Chapter 34
We traveled in silence through hallways as dim and deserted as any abandoned village I’d ever seen. Only here, there was no sign of any former occupation, and no broken furniture, pottery or discarded tools. No clothing or trace of any human ever being in these hallways.
Even the air had the smell of long-ago ages, of undisturbed places forgotten by those that had created them. It wasn’t until we’d gone halfway that we began to see signs of regular traffic. There were oil stains from their electric vehicles and scratch marks from forklifts transporting heavy loads. The lighting was brighter here and we bypassed more and more junctions.
I heard the drone of voices long before the rest of the team did and slowed down searching for a door that was unlocked. When I found one, I took a quick peek inside and saw that it was a work lab with tools, counters and benches. Best of all, I found several maintenance coveralls and slipped out of my own clothes to dress in one of the blue work jumpers. All six of them stared at my body, especially when I turned my back to them. Arianell’s eyes were hot lasers on the scars from my last beating and Blackfin looked …aroused.
“Here,” I handed two of them the spare coveralls and told them to dress so that we could merge with the techs when we saw them. “The people here will greet you by saying, hi, hello or good day. They won’t stop to chat and they’re not suspicious of strangers. The population here is small, just over a hundred thousand but I’m sure not everyone knows everybody,” I said. “Take off your coats – to be seen in such heavy outerwear would be suspicious unless you’re one of the techs and those number only a thousand.”
“Our clothes?” Blackfin asked indicating his leather trousers and vested jerkin. I eyed our weapons.
“They’ll stick out too much. Cover them with your capes if you can. The wands won’t stand out. Ready?”
“Do we kill or stun?” Arianell asked and they looked at Blackfin. I knew my orders but I could not tell her what those were.
“We’re here to open the gates and retrieve the Director,” the wizard shrugged. “I care naught about the others. And I can mask our clothing to look like Reuven’s.”
“And not trigger an energy detector?” I came back.
“The spell is a minor one that barely tweaks the power,” he snapped as I questioned him. I did not answer but lowered my eyes as I waited for his reaction. He snorted and pointed to the door. I opened it slowly checking to see if anyone was coming and just as I stepped out, a pair of technicians were hurrying down the hallway, saw me and grabbed my elbow.
“Maintenance?” The young man snapped. “Come on, you’re needed in control! We’ve lost the vid-screens at Observation Tower Six near the Gate.”
I looked at the closed door and said, “Wait. My team is just disrobing from a check. Let me get them.”
“Hurry. The barbarians have managed to place high explosives in the control panel access.”
I stopped. “Will that open the doors?”
“No. But it’ll lock down so we can’t open them from inside.” He looked at me oddly as if I should know that.
“I’m new to this,” I improvised. “I was on vent maintenance before this but my trainer fell and died.”
“Oh.” I opened the door and called the team out. In a few terse words, I explained we were needed at the control room and they rushed us forward. I was satisfied that the plans in my head of my proposed route was the same way the pair was taking us which fortunately for me, they pushed us through a crowded square of people that were in a panicked state.
“They’re afraid the barbarians will get in,” one of the techs said. “Everyone is headed down to the vaults to hide.”
“Where are the security techs?” I asked.
“They are converging on the Gate to help protect it,” he answered me. “I’m Tech Level IV Ambrose.”
“Tech Level II Reuven,” I said and the others remained quiet. He led us through the working class of lower levels shops and stores where we crammed ourselves into an elevator. We rode up several floors before the door opened on a broad room that was divided into three areas, the largest of which was a circular room rising high above the rest and composed of glass windows and short waist-high walls. Inside seated at several workstations and monitoring vid-screens were top-level techs and the man I had met known as Janic Ricbom.
The tech called Ambrose led us off towards the smaller divided area where cubicles were broken up into individual carrels and housed a single technician each. All of them were busy scanning data on their terminals and looking worried.
“Reuven,” Blackfin said. “Do you know where the controls are?”
“In the control room, master,” I said quietly, pointing to the raised circular room.
“Is the Director there?”
“Yes, master,” I nodded simply. “He is the man in the white jumpsuit.”
“You know what to do, Reuven,” he said and turned on the confused technicians. Every Klese in the team uncovered their weapons and began to pick off the techs and guards who were stunned at our sudden attack. None of them fought back and most ran screaming. I looked at Arianell and Siobhan with flat eyes before I raced towards the Control Room.
To reach its height I had to climb the spiral staircase that wound around its outside legs and those inside were so focused on the fighting outside the gates that they were unaware of anything until I blew the door open with one swift kick. Only then did the technicians turn around to stare at me. Two of them raised their wands but I used mine on the techs, blowing holes through their hearts and blood spattered the walls to coat the windows in crimson gore. Ricbom had time to say my name before I knocked him unconscious with one blow. The smell of their blood made me ravenous but the fear of the collar kept me from it. I headed instead for the Gate mechanism.