hands over his face, attempting to keep the offensive goo out of his eyes.

And then Poul surfaced next to him. “Isn’t it glorious?” the alien asked, as his six appendages spread the viscous fluid over the front of this body and over his face. He appeared to be almost intoxicated by the sticky, foul-smelling mess.

“It’s disgusting!” Adam countered back. “How do we get out of here?”

The Hyben stood silent for a moment, looking insulted, letting large droplets of the goo flow down his body. “You are just like all the other non-Hyben. You do not know a good thing when you’re swimming in it. But over here; we can get out this way.”

Adam and Sherri slogged after the Hyben, who didn’t seem to have any trouble navigating through the thick liquid. They soon felt a series of small steps under the surface, which lifted them out of the pool and into another room. Poul motioned with his forearm. “There are water showers over there if you wish to clean off.” He made no move toward the showers himself. Instead, Adam saw the plates of his back carapace vibrate slightly, squeezing more of the goo out from between them as they did so. Adam thought he would vomit.

Sherri ran past him and activated the powerful jets of fresh water in the first shower station she came to. Adam was only a step behind. They both feverishly scrubbed and washed their fully-clothed bodies, with Adam also rinsing off his MK and flash rifle. Luckily, the bolt launchers were more-or-less impervious to water damage, but he still wanted to get the smell off of his weapons – if possible!

While still in the shower, Adam called over to Poul: “Where to from here?”

“There is an exit to the outside. It comes out in a hanger next to the administration building. I still can’t understand why you don’t enjoy this.”

With their clothing now soaked with sulfur-smelling water, Adam and Sherri followed the dejected Hyben up a long series of steps until they reached a small room at the far end of an enormous hanger. Holding their weapons at the ready, the two Humans cautiously entered the hanger, looking for any threats. The building appeared to be empty, but Adam knew the authorities were right behind them, and the trail of dripping water from their clothing wouldn’t be hard to follow. Once their route was discerned, a simple radio call would send a squad of armed Hyben into the hanger.

“We’re just improvising here, Poul, but is there anywhere we can hide out nearby?”

The Hyben’s head made a weird wobbling motion, causing Adam to recoil slightly. “I cannot think of a place. The Mulinni – our police force – will keep looking throughout the compound. They will expect us to go back into the town.” He was becoming very agitated.

“What’s on the other side of the yards, away from the town?”

“Just the jungle, but that is dangerous and impassable. Hiba vipers and other nasty creatures reside there.”

Adam looked at Sherri and grinned. “Sounds perfect; they wouldn’t think to look for us there.”

“But I hate snakes!”

“Don’t sweat it. Cooked right, they are quite tasty.”

Just then an old saying popped into Adam’s head, a variation on a quote from the bible, actually:
Yea thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil –’cause I’m the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the valley!

Chapter 8

“
Adam Cain
, are you certain?”

The Juirean Overlord nodded almost unperceptively at the question posed by the most supreme Juirean of them all, Council Elder Hydon Ra Elys.

“Yes, My Lord. Several witnesses have verified the name, and the physical description we have appears to confirm it. Although reports place him at three other locations at once, this sighting appears to be the most reliable. And we have also discovered a disabled shuttle not far from the scene of the attack so there is a strong possibility that he is still on the planet.”

Hydon thought for a moment. If this was indeed Adam Cain, the leader of the Human terrorists, then all efforts must be made to either capture or kill him. This was what Fleet Marshal Relion’s counter-insurgency group had been assembled to accomplish, yet until now they had not had any significant impact on the activities of Cain and his Raiders, as they called themselves. If Cain was indeed still on Hyben then the Juireans could drop a net over the planet and send in all necessary resources to find him.