Chapter 10: The Best-Laid Plans…
The aiewan buried their dead on the blackened plain, planting the seeds of trees over the graves as was their custom. New life grew out of death – that was one of the central tenets of their religion. The dead would nurture the new trees, and the forest would grow again.
After all were accounted for, it was estimated that they had lost almost half their number in battle. When added to the fallen defenders of Fort Kulewan, the total was more than five hundred dead. But the sacrifice had been worth it, for the kingdom was now safe.
The day after they had fulfilled their duty to the fallen, the soldiers dispersed to their separate base camps. Most of the force would return to Kalvalen, and along with them the four heroes, three of whom were now being lauded as the saviors of the kingdom. As for the fourth, he was secretly grateful that they were taking the attention off him.
~***~
They had arrived back in Kalvalen late last night. The Lady would be seeing them late this afternoon. In the meanwhile, the five of them were spending their time in various ways. Marle and Lucca were teaching Ketiya how to play a game called 'hackey-sack,' while Jack was giving Crono a quick lesson on sword-fighting techniques.
Ketiya kicked the little beanbag to Lucca, who passed it on to Marle. Marle kicked it up and down a few times while looking in Crono's direction. He and Jack were talking, so he didn't notice her. Marle sent the beanbag on an unexpected trajectory so that it bounced off the top of Crono's head, to be caught by Jack. Both of them turned their attention to her, rather surprised and, in Jack's case, a little amused.
"You've been practicing all day," Marle complained. "Come on and have some fun, for crying out loud." She crooked a finger and beckoned to Crono.
He exchanged glances with Jack, who shrugged and tossed him the beanbag. The two of them came over and joined the circle.
"Ever done anything like this before?" Lucca asked Jack. He nodded.
Marle tossed the beanbag to him. "Why don't you start us off, then?" She smiled. Jack examined the beanbag before dropping and kicking it to Lucca. She caught it neatly on her heel and bounced it, trying to figure out who she should send it to next.
"C'mon, Lucca," Marle insisted, so Lucca kicked it to her.
"Jack!" Marle called as she sent it to him.
"Crono," he decided as he passed the beanbag with a deft kick.
Crono caught the bag on one foot, then kicked it over the top of his head to the other before shooting it to "Lucca!"
"Ketiya!" Lucca called. Ketiya didn't catch it very gracefully – it bounced off her right knee and she just managed to snag it with her left foot. As she did so, she thought that this game could stand to be a lot more interesting.
Well, there was an easy way to make it interesting. "Marle!" she called, and kicked the beanbag into such a trajectory that Marle had to hop backwards a few steps to get it.
But she didn't seem to mind. "Crono!" She sent it on a beeline to him, but he caught it with the tip of his foot and it shot into the air.
He caught it on his heel and grinned at Lucca before flicking it in her direction. She ran to intercept it and sent it to Jack with an impressive spinning kick. She even managed to keep from falling over afterwards, though she did stumble a bit.
"Ketiya," Jack said as he sent the beanbag in an arc over her head. Ketiya hopped backwards, watching the beanbag instead of where she was going, and tumbled backwards into an evergreen shrub. The beanbag added insult to injury by coming down right between her eyes.
She blushed as the kids broke out into laughter – not unkind laughter, though – and tried to extricate herself from the bush. Jack came over, looking rather apologetic and offered a hand to help her up. Their eyes met for just a moment, making her feel acutely uncomfortable. After some hesitation, she took his hand and he pulled her out of the bush.
Ketiya stepped back and brushed herself off while Crono got the beanbag. She wasn't sure how to feel now. The kids would be leaving tomorrow to get fuel for their time-ship so that they could go home; Jack would be going with them, for the same reason. Since her work with them was over, she would be staying here. The prospect of Jack's departure made her feel both disappointed and relieved; disappointed because he was her friend, and relieved because she was having a difficult time figuring out exactly how she felt about him.
No. That wasn't true. She knew exactly how she felt about him, and that was the source of the problem. She had almost forgotten about it since the battle a few days ago, but she had been reminded again by what had just happened. It made her feel as if she had been slapped, or doused with freezing water.
But it didn't last long. Lord Illyn and some of his attendants entered the courtyard just as Ketiya was brushing off the last of the leaves and twigs. He bowed to them, and they bowed back politely.
The Governor straightened up again. "The Lady is ready to see you now."
~***~
Ketiya didn't go with them this time. It felt sort of weird being here without her. Lucca had liked the Ranger despite the woman's mischievous streak; she was going to miss her. But it would be good to get back home.
The four of them put their hands on the Lady's trunk again. As soon as Lucca did so, she felt that something was wrong. The Lady confirmed it.
I fear that I have done you ill, she said, For while you were aiding my people, your craft was stolen by the demon. Lucca felt her stomach drop. She didn't ask how the Lady knew it – and somehow, she could not doubt that it was true.
Jack shut his eyes for a moment and clenched his fist at his side. But he recovered himself quickly. "It was not your fault," he assured the Lady. "But can you please tell us how we might find it again?"
The Lady's leaves rustled. It has been taken to the city of Makighar, about a week's journey from here. To this place, she told them. An image sprang into Lucca's mind; a great complex of buildings in the center of a smoky metropolis. The city in her mind's eye, a dirty, noisy and crowded place, was the absolute antithesis of the one they were in now.
He has not tampered with it, except to refuel it, the Lady said, But he has done so in the hope that he can lure you to him. He knows that you will seek your craft, and he will use it against you.
"So we'll end up walking right into his hands," Crono remarked grimly. "But what choice do we have?"
~***~
Crono was the first to emerge from the Lady's courtyard. Ketiya got to her feet as he came through the door so that she could greet him. When he looked at her, however, she was unable to say anything – something very bad had happened. She could just tell.
"Aku stole our ship," Crono informed her. Marle emerged from the courtyard and the servants closed the door behind her. "It's a trap, but there's just no other way. We have to get it back."
Ketiya looked at Jack, whose face was set in a grim expression. "I'm sorry…I wish I could do something to help you," she said truthfully.
"You can," Lucca told her. "The Lady said that she wants you to go with us." Ketiya could practically hear her own eyes go 'pop' at this news.
"Are you…are you serious?" she asked. Lucca and the other three nodded. It took a moment for all the implications to sink in. "Well," she said finally, "We had better start getting ready, then."
~***~
Crono passed the pair of binoculars to Marle. She peered through them, examining the spaceport complex across the street, but saw nothing new. She lowered the binoculars and heaved a sigh of frustration. They had been standing on the roof of this building for a couple of hours now, studying their target in hopes of finding some gap in the defenses. Said defenses consisted of a high wall topped with barbed wire, automated cameras and gun turrets, and some patrolling robot guards that looked like large beetles. As for gaps, they hadn't found any yet.
"How long are we going to sit here?" Marle asked for the fifth time.
"As long as is necessary," Jack answered patiently, also for the fifth time.
They had snuck into the city in the dead of night – they'd had to, because Jack and Ketiya were on wanted posters all over the place. And Aku's soldiers were probably looking out for Crono, Marle and Lucca as well. Everyone was pretty wound up because of the tension. Even Jack's nerves seemed a little frayed, though he hid it well most of the time.
Lucca removed her glasses, took the binoculars from Marle and peered through them. "How smart are the robots?" she wondered aloud.
"What do you mean?" Ketiya asked.
Lucca passed the binoculars on to Crono and replaced her glasses. "I mean, are they creative? Do they just run an inflexible program or are they adaptable?"
"You lost me," Ketiya confessed.
"She means do they just blindly do one thing or do they think and use strategy," Marle clarified.
Ketiya paused to think about that, but Jack answered first. "I have encountered this type of robot before. They are incapable of strategic planning," he said. "They almost always behave in a predictable fashion."
"Which is?" Marle encouraged him.
"If they perceive a target, they will rush to attack it," he explained. "They do not have much of an instinct for self-preservation, nor will they attempt to defend each other." He peered thoughtfully at the spaceport. "But we should not be overconfident," he advised. "Aku has probably taken other measures that we are not aware of."
"Let's just worry about what we are aware of," Ketiya suggested. She sighed. "That's enough to worry about as it is. What we need," she declared, "Is a plan."
Everyone looked at Lucca expectantly.
~***~
As soon as the hovering surveillance drone was out of sight, they darted out of the alley and took up their positions by the wall. Ketiya, Marle and Lucca formed an outward-facing semicircle, ready to shoot at any unexpected threat. Crono went to the foot of the wall, with a rope and grappling hook in hand. Jack leaped to the top of the wall, slashed a section of barbed wire with his katana, and turned around to catch the grappling hook as Crono tossed it up. He secured it on the top of the wall and nodded, then dropped down to the ground on the other side. Crono followed, with Ketiya, Marle and finally Lucca following after, with the rope and hook in her hands. The three of them darted behind a storage shed just in time to avoid being seen by another passing drone. They had timed it perfectly. So far.
Jack could just see Lucca's lips moving as she made a silent countdown. They had studied the patrol patterns of the drones from their rooftop perch; Lucca had plotted a course through the complex that would take them to one of the larger buildings without alerting the defense systems. Once they got into that building, they would move on to what Lucca had called 'Phase Two' of the plan. But they had to complete 'Phase One' first.
"Now!" Lucca said in a loud whisper. They darted behind a parked hovercar, avoiding the eyes of both a hovering drone and a rotating security camera. Lucca was already counting again. They made another quick dash, this time to crouch behind a stack of barrels. Lucca nodded to Ketiya, who pulled back the arrow in her bow and prepared to fire. A few seconds passed – then Lucca whispered "Okay" and Ketiya stood up, turned around and fired her arrow at a security camera placed above a recessed doorway. The camera was facing almost directly away from her at the time, so it never recorded the shot that took it out.
They scrambled into the doorway. Ketiya and Marle prepared to shoot again, but Lucca had a different task this time. There was a small panel by the door, with a small screen over a set of numbered buttons. Lucca took a small device off her belt and pointed it at the panel. The device she was holding also had a small screen and numbered buttons, but it had some buttons that served other functions as well, along with some dials and switches. Jack had no idea what she was doing with the device, but she managed to get the door open in less than a minute. The five of them pressed themselves against the sides of the doorway, in case there should be a security camera or a drone inside.
There wasn't. They darted through the door and Lucca closed it behind them. They were in a wide metal corridor, which led to a T-junction at the far end. Pipes and wires ran along the ceiling, and there were some doors farther down. There was also a large sign at the junction.
"Now for Phase Two," Lucca announced quietly. "Find a security station." Lucca walked toward the sign, with Ketiya on one side of her and Marle on the other. Jack and Crono followed behind, their swords drawn, watching the door they had just come through. She stopped a few feet from the end of the corridor; Ketiya and Marle each took a peek around one of the corners, to see if there were any cameras down the hall. There was one on Marle's side – she took care of it. Then Lucca went closer to the sign and examined it. The sign featured the names of several locations – Boiler Room, Fuse Closet and the like – with little arrowheads that indicated the direction in which each item could be found. Lucca worked her way down the list, using her finger to keep track, until she found what she was looking for.
"Ah! Here it is! Security Post." She turned right and started walking down the corridor.
After a few more minutes of sneaking, peering around corners and taking out cameras, they found what they were looking for. The door of the security post had a small glass window in it. They crouched so that they would be out of sight of anyone on the other side of the window. Ketiya took a quick peek through it and ducked again.
"One guard, not a robot. He has a pistol," she told them. "I have an idea about how we might be able to handle this." Lucca nodded and Ketiya explained her plan. It was quite simple, but it would be extremely effective.
Jack and Crono each took up a position on one side of the door, their swords drawn. The others stood a ways down the corridor from them. Ketiya cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. "Help, help! He's getting away!"
Her call had the desired effect. The door slid open and the guard, a skinny purple creature with webbed fingers and feet, stepped into the corridor with his gun in hand. He found, much to his dismay, that there were two points of steel uncomfortably close to his throat. Crono smiled and put a finger to his lips. The guard's amber eyes went wide.
"Drop the gun," Crono instructed. The guard did as he was told. "Now, hold up your hands and back into the room. Slowly."
Once they were all in the guardroom with the door closed behind them, Ketiya bound the guard with some rope and had him stand against the wall. Crono kept his sword near the guard's throat, just in case, while Jack took up a position by the door. Ketiya fitted an arrow in her bow and stood in a place from which she would have a clear shot at the door, but where nobody outside it would be able to see her through the little window. Marle and Lucca went to the bank of screens that covered one wall, and Lucca started working on the keyboard.
"Here we go…oops," she said. "It needs a password." She turned to look at the guard.
"Forget it," the guard responded bitterly. He was smart enough to know that Crono wouldn't kill him while there was a chance of getting some information from him.
Marle whirled around and glared at the guard. "We're not in the mood for that kind of behavior," she growled. Before anyone could stop her, she hefted her crossbow and fired.
The bolt thunked into the wall scant inches from the guard's head. Crono and Ketiya darted wide-eyed glances between Marle and the bolt. Lucca did the same, but her jaw was hanging open as well. Jack realized that he was holding his breath, so he let it out.
It had been a drastic measure, but it worked quite well. The guard's eyes were fixed on the crossbow bolt, and he was shaking with fear. "Okay!" he squeaked. "I'll give you the password!" He rattled off a string of numbers, which Lucca entered into the computer.
"Thanks for your cooperation," Marle told the guard with an angelic smile. Since they had the information they needed, Crono tore a strip of cloth from the guard's jacket to use as a gag.
"I found it!" Lucca exclaimed. "The Epoch is in bay seventeen. Here's a map." She pressed a button and a two-dimensional overhead map was displayed on one of the larger screens. The buildings were white outlines on a black background. There were also a pair of small, bright circles superimposed on the map – a green one and a red one. "The red one is us. The green one is the Epoch. Take a careful look at that map so we'll know which building to go to," Lucca said as she started hitting keys again.
A few minutes later, she smiled and stretched her arms. "Automated systems are deactivated. That means no cameras, spy drones or turrets to worry about. But the other robots are on a separate system. Let me see if I can…" She bent over the keyboard again just as the screens went out and a klaxon began to sound. "Uh-oh." She turned to the others, looking desperate. "Someone knows we're here."
It had taken longer than he thought it would, but now the trap was closing on them. "Then we should get to the ship as quickly as possible," Jack suggested.
The others agreed. They left the guard in the room and went out into the corridor again. Now the noise of the klaxon was louder, and red lights were flashing everywhere. "Which way did we come in?" Ketiya asked. Lucca pointed in that direction, but before they could head that way a group of beetle drones swarmed out of the corridor.
"We'll have to find another way out!" Marle shouted as she fired a shot at the robots. One of them went down and its companions had to slow their advance in order to climb over it.
Jack thought quickly. "Lucca, help her cover the rear. Ketiya, Crono, we will lead." This strategy seemed to suit everyone. Grouped together in that way, they ran down the corridor, with Marle and Lucca keeping the pursuit from catching up to them.
They came to a four-way junction. Jack could see more beetle drones coming from two of the corridors, but one of them was clear. He pointed in that direction and they took it. Lucca threw a fist-sized metal object into the intersection once they were beyond it. A few seconds later, the object exploded, taking the nearby drones with it.
There was an exit door at the end of the hall. Since there was no time for Lucca to open it as she had the one before, she used another one of her little bombs instead. As they ran out of the jagged hole that had once been the door, a great swarm of beetle drones converged on them. These were larger than the ones they had encountered inside. Jack could see, up ahead, the building that contained bay seventeen. They would have to fight their way to it.
Lucca threw a few more of her exploding devices to clear a path for them. They rushed forward as more drones poured in to fill the gap. One of them leaped at Jack and he sliced it in two without breaking stride. Crono stabbed another one, then struck the head off a third with a backhand swipe.
There was a sudden flash of light accompanied by a loud explosion and a wave of heat from somewhere behind him, but Jack did not turn to see what had caused it. He slashed at another robot, ducked under a scything blade and thrust his sword forward to stab the drone that had swung it. The bright light from the explosion settled down into flickering yellow-orange and he caught a whiff of some strong chemical. He gritted his teeth as he felt the pain of a scythe slashing his back – with a loud yell, he turned and dispatched the robot that had done it.
Now he could see a tower of flame behind him – perhaps one of the others had hit a fuel drum. The flames cast a wicked light over everything; his ears were full of the sound of crackling flames and moving machinery. He could barely hear the noises made by Lucca's gunfire, although that was fairly loud in itself. He felt, not for the first time, as if he were in Hell.
It took them five minutes and a lot of effort to cover the hundred feet between them and the building they were heading for. When they got there, Lucca ducked into the doorway. "I'm out of grenades," she explained. "I'll need to hack this one. Cover me." The other four kept the drones at bay while she worked on the door. At long last the portal slid open, revealing an empty corridor behind it.
Ketiya nudged Crono and Marle backwards. They took the hint and went through the door with Lucca. During a short break in the flow of robotic beetles she glanced at Jack and nodded. The two of them headed for the door to join their companions.
But the door slammed closed without warning before they could get through. Jack had managed to catch a glimpse of Lucca's horrified expression in the half-second it took for the door to separate them. He and Ketiya turned to fight off the next wave of attacking robots. He hoped that Lucca would be able to get the door open again.
After a few minutes it became obvious that she couldn't. He and Ketiya were trapped on the wrong side.
~***~
"The panel's offline," Lucca said. "I can't get it open." She darted a frightened glance at Crono, then she looked at the door again.
"Maybe we should find another way out," Crono suggested. "We can get back to them."
Lucca shook her head. "I bet the rest of the doors are locked too." She lowered her head in thought. "But the Epoch is in here somewhere. If we find it, we'll be able to blast our way out."
"There's only one thing we can do, then," Marle said grimly. She leaned up close to the door and shouted, "We'll try to find the Epoch! Then we'll get out to you!" She put her ear to the door, looking worried, then stood back again.
Crono looked down the corridor. He didn't like this at all. It was way too quiet. "We'd better find it quick," he said. Lucca got up, and they all ran down the corridor.
"That sign says that the bays are in this direction," Lucca said. They followed her lead and came to a large set of doors, which slid back as they approached.
"There's something really weird going on," Marle remarked, echoing Crono's own suspicions. But there was only one way to go. They stepped through the doors and into a large room, one that was full of crates and tanks. A loading bay. There were a number of round metal doors lined up along the opposite wall, each marked with numbers from eleven to twenty, going from left to right.
The second door from the right was open. Crono could see the white glint of the Epoch on the other side.
"There it is!" Marle exclaimed. She started running towards it. Lucca and Crono followed.
Crono's skin was crawling with suspicion. Something bad should have happened by now. The fact that it hadn't made him feel very, very nervous.
Then the shadows around the bay began to move. At first he thought it was his imagination, but then he saw that they were indeed moving, flowing and collecting in front of the open bay door. He and his friends skidded to a stop as the shadows took shape, growing into something tall and terrible.
The shape spread its arms and looked down on them with cruel eyes topped by flaming brows. It grinned at them in a very nasty way. There was no doubt now as to what it was – Jack had described that face to them, from the horns on its head to the curling beard on its chin.
Aku's laugh grated on Crono's ears. "Leaving so soon, children?" He lifted his right hand, and a fireball began to form in it. "How very rude of you. You know what happens to rude children…don't you?"