Chapter 40 - Enemy Territory
In this enemy territory, Tymos and Kryslie expected to meet aliens. They drew on their power, enhanced all their senses and were ready to defend themselves, or to freeze into a semblance of invisibility when they warped the air around them. Though they would need to use the latter skill sparingly as it took personal energy to maintain the ‘invisibility’ and within the alien ship, they could not draw on the natural aura of the planet.
“Sensor ahead – roof level,” Tymos warned as they trotted along the passage. A second later, an alarm began, but they were no longer near that sensor.
“Door to the right,” Kryslie noted a microsecond after her twin’s warning. “Maintenance hatch.”
They stopped abruptly and Tymos jerked on the opening handle and twisted it. As soon as the door opened, they both slipped in. Kryslie closed the door and jammed it shut.
They were in darkness, but their eyes adjusted quickly, and they determined that they were in a small cul-de-sac at the junction of two passageways – one going left and right and another going up and down. In that place the alarm sound was muted by the walls, but they could feel the vibration from running feet in the passage they had left, and voices echoing in the maintenance passages.
Instinctively, they pushed back into the small alcove opposite the hatch and drew power around themselves. Someone tried to open the hatch from the other side. Kryslie listened mentally to the nearby aliens as Tymos studied their surroundings.
“They are sending someone to check that door,” Kryslie warned. “They are checking all the doors.”
“This area has sensors, currently inactive,” Tymos thought in return.
When the lighting began to cycle up, both Tymos and Kryslie stood perfectly still.
“Krys, the lighting is part of some kind of sensor field. I can feel the energy on my face, like it was sunlight.”
Even before Tymos spoke the words in his mind, Kryslie had the thought, “We can use this power.” They both drew on it, like breathing it in.
“Was there a field like this in the other passageway?” Krys asked her twin. She hadn’t noticed anything.
“No, I don’t think so, or the alarm would have started sooner.”
The voices drew closer. Two men stopped at the jammed door and forced it open. Four guards in black coveralls, black tabards and close fitting black beanie hats pushed into the tunnel, and shoved the brown clad workers aside.
“Any sign of the intruders?”
“No, Sir.”
“What was wrong with the door?”
“Jammed. Some fool shut it wrong. Took us both to open it. Your intruder couldn’t have got through.”
Kryslie and Tymos understood the conversation through the mind of the squad leader. They then heard him thinking, “Damned rodents. Warlord Kellex won’t be convinced that is all that triggered the alarm unless he sees the carcass.”
Aloud he said, “Move on. Keep checking. Probably was only a rodent since it was only this area that was set off. But we have to be thorough.”
They sensed the group moving away, and the workers reclosing the hatch.
“That squad leader has a trace of power,” Kryslie told her brother mentally. “I am glad he did not find us because he would have taken us to his superior and enjoyed seeing us suffer. I wonder how many more of the crew have a trace of power.”
“If every squad has one of them, we will be able to avoid them,” Tymos suggested. “But we need to get moving and find out about this ship and discover a way to stop it leaving.”
“And get our bio-monitors and transmitters back,” Kryslie added. “Some of these aliens just might be able to get them to work. I still can’t sense Keleb either, and I have the fear that he was caught too. I hope Jonko can find him.”
By mutual agreement, they decided to climb up a level. As they moved, they maintained a steady draw on the ambient energy of the sensor web. They noticed that the lights dimmed in their location, but brightened again when they were past. No more alarms went off.
On the next level, they emerged into a corridor nearly identical to the one below. The difference lay in the colour of the symbols on the doors and walls. Now they were red, not black. The sensor web was still in evidence.
“People coming,” Kryslie warned. She turned slowly, trying to locate the presences she sensed. “From the right!”
She pushed aside the realisation that she had seen the people as hazy outlines through the wall.
Tymos ran forward and held himself against the right wall, immediately next to the next cross passage. Kryslie crouched low, opposite him; both cloaked themselves with power.
A squad of four guards came into view; all looked each way at the intersection, saw nothing and began to stride on.
Two to one odds were no problem to Tymos or Kryslie. With their instinctive awareness of each other, the guards had no warning of their two pronged attack, and no chance to send an alarm.
Tymos quickly frisked their four victims, found that each had an odd-looking disc around their neck and took them.
He pocketed two of the weapons and passed two to Kryslie before she moved further down the passage. She found a door, and tried to open it using the keypad.
“Try Jon’s transmitter,” Tymos thought at her, as he began to drag to of the men that way.
Kryslie accepted the suggestion and was relieved when the unit charged. She disappeared from Tymos’s view, but reappeared when the locked door opened. She took over dragging the first two men as Tymos went back for the other two. The room was some kind of storage cubicle.
“I disabled the sensor,” Kryslie told her brother.
“Good. We should strip two of these and put their uniforms over our clothes,” Tymos suggested. He didn’t need to think that they would be less conspicuous than maintaining their current garb. Kryslie was relieved to hide the green of the stolen trousers, and to push most of her hair under the hat. She took two of the odd discs from Tymos.
“These guards move on groups of four,” Kryslie noted. “Two of us by ourselves would be suspicious.”
She checked the weapons taken from the guards and identified their means of operation.
“Stealth foremost,” Tymos agreed with his sisters meaning. “We need to get access to the computer system.”
They did not have time to keep creeping around the maintenance areas, so they strode purposefully along passages, letting instinct guide them towards the more inhabited sections of the ship. Tymos maintained a watch with physical senses and Kryslie used mind senses. She became adept at locating approaching aliens, guards and others, and once warned, they both sent the message, ‘there is no one here’, or “we belong here – nothing is strange’ or similar mind commands. The passing aliens either did not see them, or did not find their presence odd.
Occasionally, Tymos checked with Jonko.
“There is a tightly guarded section on that lower level,” he told Kryslie. “Jon’s trying to find a way in.”
Kryslie acknowledged briefly, and told her twin, “All these doors are empty.”
Tymos tried to open one and commented. “Needs a handprint to open the lock.”
“Good thing we don’t need one. There is a crowd of presences coming this way - two guards at least judging from the thoughts in their minds.”
“Transmit into this room,” Tymos suggested. He pulled Kryslie close and took them both in.
“Personal sleeping cabin,” Tymos thought, and then realised Kryslie wasn’t heeding him. “What?”
“I want to look out,” Kryslie thought at him as she began to move back to the door. Tymos grabbed her arm.
“What for?”
“I think some of those approaching are Tymoreans – probably prisoners. I can sense – faintly – power like ours. But most of the minds seem to be in a walking stupor.”
“Krys…No!” Tymos spoke sharply, and then switched back to mind speech. “We can’t rescue them now. We need to find Kel and stay free ourselves.”
Two emotions warred in Kryslie’s mind, and she knew Tymos shared them, but his decision was right. The people she sensed were in no condition to fight, and would need a lot of help to get away. If she were seen and identified, these aliens would be after her. Harsh truth, but they would have to help in other ways. Tymos released her, knowing her decision.
“This cabin has a computer. Keep alert while I try to bring up a schematic of the ship and try to find a way to ground it.”
Part of Kryslie’s mind was taking in the information her brother was coaxing from the computer. No one had taught them how to infiltrate a computer, but that information had come to mind when they needed it. The rest of her mind was alert for other presences impinging on her senses. The group that had just gone past was moving away.
“These computers are limited,” Tymos murmured. “But I have a schematic of each level. Engineering, or whatever they call it, is up three levels. We should be able to access control systems from there. Can you sense anyone in the room above? From the floor plan it is more personnel space.”
Kryslie turned her attention upward, and a hazy image of the area came into her mind. She reached out for her brother’s hand and the image sharpened. She identified an area of clear space and estimated the distance. At her nod, Tymos transmitted to her mind coordinates.
They stood still and listened. Kryslie gestured to an inner door and mentally sent, “Sleeper.”
Tymos went to check as Kryslie quietly investigated the outer room. She found a compartment with two purple uniforms and assorted other clothes.
Tymos returned from the inner room. “He’ll stay asleep at least an hour. This is good. Purple is engineering. Think I should change? Is there one of those disc tags in there.”
Kryslie recalled noting the item and leant into the space to get it. “What do you need it for?”
Instead of answering, Tymos trotted to the room’s computer and expertly entered commands. The screen now showed a range of devices with decals and sigils. Tymos brought out one of the guard’s discs and held it next to one picture. Kryslie mentally matched hers to another. “So?”
“These discs belong to guards. I think that gives them access to areas outlined in black on the schematic,” Tymos explained.
“Which is most places,” Kryslie observed when Tymos brought up schematics again.
“Yes, and this purple one is for engineering. I think if we have this with us, the security won’t pick us as intruders.”
“We only have one,” Kryslie reminded him.
“Yes, but us drawing on the sensor web power has made us invisible to it. This is extra protection.”
“I trust your instinct, bro, but we need to hurry. They’ll find that odorous Kellex soon, and realise we are missing.”
Tymos closed down the computer, and they looked for a place on the level above to transmit to. They paused briefly in an empty recreation area, before seeking a clear space above – which was in a side section of the engineering level. The clear space was occupied, but they transmitted in behind the men and were ready for action.
With no sound of a cry or a scuffle, two purple clad aliens became unconscious and were dragged behind a bank of instruments. “I’ll keep watch and keep people disinterested in this area,” Kryslie offered.
Tymos nodded and went to the table like object that had occupied the engineer’s attention. He memorised the details on the screen with a single scan and manipulated the control pad to ring up others.
Kryslie stood still, cloaked with power that she replaced by what she was drawing from the instruments and machines around her. Whenever she saw movement, she sent the thought. “This area is empty, there is no one here. Twice, men dressed in purple glanced her way, saw no one and kept moving on.
She studied all she saw, and gradually moved to bring more into her view. She spotted a group of purple clad people at the far end of the open main section of engineering. To her senses, they were studying something strange and fascinating.
“Done,” Tymos sent the thought. “I’ve locked out the engines, though I’m not sure how long it will stop them, and I have the security codes. I am sure Kel is down in that security area, but I can get us in.”
“You go and help Jonko. I want to go and see what has the engineers so excited down there. I think it is our stuff.”
“Keep Jon’s transmitter – use it to join us,” Tymos said.
“Okay, but get going while all the attention is yonder.”
Kryslie watched Tymos depart at a purposeful walk, and picked up his mental projection of, “I belong here.” He disappeared from her sight. She waited a minute longer and repeated her brother’s actions, but moved along the left wall of the open area. She stopped next to the wall, within sight of the avid group of engineers, and drew on the ambient energy to hide her presence.
Only this time, someone could still see her.
“Commander Vila,” a man spoke from beside her. She held herself from betraying surprise and translated from the alien language, which was like an old Tymorean dialect.
Projecting the thought of, “I am who you think I am,” Kryslie said “Yes.” She spoke in her own language, but projected the meaning of her word to the alien’s mind. She did not turn to face the speaker, but kept her attention on the activity around a bench.
The alien continued to speak. “Your Guardian gave you orders to remain in your quarters.”
“My guardian suggested that I remain there,” Kryslie improvised. “It was not an order.”
“Commander Vila!” the man said patiently, but he was keeping a tight control on some dark emotion. “You are not yet commanding our armies. I am surprised that he trusts you and those other wards of his with so much power. I will tell him that you disobeyed his instructions.”
“That is enough!” Kryslie spoke back with such an air of authority the alien visibly flinched. “Go running to my guardian if you wish, right now if you want to. He won’t take kindly to your interruption or tattling.”
The alien looked uncomfortable but rallied.
“When your guardian is finished dealing with the prisoners, I will notify him of your disobedience.”
“I am not concerned.” Kryslie projected an aura of confidence, of being sure of her ground.
She had the impression that this male was high up in Leader Kellex’s hierarchy. Not like his second in command, but at least commander level like the ‘Vila’ he had mistaken her for.
“Go and tell tales then. I would like to be present when my guardian interrogates the prisoners.”
“He is in the security level,” the alien said helpfully. “He has given orders for no one to disturb him.”
There was an air of anticipation in the alien, as if he wanted to see this impertinent child receive the harsh end of his superiors tongue or worse.
“Go about your business!” Kryslie ordered, but the alien remained where he was. Kryslie started to walk closer to the people about the bench. The man followed.
“Commander,” the alien called from behind her. Kryslie turned and waited for him to speak. “Why don’t you take the chamber down?”
He was still anticipating his superior’s mood.
“In good time,” Kryslie snapped back at him, continuing to walk away. She was curious about the ‘chamber’ - that must be the means by which the alien had arrived so unexpectedly. The alien continued to follow Kryslie, and whilst he couldn’t see her, she reduced the force of her suggestion and attempted to read his mind. It was full of the idea of a confrontation between his superior and his superior’s ward and his mental vision carried a clear picture of Commander Vila. Kryslie saw a face that was almost identical to her own. Surely her suggestion had not been that overpowering?
Something had distracted the alien from his thoughts and it seemed to be the activity of the scientists.
He stopped following Kryslie and went across to them, Kryslie followed. With that alien to vouch for her “identity”, she would not be in immediate danger. Subtly she began reinforcing the idea as she had when facing the alien. It seemed that somebody had sensed the thought for several beings had looked up, surprised, and began talking to her.
“Vila, look at these artefacts, the prisoners were wearing them and yet they seem only to be ornaments. We know what the these are…” she held up the personal screen generators.
The speaker was young and seemed to be a friend of Vila. “What do you make of the other things?”
Kryslie kept her eyes down so that she would not betray the white in them and went to examine the ‘artefacts’. She knew what they were – their biomonitors, both hers and Tymos’s, transmitters the aliens had taken from them; three transmitters, she had Jonko’s and so the third must be Keleb’s. The aliens had captured a spy – they had caught Keleb!
“A communication device?” Kryslie suggested, talking about the transmitter she picked up.
“We have scanned it thoroughly,” a scientist explained. “It reacts to no frequency, even when pressing the disc. And we can find no power source to operate the screen.”
“Perhaps it is a locator or scanner,” Kryslie persisted.
“If it is - how does it work?” Vila’s friend asked.
Kryslie shrugged. “Some kind of data input device?”
She wondered how to retrieve them without raising suspicion. Kryslie handed the device back before it powered up.
“I cannot spend more time on the problem. I have duties elsewhere.” Kryslie moved out of the group. The alien that had been following her stayed fiddling with a second transmitter. Kryslie slipped away unaccompanied.
“Tymos?” she thought when she was alone.
“Krys, where are you?” Tymos’s mental voice responded.
“They definitely have Keleb. They have our bio-monitors, personal force screen generators and three transmitters. Have you got to Keleb yet?”
“Jon’s run into trouble. We need a diversion – can you get the transmitters?”
“Too many people, even if they do think I am someone else. I played along but couldn’t take the things.”
At that moment, loud alarms began ringing. Messages and orders were being piped throughout the ship.
“I would say our former captor has been found,” Kryslie thought calmly. “Time is short.”
“Jon!” Tymos thought strongly at his friend’s mind.
Tymos found Jonko’s mind and read his reply. “I walked into a dead end corridor and a large group of guards were not far behind me. I pretended to be unconscious and they are taking me to their infirmary, I will escape from there.”
Tymos thought at Kryslie. “If they think you are someone else, you go to Kel. I will create a diversion and grab our transmitters and then get Jonko safe. Can you bring Jon’s transmitter to me?” he sent an image and an approximate distance and direction.
Kryslie arrived near her brother.
He was working at a computer terminal in what looked like a maintenance cubbyhole. He mentally said, “Wait a moment,” as he continued to input a stream of commands. A large number of red lights began flashing, as he took the transmitter Kryslie held out to him. He transmitted away, but was back a short time later and gave her two transmitters.
During the short wait, Kryslie tried to reach Keleb’s mind again but still sensed nothing.
“They saw me and will be looking for an intruder. We must move quickly. Jon has given me coordinates for the infirmary.”
Tymos transmitted away and Kryslie gave herself a moment to orientate herself. In her mind were the schematics of each level, and mental arrows pointing to her position and destination. She chose to return to near the cell where they had been at first. The door to that cell was open, and she risked a glance inside. Empty as she had expected. No doubt, Leader Kellex would have immediately gone to replace his missing clothes. This would be the last place they would expect to find her, and the searching guards were moving away from her. Kryslie strode away from the cell towards the high security area and hoped to be able to use the security codes Tymos had found, and which were in her mind.
Mentally emphasizing her resemblance to ‘Commander Vila’, Kryslie pushed groups of guards aside saying that the escapees had been seen on the engineering level and told them to search there. The tone of command in her voice and their belief that she was a Commander made them obey without question.
Kryslie reached a wall and her perceptions told her that Keleb lay beyond, unconscious and at the mercy of the alien leader – an extremely angry and vengeful alien leader. While she tried to check all of the room, she sensed a presence behind her. It was not hostile and it did not feel alien.
“Tym!” she thought, turning around. She did not see her brother, but a young child.
“You are not Vila!” The child spoke in the alien tongue. “Who are you?”
Kryslie looked at the child. He had red hair, round features and was very like her brother.
“I am Kryslie.” She kept her voice even, unthreatening. “I am your sister!”
The knowledge came from deep within her and it was the truth. The child was about ten years old; he was indeed Tymorean and still too young to betray signs of power but not too young to be taught alien ways.
“Vila is my only sister!” there was hardness in his voice that told of alien training.
“Guards!” he shouted in an unexpectedly loud voice. Kryslie reacted fast, grabbing the child and transmitting into the next room. The child struggled fiercely in her grip, already he was strong. He sent a silent call for help not realizing that his captor would intercept it. The alien leader, directing his assistants to some action to try to rouse his prisoner did not turn around. The guard beside him acted lightning fast; he drew and aimed his weapon at Kryslie, firing in the same fluid motion.
She reacted even faster, putting one hand at arms length as if to shield herself. Her other still held the struggling child. They energy bolt was perfectly reflected; the guards weapon fused into a blob of molten alloy, burning his hand and causing him to drop the remains of the weapon.
In the brief moments that it had taken for these events to occur, the alien leader had turned and drawn his weapon. The child was continuing to struggle, but Kryslie did not release him. Instead, she transmitted again to a point behind the alien leader. She thrust the child who had travelled with her, into the partly disabled guard and leapt at the alien leader. She obtained his weapon and dragged him backwards so that he partly shielded her. He resisted furiously but Kryslie pressed on a certain nerve and she knew her prisoner would be in pain.
“Keep struggling,” she whispered, “Give me one more reason to kill you!”
The leader slumped and became a dead weight but Kryslie held him easily; before he began to struggle again, she pressed on a nerve and momentarily paralysed him. The guard, recovering his balance eyed Kryslie warily as she aimed the leader’s weapon at the injured guard. He was in amour, which partly covered his face, yet for a moment, Kryslie’s newly realized perception superimposed a face onto the amour and it was very like her brother’s face. That he had intercepted a thought sent by the boy made him dangerous indeed.
The other aliens in the room, the assistants and guards, had not moved. The former were unarmed and the latter did not wish to injure their leader. They looked to the injured guard for guidance.
“Have every one drop their weapons.” Kryslie said aloud. “If they do not then your leader will be as dead as he deserves.”
No one in the room doubted her hatred of her captive.
“You are virtually unarmed. That paralysing ray will not touch me!” the injured guard claimed.
He was bluffing, Krys knew. Her prisoner’s weapon had been more deadly than that, but his armour may be proof against it.
“I do not rely simply on artificial weapons. I prefer to fight with my hands and my mind,” Kryslie retorted and she closed her hand more tightly on the leader’s vital nerve centre. The guard gave the command to drop weapons.
“Tell them to free the prisoner!” Kryslie instructed, sensing that her time was limited and that the guard was expecting a chance to turn the tables. He was waiting for something. The assistants slowly obeyed the second command, glancing warily from the injured guard to Kryslie.
“Vila! The force field.” The guard shouted suddenly.
Kryslie suddenly felt three times heavier as the gravity was abruptly increased, but she was able to stay on her feet. She knew having to fight the extra gravity would slow her, but with her power strong within her, she would not be as helpless as her opponent believed. She dropped her hold of the alien leader, knowing that an attack would come from the disarmed guard and that his injury would be no handicap. The assistants had collapsed into heaps from the force and the guards were reaching with slow determination, for their weapons. The child behind her tried to push her off balance. Kryslie reached a hand for her transmitter and felt a warning tingle - the gravity field would interfere with her transmission be