Chapter Eight
1155 – Arkansas2 - Infirmary
151 – 2105
Flipping onto her back, Niko ran an irritated hand through her long henna colored hair. One of these days, I'm going to chop it off! She vowed silently aggravated by the strands tangling around her fingers. Sighing, she turned to look at her companion in the room. Doc was also lying on his back apparently resting as had been instructed by the medic and the captain.
Resolutely, Niko closed her eyes and used deep breathing exercises to try and help her relax. But, the relaxation was fleeting at best. Again, Niko flipped to her side, this time facing Doc. She stared at him for a few minutes envious of his slumber and hoping somehow by watching him it would rub off on her.
"I wish you wouldn't do that." Doc said looking back into Niko's blue eyes and startling her.
"I'm sorry, Doc. Did I wake you?"
"I wasn't really asleep," Doc admitted ruefully and ran a hand across his face feeling the slight stubble of beard. He hadn't had time for a decent shower or shave before he and Niko had gone in search of Sarah. "What's up? You've been tossing and turning for hours."
"Sorry about that." Niko murmured softly. "I can't seem to shake the feeling that something is going to happen. Something really bad."
"Little consolation, Niko, but I feel it too. I feel like we're all just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. Unfortunately, I think that the shoe belongs to a giant."
Niko smiled wanly and looked to the quiet CDU sitting on the small nightstand next to Doc's bed. "You get through?"
Doc followed her gaze and picked up his CDU. "Nothing. And, neither GV nor ALMA can reach BETA either. With the satellite communication system fried here from the last few days of quakes, I'm not sure how we're going to send information much less receive it."
"The captain was pretty well convinced that a planetary evacuation was going to have to happen. But, the government here doesn't have the resources to assemble such a plan. We need to call in reinforcements."
"About the only thing we can do is work on getting the satellite relay back up and running. My only other suggestions, is to send ALMA into space to see if she can get a message out. As you know, the radiation from the blackhole is a communications nightmare."
Niko sat up on the bed and draped her legs over the side. "We need to go, Doc." Niko's voice held a restrained note of alarm.
Doc didn't question Niko as she handed him his clothes and stepped behind a privacy screen with her own wardrobe. He simply followed suit, removing his hospital gown and pulling on his uniform ignoring the patches of soot and stains from the early morning escapade. As Doc was finishing the last button on his shirt, Niko stepped out from the screen.
"You know this is against medic and captain orders." He reminded her gently.
"I know."
Before either of them could make it to the door, they felt the floor beneath them sway and begin to buckle. A symphony of screeching metal scraping against metal and materials breaking and popping seemed to accompany the disastrous choreography of the newest earthquake for Arkansas2.
1217 – Arkansas2 - Beneath Government Office District
151 – 2105
"I said drop your weapon." Captain Foxx repeated as he and Gooseman held their firearms on Deputy Reeves who was still holding Mayor Landry as a shield.
"I told you, Galaxy Rangers don't have the authority on this planet." Reeves snarled back and pushed his gun harder against his hostage's temple eliciting a gasp of pain from the man. "I do. You want to keep this man alive. You drop your own weapons!"
Zachary could feel his lungs struggle to function properly in the low-oxygen air. He glanced at Gooseman, and slowly, they both lowered their guns. "Don't be foolish, Reeves. If you kill the mayor, you lose any bargaining position you have."
"I won't be losing anything. Now, drop those weapons to the floor!"
Before either Gooseman or Zachary could comply, the walls and the floor began to shimmy, and chunks of rock rending from the roof came crashing down. Startled, Deputy Reeves fired his gun off-mark and into the caving in ceiling. Additional slag rained down on the two men obscuring them from the rangers' view.
Zachary felt Goose push him back down the small tunnel against a far wall as the roof became inverted collapsing the tunnel entirely. A large hunk of what was previously ceiling clipped Gooseman against the side of his temple, and he slumped backward against Zachary. "Oh no you don't." Zachary growled catching the ranger before he fell. "Use your badge, Goose!"
Groggily, Gooseman groped for his badge until his floundering arm suddenly triggered the implant in a bath of golden light. Immediately, Gooseman's bio-defenses jolted to action converting his form into a shell that resembled metal. Gooseman quickly shook off the lingering effects of the blow to his head, and he began to start back into what was left of the tunnel.
"It's no good." Foxx gasped in the extremely thin air. What little oxygen was in the tunnels was contaminated with all of the debris from the quake. "Unless they made it past the ceiling collapse and on to the other side, they're already dead."
Gooseman's biodefenses did not allow for him to respond verbally to his captain. He just shook his head in disgust and retrieved the flashlight from where it had fallen. He played the light against the newly blocked off tunnel and then back toward what would now be their only escape route. Part of the passageway was already groaning and an occasional shard and stream of dirt would rain down. It was likely that the entire shaft would crumble at any moment.
Zachary didn't need any more prompting. "Let's get going." He ordered and pushed the mask from his rebreather tightly against his face.
As Gooseman and Foxx rapidly headed back the way they had come, they heard and then felt another tremor make its way across the newly defined fault. More and more rubble started to pull from the roof and walls around them. Breaking into a dead run, the two men stumbled into the elevator shaft just as the tunnel completely collapsed upon itself.
Zachary rubbed his eyes still stinging from the dust and rocks. "That was too close." He gasped and moved his mask back into place.
"Yeah." Gooseman agreed as he morphed back into his normal form. "Your oxygen doing okay?"
Zachary swiped a hand over the grime that now covered the gauge on the apparatus and read it in the dusty light filtering from Gooseman's flashlight. "I can manage. You?"
"Probably better than you. Didn't need it while my biodefenses were kicked in. Looks like we got a long climb ahead of us. We can buddy breathe mine if yours runs out."
"Or until the elevator collapses around us." Zachary said sarcastically listening to the ominous creaking and popping around them. "Let's get to it."
1235 – Arkansas2 - Infirmary
151 – 2105
An alarm wailing was the first sound she heard when she lifted her head from the protective barrier she had created with her arms. Dazedly, Niko cast around trying to figure out where she was. She felt her body aching in places she didn't know that she had, but nothing seemed broken. Her hand reached out to push against something pinning her to her stomach and came away quickly when she realized that the thing she was pushing against wasn't a thing at all.
"Doc?" Niko croaked trying to get her throat to cooperate. All of the smoke inhalation therapy had been undone in breathing the aftermath of this latest quake. Niko was rewarded with a soft groan and a slight easing of pressure as Doc stirred and tried to move.
"Did you get the name of that space cruiser?" Doc rasped showing he too had lost most of the benefits of the respiration therapy.
"You okay?" Niko asked moving to check out her companion. "You're bleeding."
"Yeah. I think I hit my head on the post of the bed when we dove under here. The bleeding is superficial. But, I bet I've got black and blue marks on every exposed and not so exposed part of my body. You are hearing bells too, right?"
"The alarms have been going off ever since the last quake hit. I don't see any smoke or fire out this way." Niko pointed to where the door of the room still stood blocked by yards and yard of fragments of wall and broken medical equipment and supplies. "I haven't had a chance to see what it looks like behind us. Any chance you can get a better look?"
Doc pushed up onto his forearms and stifled a groan as he became aware that the myriad of bruises he had been suggesting were indeed fact. Pushing aside a few undeterminable items from the bed frame, he peered out into simulated sunlight. "Will wonders ever cease?"
Just as Niko was about to ask Doc what he saw, a new noise entered their wrecked room. Bang! Bang! Bang! "Anyone in there? Can you hear me?" came a muffled voice.
"Yeah! We're here!" Niko yelled in return her voice more gravelly than she preferred.
"We're going to get you out of there! Anyone hurt?"
"No. We're okay." Niko replied. "But there is a wall of wreckage blocking that door. There is no way that you can get to us from there."
"Listen," Doc interrupted. "I think that we can get out to the outside. I'm seeing sunlight, and it appears to be a fairly clear path."
"You should wait until we can get to you. That area is unstable. We'll have rescue workers to you as soon as possible. But until then, stay put!"
"With all due respect," Niko yelled back, "your rescue workers should concentrate on the priority areas. Ranger Hartford and I will get out of here just fine. How is the rest of the hospital?
Realizing that he was communicating with Galaxy Rangers and not civilians, the voice changed in tone. "It appears that the more sensitive areas of critical care were the least hit. Our triage and observation rooms were all destroyed. Listen, I know you're going to do what you gotta do, but I still want to advise you to stay put. The foundation in your area is still unstable, and we haven't had the time nor manpower to shore up that side of the building."
"Understood. When we get out of here, we'll make sure to mark the area via protocol for search and rescue. Good luck!"
"Good luck to you too, Rangers."
"Wanna get out of here?" Niko asked Doc with more enthusiasm than she felt.
"I think I've found the best route. We'll need to move carefully, or else we'll pull the rest of the building down on top of us. Shall we?" Doc invited.
0130 – Arkansas2 – Hidden Elevator Shaft - Government Office District
151 – 2105
After a half an hour of arduous climbing, the low air alarm on Zachary's tank started ringing insistently. "We've got another 150 meters or so. Think you can manage?" Goose asked.
Zachary paused to flick off the warning bell and to test the air without the aid of the rebreather. It was stale but viable. "I'm fine, let's just keep on going. I don't like the sound of this shaft."
While climbing the cable that the elevator used as its winching mechanism was unadvisable, it was their only escape from the mine. That coupled with the increasing violent noise of materials settling and rubbing against each other was making Zachary even more anxious to make it to the relative safety of the Mayor's office.
"It's beginning to lighten up in here." Goose called down encouragingly as he pulled himself further toward their goal.
Zachary could do little more than grunt as he continued to climb. While his eyes were not nearly as sensitive as Gooseman's, he did notice that the air quality was also improving. "We got to be close." He muttered more for his benefit than his companion's.
"Nope." Goose replied with satisfaction. "We're there!"
After few seconds of shifting and muttered curses, a victorious shriek of metal rending from metal let loose as Zachary forced the elevator door apart from the mayor's office wall. In moments, both rangers, drenched in sweat and exhausted, lay on the ruined office floor.
"Any chance this building is still structurally sound?" Zachary asked after he had a chance to truly catch his breath. He was finally sitting upright and looking at the demolished office.
"Doubt it."
"Yeah. Where would the fun be in that?" Gingerly, Captain Foxx got back to his feet. "Come on, Goose, time to visit the Bureau of Science and to get the hell off this rock."
"'Bout time." Gooseman agreed as he and Zachary started to pick their way through the office in the direction that used to be the exit.
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A/N: Thanks to everyone for their patience. I tell you, when life comes at you, it comes at you hard and fast. Hopefully, things will calm down now, and I can put this story to bed. I've got the last chapter currently in the works and hopefully will be able to get it finished and posted much sooner than this last post. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Regards - RL