Chapter 21
When Norei returned to the cell with our dinners a short time the following evening, I urged her to move up our schedule. We could enact our escape plan on the following day, rather than in three days.
"What's the rush?" she asked, eyeing me warily.
"I have to contact my people." I told her. "There's been a development… Zoltar is making new allies. I need to inform them as to the situation." Norei nodded slowly, eyeing me carefully as if she wasn't entirely certain of my reasoning. Yet after a long moment, she finally agreed… to the day after tomorrow.
"If you think your explosive device is ready to go, then that's good enough for me. I'll inform Fanel in the morning." Norei stated, settling the matter. "She has a third of our stain remover bags. She will need to bring them with her. She can do this the day after tomorrow."
I nodded, knowing that it was the best I could hope for.
Still, it chafed to wait one more day, although it did allow me to add one final dose of trentorium to my bomb. It was ready. I was ready. Norei was ready.
Now or never.
Two days after I had been displayed like a prize trophy before Captain Doom, I arrived in the manufacturing plant at my workstation. As we had hoped, the power reduction was still in place, and the reactor was only operating at half capacity. This was important, as the extent of the explosion had to be enough to take out the reactor, but not to endanger any of the women inside the manufacturing plant.
I had contrived to obtain a workstation as close as possible to the reactor, yet rather than being secure in the knowledge that our plan had the optimal chance, I felt unnerved by its presence. The glowing energy generator loomed over me, seeming almost to taunt me with its malevolent aura. I did my best to simply concentrate on my 'work' as normal, but it took far more focus that I usually required.
In what was approximately the middle of the day, the guards in the control room were brought lunch. Although the prisoners did not get a break from their work assignments, the guards relaxed during this time. After their meal they tended to be somewhat lethargic; we could see them lounging through the clear glass wall that separated their control room from the main manufacturing plant.
It was at this time that they were most vulnerable.
Carefully I pulled my makeshift bomb out of my sleeve, then peeled off the paper backing over the sticky side of the sanitary pad.
"Everyone, take cover!" I shouted. My arm arced, throwing the blackened pad at the reactor. My aim was true, and the pad stuck to the glowing machinery.
Just as I ducked down, the bomb exploded. The greenish-yellow light from the reactor faded, and smoke poured out, obscuring my view. The lights in the manufacturing plant surged, then died, as their power source was eliminated. Dim green luminescence was visible from painted emergency information on the walls. For my cerebonically-enhanced eyes, it was more than enough.
"Everyone into the corridor!" I cried, sweeping my arm toward the exit. Fanel and Dimal began herding the other women forward. I didn't know if there might be any secondary explosions, due to the trentorium reserves at everyone's individual workstations, and I wanted to minimize prisoner casualties.
Yet the corridor wasn't my destination. My eyes narrowed as I focused on my goal: the control room. The female prisoners were used to taking orders and obeying instantly. They had taken cover from the blast, as I had instructed. On the other hand, the soldiers who guarded us were slow and indolent. It was clear that they had simply stood in place, gaping at the reactor as it had exploded. The glass separating the control room from the manufacturing plant was cracked, but not completely broken. I ran forward, grabbing an unarmed missile as I ran and throwing it full force into the weakest point in the web of cracked glass. The wall broke open with a shattering rain of sharp-edged particles, and I leapt through the makeshift portal I had newly created.
It had been only seven seconds since I had initiated my escape plan.
The guards were stunned, but not so much that they didn't immediately begin raising their rifles. Prepared, I pulled one of the old Gattan pouches from my other sleeve, squeezing it tightly to spray the faces of the men closest to me. They fell to the floor, clawing at their eyes. I felt a thud beside me, and turned to see Norei performing a similar maneuver to my left. A guard approached from my other side and I whirled, catching his jaw with my heel, breaking his neck and separating it from his skull. Two more guards approached me but I lashed out with my fists, knocking them out with a strength that surprised me, given how long it had been since my fighting skills had been appropriately used. Norei was using her knives to great effect, downing guards before they even knew what had hit them.
"That's all of them!" Norei cried. Together, we gathered up all of the rifles. I tossed one to Norei and moved back into the manufacturing plant with the others. Various boxes of trentorium at the individual workstations were exploding, and I dodged my way through my self-made minefield to the exit, where the others were waiting, Norei close behind. The corridor was lit with a strange red light, coming from emergency illumination devices implanted at ten meter intervals in the corners where the walls met the ceiling. It wasn't much, but it was enough to see by, and my implant had already begun to filter out the overlying color, to distinguish others.
"Here." I tossed rifles to Dimal, Fanel and Partov, passing the others to women who appeared composed enough to use them appropriately, but keeping one for myself.
"We're leaving this place." I announced to the others, as Norei stood beside me in silent support. "The power's out, so there are no Enerwalls right now. Fanel knows the way to the hangar. All of you are welcome to join us, but if you'd rather stay here, you're more than welcome to do so." I turned around, heading down the corridor. I didn't rotate my head back to look, yet I sensed that none of the women were willing to stick around. As quickly as I could, I led the three dozen women to laundry facilities, then added the four prisoners there to our ragtag group. Dimal and Fanel took the lead, while Norei remained in the middle of the group, and I brought up the rear with the four new women, explaining what was happening. There was only one more stop before we went to the hangar. We had to free the eight women who had been on duty in the kitchen.
When we reached the Dining Hall, Fanel went inside to collect the other women. No sooner was she gone than we heard male shouts coming from the opposite direction down the corridor. It was clear that we had a group of guards coming to greet us.
"Let me to the front!" I cried, doing my best to push forward through the sea of fearful women, but I was unable to reach my destination. The women at the front had panicked, running into the cafeteria, following Fanel. Norei and I were swept along with them, being given little choice as to our movement as we were trapped amongst the crowd.
"Stop!" I shouted. "It's better to fight them in the corridor!" Yet no one listened. Norei's eyes met mine, and without words we were able to formulate another plan. We could still force the guards to fight in cramped quarters if we could hold them off at the doorway. Once we had entered the Dining Hall, we became free from the crowd and took up spots on either side of the entrance.
Guards in the hallway caught sight of us, and began rushing forward. But Norei and I raised our weapons, shooting indiscriminately in their direction, felling every man who approached us. After perhaps twenty seconds they fell back, the passageway littered with Spectran dead.
"That was too easy." Norei muttered. "They're planning something."
"Probably trapping the corridor ahead." My mind raced through the possible scenarios. "At least, that's what I'd do. If they can blockade us in here, that's good enough. They can wait for reinforcements to arrive."
But I wasn't Spectran, and there was no way I could have anticipated the guards' reaction to our defensive posture. Without warning, the wall to my left exploded, perhaps three meters away, sending concrete blocks and chunks of plaster flying into the room. The force of the blast threw me to the ground, and as I struggled to rise, I saw Spectrans pouring through the makeshift entrance into the room. Though the only illumination was from the red emergency lighting, my cerebonically enhanced vision allowed me to see that while some of these men wore the blue uniform of prison guards, the majority were dressed in the green uniform of the Spectran military.
Reinforcements had arrived.
I scrambled to my feet, just in time to avoid laser fire from a prison guard to my right. I lashed out with a roundhouse kick, knocking the gun from his hand and bashing him in the jaw. A green-uniformed soldier rushed at me, but I stopped him with a side kick to the gut. Yet still more approached. My G-Force training kicked in, and I whirled, dealing out blows on all sides, confusing those who attacked me even as I felled them where they stood.
Even through the mess of combat, I was able to catch a glimpse of the others as I fought. Norei was fending off her own set of opponents. Throughout the room, women struggled with soldiers with varying degrees of success. I noticed Thanto herding some of the women into the kitchen, away from the fighting.
Despite the fact that the soldiers all had rifles, there was very little gunfire. I guessed that the close quarters made such attacks more difficult: you were just as likely to hit an ally as an enemy.
For a brief moment, it almost seemed like we were gaining the upper hand. Between the seven of us who were from the 'center table', we were slowly taking out our opponents, while the other women were generally able to hold their ground. I allowed myself to hope… and then another horde of soldiers began pouring through the broken wall. But there was something different about these new arrivals. They were wearing another type of mask, over top of the usual green, fanged cap with which I was familiar. This new device covered their noses and mouths.
"Gas!" I shouted, recognizing what was about to happen. Sure enough, swirls of purplish vapor began to emerge from the ventilation system, its color deepened by the red emergency lighting. I had no idea what kind of gas it was, but I knew it couldn't be good.
Around the room, women had heard my warning and were looking up to see the threat. They began running for the kitchen, some of them stumbling as they moved. I grabbed one woman who was crawling on the ground, realizing that it was Genalla. We ran to the kitchen, which from my viewpoint still seem to be free of the gas. Just as we got to the door, something grabbed my arm. I pushed Genalla through the exit, then turned quickly, catching my assailant by surprise. I slammed the heel of my palm upward and into his nose, causing his gas mask to fall off. I reached out and snatched the mask as it fell, kicking the surprised guard where it hurt most. He crumpled to the floor.
More soldiers were approaching my position and I saw no more standing women, although a few prisoners' bodies lay unmoving on the ground. Quickly I barreled through the door into the kitchen, and the moment I was inside the others there began barricading the entrance with boxes of supplies.
"The air is safe in here." Norei told me. "The kitchen has an isolated ventilation system, and it is controlled from this room. That's the good news."
"Let me guess… the bad news is that there are no other exits?" I asked, my eyes scanning the group. From what I could see, we were missing about ten women, including Karaht, Merei and Thanto.
There were some loud bangs on the door, causing us all to jump, but once the soldiers realized that the entrance had been barricaded, the noise ceased.
"We can't stay in here for long." I declared. "They're going to find a way in here at any moment. And every hexon we are here only gives reinforcements more time to arrive."
"So what do you suggest?" Norei asked. Her voice wavered momentarily, but her face was like granite.
"We have to bust out of here." I told everyone. "We can't do it without gas masks. Norei and I will go back out there, dealing with the guards and gathering as many masks as we can. Then we will all make a break for it."
"How are you going to fight them in that gas?" Partov questioned.
"I'll take my chances." I said, tossing the gas mask still in my hand to Norei. "Norei can use this." She stared at me, her eyes wide with surprise. For a brief moment she looked as if she wanted to return the mask to me, but then she slowly nodded, sliding it over her mouth and nose.
"I want to go with you." Dimal volunteered. "Even without a mask, I can help." It was clear from the expression on her face that she knew what she was signing up for.
"Nothing would honor me more." I told her. "But I need you to stay here, with Fanel. If Norei and I do not return, it will be up to you to protect Fanel, so that she can lead everyone to the hangar."
"I understand." Dimal nodded, disappointment and relief warring on her face.
Norei stood up, strapping on the gas mask and picking up a rifle. I grabbed a gun as well, and as quietly they could, the other women opened a narrow pathway through the barricade to the door.
"On 3." I mouthed at Norei, who nodded silently. Holding up my fingers, I counted down. 1…2…
On 3 we burst out into the Dining Hall. I grabbed a deep breath of clean air before being immersed in the purplish gas. The instant I was inside the Dining Hall, I let loose with my rifle, blanketing the area with laser fire. The soldiers, surprised, fell quickly, but men in the back were able to take some cover. They returned fire, and I felt a sharp, burning pain in my left arm. Ignoring my injury I shot back, taking out two more opponents.
By this time my lungs were bursting, and I was forced to exhale. Two more soldiers jumped out at me from the right, and I was forced to take a quick breath as I elbowed one in the solar plexus and kicked the other's throat. Time seemed to slow down as my body felt languid… melting…
I fought the sensation, reaching for the gas mask on one of the fallen men. But I was achingly slow. Too slow…
"Here." Something was shoved over my mouth and nose, and my mind began to clear. I blinked and Norei's face came into focus.
"Thanks." I mumbled.
"I'm glad you're still with us." Norei said. "I'd hate to have to shoot you." I almost smiled, then realized she was being serious.
"You'd really do that?" I asked, surprised.
"I would never leave you to the 'tender mercies' of these men." Norei declared.
"Thanks…" I realized that this was her way of showing loyalty. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that… for either of us."
"It won't if we leave now." she urged. I nodded, pulling myself to my feet. My left arm hung limply at my side, and the baggy sleeve of my shirt was dark with blood.
"Can you go on?" Norei asked sharply.
"I'm fine. It's nothing." I told her, and she nodded respectfully, innately understanding what I had left unspoken.
I had no choice but to go on. It was either that, or die.