Chapter 7

Pain…

Her back was in pain. It felt as if her skin had been badly burned, but she didn't sense that her clothing had been damaged. Likely an energy blast, then. There had been Snakeheads inside the Ventilation Chamber and she had been hit from behind…

Luc!

Where was Luc?

Kristin realized that her eyes were still closed, and she slowly eased back one eyelid until it was barely cracked open, taking in her surroundings as quickly as she could.

Luc lay unmoving, directly in front of her, only centimeters away. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be unconscious.

They were in some kind of slowly moving vehicle. She could tell this by the vibration of the floor beneath her body, and the passing of the rock walls outside of the open top of the container in which she lay. She didn't see any Snakeheads, but she didn't dare risk turning her head or opening her eyes further to get a better view.

Kristin closed her one eyelid again, assessing the situation. All she could hear was a dull rumbling noise, presumably from the vehicle in which they were traveling. She had no idea how long she had been blacked out, and therefore no concept of how far they had been taken from the Tunnel System Ventilation Chamber.

She didn't seem to be restrained in any way, but she didn't dare attempt even the slightest movement to find out for sure. Presumably, the Snakeheads who had hit them with the energy blast had dumped them in here, and were transporting them back to their base. And once they had arrived there…

Kristin didn't want to think about that.

But it seemed as if she wasn't going to be given a choice in this matter. She had to figure out a way to escape. And if Luc was actually unconscious, then it was only going to be that much more difficult.

The element of surprise had always served them well in the past. If she simply jumped up and attacked any soldiers around her, it might work, even if she had to drag Luc along with her.

But she needed to know what she was dealing with.

Kristin was about to risk opening her eyes again when the vehicle stopped without warning. She decided to continue feigning unconsciousness as she heard two men speaking in the Spectran language, very close to her position.

"Where did they come from?"

"Shinto saw them sneaking around the ventilation equipment."

"Ah, they were probably just looking for a place to get some 'privacy'."

"In the middle of the Tunnel? Nearly a kilometer below the surface? I don't think they could have 'wandered' that far. I suspect that they're Terran Rebels, and Shinto agrees. He ordered me to bring them in for questioning, and that's just what I'm… Ack!"

This last sound was clearly one of surprise and pain, and it was quickly followed by two muffled thuds. Kristin's eyes popped open as she heard Luc's voice whispering in her ear.

"Are you awake?"

"Yes." she responded, slowly sitting up and gazing upon the two dead Snakeheads. "Which way is out?"

"I'm guessing that it's the opposite direction from the way this vehicle is pointing." Luc suggested, as he helped her out and onto the ground.

But just as Kristin's feet touched the floor, they heard a noise from behind. They turned to see an entire platoon of Snakeheads standing only a few meters away, all with their rifles pointing in their direction.

One Snakehead wearing a Sergeant's stripes stepped to the fore.

"Well, what do we have here?" he asked in strongly accented English. "Prisoners who are attempting to escape?"

"We are no one's prisoners." Luc replied proudly.

"Interesting." sighed the Snakehead in a bored tone. "My analysis of the situation seems to be quite different." The Sergeant gestured toward his men.

"They're quite eager to shoot, you know." he commented. "I think you Terrans call it… trigger-happy'? I wouldn't make any sudden moves, if I were you."

Kristin saw Luc grimacing, and knew that for now, they would have to go along with the Snakehead soldiers. Perhaps their identities wouldn't be checked immediately, and they could find a way to escape later. She knew she was clutching at straws, but she had to hold out some hope.

Luc and Kristin were marched into what appeared to be a control room. A giant viewscreen dominated the wall, and displayed on it was the image of an effeminate-looking man in a purple mask. The purple-masked man was speaking with one of the Snakeheads on the other side of the chamber, but he clearly had a view of the entire room, because he looked up and pointed at Kristin and Luc as they entered the area with their troop of escorts.

"Who are those people, Sergeant Kerta?" the man in purple asked. He spoke in Spectran, and his tone was one of disgust, more than curiosity.

"Terran Rebels, my Lord Zoltar!" the Sergeant next to Luc replied loudly. "We caught them sneaking into the Base. But don't worry, this time we will question the prisoners before executing them. "

"I'm glad to know that you finally have a grasp on that concept, Kerta." Zoltar sniffed condescendingly. Then he paused, staring hard.

"Bring them closer." he ordered brusquely.

Luc and Kristin were pushed up to the front of the room, almost directly underneath the giant viewscreen that bore the masked man's image. Zoltar's presence was nearly overpowering as his larger-than-life visage towered above them.

At a flicker of Zoltar's red-gloved finger, the soldiers nearest Kristin and Luc stuck the mouths of their rifles underneath their prisoner's chins, forcing the Rebels to look up at the Spectran Leader.

Zoltar's eyes widened in momentary shock, and then he began to laugh. The pervasive sound sunk deep into Kristin's body, chilling her heart and touching her soul. She had to swallow hard to prevent a surge of bile from rising up into her throat.

"Well, Commander," the Spectran Leader gloated, "it seems that we have finally caught up with you at last! You can't imagine how much I've missed out little 'chats' since you departed Penal Complex 624-Alpha. I'm so delighted that you have returned to us!"

Kristin choked back a gasp. Zoltar, the Leader of the Spectran Empire, knew Luc personally? She found herself desperately wishing that she could recall exactly who Luc was. The only good news in all of this was that it appeared that Zoltar didn't recognize her.

Luc glared up at the viewscreen defiantly, his rage pouring off of him in tangible waves. He did not speak, but the menace in his icy blue gaze was enough to constitute a clear response.

"Send him back to 624-Alpha." Zoltar ordered. "Kill the girl."

Before she could act, Kristin saw Luc break free of the hold the Snakehead guards had him in, ducking their rifle fire and sending his leg out in a sweep, causing the soldiers nearest him to crash to the floor.

"Restrain him!" screeched Zoltar from the wall, his hands clenched in frustration.

Kristin threw herself at the ground, tumbling across the floor while reaching into her pocket and withdrawing her yo-yo. She threw it from her hand, even as she was still rolling, squeezing the end of the cord tightly, just as the body of the weapon hit the control panel directly underneath Zoltar's image.

A surge of crackling silvery light flew down the wire, igniting the panel and causing a large explosion. The Spectran Leader's image was instantly gone as the viewscreen went dark. The blast from the exploding panel caught four Snakeheads with its strength, sending their charred bodies falling to the ground. Kristin tumbled out of the way of the flames, gracefully rolling to a standing position and throwing out her yo-yo again, this time detonating another blast within a group of eight soldiers who were rushing toward her. They crashed to the floor, screaming and clawing at their burned and blackened skin.

Kristin turned to see Luc's body whirling and flashing as he dealt death to all of the Snakeheads approaching him. He appeared to be more than holding his own, based on the stack of green uniformed bodies piling up around his position.

Kristin felt someone grab her from behind, and instinctively she thrust her left elbow back and up, feeling her assailant's throat give way under her attack. Another Snakehead ran at her, and she lifted her leg high into the air, smashing her heel into his nose. She didn't even stop to watch the man crumple to the floor, as more soldiers were rushing toward her. She whirled to face them, sending out her weapon to greet one group of opponents while simultaneously punching and kicking the Snakeheads attacking her from another side. Her conscious mind retreated, watching the entire scene unfold in front of her as her body acted on pure instinct and memory alone.

She was not going down without a fight.

The sea of green uniforms blurred in front of her, but after a few moments she realized that it had lessened, and within minutes she stood alone, breathing heavily while scanning the area for any further threats.

There were none.

She and Luc had defeated them all.

Astonished at what they had somehow managed to accomplish, Kristin's wide eyes took in the devastation in front of her. Dozens of Spectran bodies littered the room, and the computer panels that only five minutes before had been operated by Snakeheads were now charred and twisted hunks of smoking metal.

"Let's go!" Luc called, bringing her mind back to the situation at hand. He grabbed her arm, and together they ran from the room.

"We have to get out of here." Luc said urgently, his eyes moving in all directions at once, assessing their position and all potential exits.

"We'll go that way." he pointed using a Snakehead rifle that he held in his other hand. Kristin nodded, grateful that Luc was capable of higher brain function at this moment. Her mind was still reeling from what had occurred back in the control room.

Just as they had started down the hallway that Luc had indicated, the entire base trembled, knocking Luc and Kristin to the ground. The rock tunnel around them shifted, and they were helplessly drawn into the power of the massive earthquake that appeared to be shaking the entire mountain.

"The self-destruct!" Luc shouted.

Kristin understood. They must have been blacked out for longer than she had thought. The four hours had passed, and the destruction of the Laboratory Complex had resulted in an earthquake below the mountain. It was more intense than she might have expected, but perhaps the Snakehead mining operations had weakened the structural integrity of the surrounding rock.

The shaking slowed, and Luc and Kristin scrambled to their feet, moving again as much as they could, despite the aftershocks rumbling around them. As they ran down the corridor, they realized that most of the Snakeheads in the base were too occupied with the unexpected tremors to pursue them. They were now coming across only occasional soldiers whom Luc easily smacked in the face with the butt of his borrowed rifle, often knocking them so hard that their masks flew off and hit the walls of the passageway.

"I think the Vehicle Bay is back in this direction!" Luc told Kristin, dragging her down a series of turns that she could only barely remember from their forced march through the base as Sergeant Kerta's captives. But Luc's recollection was clearly sound, as they burst into the Vehicle Bay only moments later. Three soldiers were in the Bay when they arrived, and these Snakeheads ran to meet them, only to be taken out by Kristin's yo-yo before Luc could react.

"That's my girl." Luc grinned at her.

Luc pulled Kristin toward a vehicle that clearly had rock-cutting mechanisms on its front. It was shaped in the form of a mole, and Kristin was amazed at the horrific amount of weaponry that this small mecha seemed to possess.

But they weren't in a position to be picky, and she jumped aboard, sitting down at the controls with Luc and immediately activating the ignition sequence. She wasn't certain how she had enough knowledge of Spectran mecha to accomplish this, but her mind put that question aside for later contemplation.

Luc input a series of commands, and the mecha began moving forward, making its way toward the edge of the large chamber. Just as they were about to impact with the rock wall, Kristin found the controls for the digging apparatus and activated them, causing stones, dirt and debris to go flying in every direction. They burrowed through the ground, but their display screen indicated that other vehicles were pursuing them.

"We've got to go back!" Luc declared, turning the mecha around even as he spoke.

"Are you insane?" Kristin asked him. "If we go back, they'll kill us!"

"If we don't go back, they'll just keep on pursuing us, and we'll never get away." Luc pointed out. "We need to destroy them all. Let's see what these weapon systems can do."

Kristin nodded silently, understanding Luc's logic and trusting his judgment call instinctively, despite her initial skepticism. They dove back into the Vehicle Bay, surprising a horde of green-uniformed soldiers who were in the process of boarding all of the remaining mecha in the area. Kristin instantly realized that Luc had been right. They would never have escaped with this many Snakeheads on their tail. She opened fire, literally spraying the entire Bay with bullets and laser fire, watching the astonished Snakeheads dropping like flies before them.

Luc moved on, crashing through the walls of the base, the digging apparatus aiding their progress considerably as they broke through walls and passageways. Kristin manned the weapons systems and took out any resistance they encountered. She had lost count of how many men they had killed in the last hour, but she was coming to realize that it numbered in the hundreds, at the very least. Her unconscious mind rebelled at this figure, but she quickly quashed those emotions, knowing that this was not the time for such sensibilities.

"That's what we need!" announced Luc, as they broke into another large chamber filled with mining equipment and supplies. Kristin saw piles of containers and gear, including a giant stack of explosive materials.

"No problem." she grinned, shooting a missile from the rear of the mole mecha just as they exited the room. Luc accelerated to full speed, surging forward even more as the force of the blast propelled them away from the base, through giant, empty caverns that were clearly the recent location of uranium deposits.

More explosions detonated behind them, but the tracking systems did not indicate any further pursuit. They had clearly left the Snakeheads with more pressing issues to occupy their attention. Still, Luc and Kristin didn't stop to celebrate, but continued to move toward the surface as quickly as they could, desperately fleeing the wrath of the Spectran Army behind them.

88888

It wasn't until they broke through to the surface of the mountainside that Luc and Kristin realized that they had escaped. The tracking system showed no signs of anyone following them, and the viewscreen image displayed only the surrounding mountainside, although some minor damage from the recent earthquakes was clearly present.

"We're about six kilometers from Chamonix." Kristin reported, looking at the mapping systems on the vehicle's computer panels. "That way." she pointed in a northwesterly direction.

"We've walked further." Luc told her, grinning when she looked up questioningly at him. "It's not like we can drive this thing back to Marie's house."

"Right." Kristin nodded, looking around. "We lost our pack somewhere in the tunnels. Maybe I can find some rations around here, to replace our supplies. We'll be on foot for a couple of hours, at least."

"As long as they're better than that slop we were forced to eat at Penal Complex 624-Alpha." Luc joked. "You nearly blew our cover, choking on that stuff!" Kristin laughed, recalling her first mission with Luc, when they had impersonated two Snakeheads and infiltrated the prison to free two of the inmates. The happy sound echoed around the small interior of the alien mecha, and instantly she felt more relaxed.

"Are you ready?" Luc called, as Kristin grabbed a pack labeled in Spectran as being full of 'emergency supplies'.

"Yes." she said, heading to the exit door. She stepped out of the mole-shaped craft, moving away. She had only gotten a few meters from the mecha when she realized that Luc was no with her.

"Run!"

Kristin ran, bounding down the mountainside in response to Luc's shouted instruction. At first, she didn't understand why she was running, but it became immediately clear when she heard an explosion behind her.

"Get down!" Luc ordered, pushing her under a nearby tree and throwing himself on top of her. He covered her body with his own as chunks of rock, branches and metal debris began to rain down around them. The deadly hail lasted only a moment, and then Luc rolled off of her, speaking softly into her ear.

"Are you all right?" he asked solicitously.

"Yes," she answered, "although I am amazed at how much destruction we have been responsible for today." She lifted her head to look behind her, spotting the blackened crater where the mole mecha had been only minutes before.

"I didn't want the Snakeheads to get it back." Luc shrugged by way of explanation. "One less mecha for them means less trouble for us."

"Not to mention, one less mining base." Kristin pointed out. "But it was a high price we paid, Luc. That entire research laboratory is gone…"

"No." Luc shook his head. "We have the data. The lab may be physically gone, but we still have the hard-won discoveries that were made there."

Kristin sat up, unzipping her jacket pockets, feeling the data disc inside its protective case, and the calibration device next to it. She reached for the yo-yo in her other pocket and sighed in relief.

She had everything that was of any importance to her, including Luc.

Quickly, Kristin assessed the rest of her few possessions, while Luc did the same. Kristin's watch was broken, but she still had a handful of the feather darts in the leg of her cargo pants. They had lost their pack with climbing supplies and rations, but the Spectran pack she had picked up from the mecha lay only a couple of meters away from their position. She got up and retrieved it, glancing inside. Walking back to Luc, she sat down next to him and began inventorying its contents.

"It looks like we have a lantern, some dried nutrient bars, water packs and a small medkit." she told him, looking up into his face and smiling. "This could last us for a few days, if we made it stretch. We should have no problem making it to Chamonix."

Luc did not respond, but merely stared at her, an astonished expression on his face. His mouth was open, but no words were coming out. Kristin doubted that he had heard anything she had said.

She looked around carefully, but didn't see anything that would be cause for alarm. Slowly, Kristin put the pack down and placed a soft hand onto Luc's shoulder.

"What is it, Luc?" she asked fearfully.

"Your eyes…" he whispered. "What happened to your eyes?"

"My eyes?" Kristin was taken aback. Her eyes felt fine, and she wasn't having any vision problems. She dug the medkit out of the pack and opened it, locating a small mirror attacked to the back of the lid. Curiously, she stared into it.

The eyes that stared back at her were green.

"What…?" Kristin mumbled, confused by the vision before her. "What's going on?"

"Your eyes changed color." Luc stated the obvious. "As long as I've known you, you've had brown eyes. I remember looking at you as we left the Research Facility, and your eyes were brown. But… now they're green."

"But my eyes have always been brown." Kristin protested. "How can they just suddenly change color?"

Luc was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Maybe… the same way my hair grew back overnight." he whispered.

"You mean, my body did this… because it went into some kind of overdrive?" Kristin asked skeptically.

"Well…" Luc was obviously thinking aloud, "I was bald, and I knew that having no hair would make me stand out; make it easier for the Snakeheads to find me. And I was worried about it when I went to sleep. The next morning I woke up with a full head of hair: about a year's growth. My body did what I needed it to do."

Kristin stared at herself in the tiny mirror, fascinated with what she saw. The emerald eyes staring back at her seemed somehow familiar.

"This is right." she said suddenly. "These eyes… this is me."

"I can understand why they were different before." Luc said. "If you were on the team that I commanded, then you needed to hide from the Snakeheads just as much as I did."

"That makes sense." Kristin nodded, brushing back strands of red hair from her face. She was still unable to tear her gaze away from the mirror's reflection.

"So the question is, why did your eyes change back now?" Luc asked thoughtfully. "What is it about now that is different from yesterday, or last week, or last month?"

"My memories."

Kristin looked away from the mirror, silently shutting the medkit and standing as she replaced it in the pack. Luc stood as well, moving over to her and taking her hand in his. As they began walking, Kristin spoke again.

"My memories have been returning." she repeated. "Yesterday, I didn't realize that we knew each other before the Occupation. I didn't know about our weapons. Two days ago, I didn't even realize that I even had memories missing. I think my eyes have returned to their natural state, just as my memories are returning to their natural state."

"I think you're right." Luc responded slowly. "But why is this all happening now?"

"I'm not sure." Kristin replied. "Hopefully, once more of my memories return, I'll find out."

"It's just so frustrating!" Luc burst out. "You can remember things, but why can't I? What makes my situation different from yours?"

Kristin had no answers for Luc, so she just squeezed his hand, attempting to communicate her sympathy for his plight through their physical and emotional connection. She knew how frustrated she was at realizing that some of her memories were missing. She could only imagine how much worse it was for Luc to recall nothing at all.

They walked in silence for some time, their fingers interlaced, communicating through touch alone. After about ninety minutes they reached a road, and they began following it from about twenty meters back, staying out of sight of the passing traffic. They moved along, lost in thought, but not slowing their pace until they came across something completely unexpected.

Far off the highway, in a ditch well hidden from the main road, a car was crushed against a large tree. The fresh tire tracks behind the vehicle made it clear that this accident had occurred within the last few hours.

Shocked, Kristin and Luc ran over to the car, checking to see if anyone was still inside.

A sinking feeling crept over Kristin as she approached the car that seemed eerily familiar. Luc reached the vehicle first, and as she arrived he turned, his eyes confirming what she had already realized.

Inside the car was Professor Tremblay.