Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

The two guards had their helmets back on, dragging her toward the group of Hasmarga who were still keeping as close to the fire as they could.

Rose saw one of them, the largest of the group, held a small device in her hand, and then noticed a small machine trundling away from the group toward the ship. Toward Pyre.

It looked like the translation device had been delivered as promised.

She was shoved forward, and one of the guards shouted at the Hasmarga and gestured to her, then tapped her shoulder. She turned to look at him, and he pointed up, to the guard on the watch tower above, weapon in hand.

The meaning was clear. Do what you are told, or else.

He gave her a final little shove, a completely unnecessary insult, and then walked away with his partner.

The Hasmarga in front of her, Pyre called her the matriarch, watched them leave and then lifted her hand and began to speak. Her language was a strange mix of clicks and throat noises. When she was done, the translation device activated. “My friend who has helped me set this fire says you are to be trusted.”

“She has told me the same about you,” Rose answered.

“You are carrying eggs?” The matriarch asked, looking at her stomach.

“I am carrying a single child. My body is the method of incubation.”

“Interesting.” The matriarch shifted, and Rose caught a quick glimpse of pearly shapes beneath her carapace. “I am carrying thirty new lives, and they will die in the next two hours if I cannot find a place with a warmer temperature.”

“Has Pyre given you a plan?” Rose asked.

“Pyre?” The matriarch asked. “That is our friend’s name?”

The translation device clicked and hissed as if experiencing static, and Rose realized it was Pyre talking to the matriarch.

The matriarch lifted her head. “She tells me it is. And I am Gerna.”

“Rose McKenzie.” Rose glanced past Gerna to the crowd of her fellow Hasmarga standing just behind her.

“There are too many of them to introduce,” Gerna said. “They are my warriors.” She turned and spoke to them in urgent tones, and then turned back. “Pyre says this place needs to lose its power for her plan to work, but none of us can leave the warmth of this fire without risk of death.”

“I can.” Rose glanced back at the small office, and Pyre herself, sitting parked beside it. “Where do I go?”

“The building to your left,” Pyre spoke through the translator. “I cannot break into the power system. It was designed many years before I came into existence, and it requires a physical hand to pull down a lever to cut the power.”

“Will they let me walk over there without shooting me?” Rose asked.

“I don’t think so, but none of us can escape without this.” Pyre went quiet. “You worry about getting hurt?”

“I worry more about my unborn child getting hurt. But if I don’t take the risk, she will be hurt anyway.” So she would do it. “Can you distract them?”

“Yes.” Pyre said it with a slight edge, and Rose guessed whatever distraction she had in mind wasn’t going to be pleasant for the Fisone.

Rose began to drift to the left, away from the light thrown by the still-raging fire, and suddenly one of the small machines that had been trundling around rammed into a guard standing on the ground near a tower.

He went down with a cry of pain, discharging his weapon into the sky.

The machine spun, turning and hitting him again. The other guards, both standing on the towers as well as those at ground-level, suddenly swung his way, weapons raised, but when they saw what was happening, there was laughter and teasing.

They thought this was a not-very-dangerous machine malfunctioning.

How little they knew.

She kept drifting away, into deeper and deeper shadow, until she found herself back in a pool of light thrown by one of the powerful down lights illuminating the mine.

She moved quickly through it, back into shadow, and kept going, eventually reaching the small building that housed the power controls.

It was cold away from the fire. Much colder than it had felt on the rocks where she’d slept. Perhaps it was because this place was in a dip, and close to the lake.

The air around her misted as she breathed out, and she reached for the door and slipped inside as quickly as she could.

It wasn’t much warmer inside, but there was a low-level light that illuminated the single room, and she made out several panels with lights beneath their smooth surfaces.

There were also two levers, and she spent time making sure they were the only ones. Then she flipped the first one, ran to the door and looked out to check the outcome.

Half the plant was in darkness.

She ran back, flipped the second one, and even the low light in the building cut off, leaving her in absolute darkness.

The hum she realized had been running at a low-level in the background was suddenly silent, too. This plant was completely offline.

Mission accomplished.

She made her way back outside, but as she stepped through the door, she was suddenly blinded by a light.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes, and found herself looking at a Fisone. This one wasn’t in a full helmet like the two who’d taken her prisoner. He wore a simple face mask which was attached by tube to a small cylinder that was held in a loop to the left of his chest.

He barked something at her, then shoved her aside hard enough for her to fall.

She put out both hands to save herself, got her feet back under her, and saw he had gone into the room.

She leaned against the wall for a moment to calm her pounding heart, then steeled herself to step back inside.

The Fisone had set his flashlight down on top of one of the panels, and it illuminated most of the room. He stood in front of the levers, ready to reset them.

That wasn’t going to happen.

She picked up the light, gave a twist of her lips in appreciation for the nice heft to it, took a running start, and slammed it into the back of his head.

He fell forward, twisting around as he did, eyes wide above his mask.

The mask itself dislodged a little, and that gave her an idea. She reached down and pulled it off, then ripped the tube that connected it to the cylinder out as well.

He panicked, scrabbling at his throat. She stood above him, hefting the flashlight in her hand, and he scuttled to the side to get away from her. When he was out of reach, he hauled himself to his feet and ran.

She followed him out, listening to him run away to the right, his throat rattling as he tried to get enough air.

Given Crythis and the others who’d brought her here had managed to breathe without a mask, although they had obviously struggled, she guessed he would live.

She began to walk back to the Hasmarga, throwing the mask and cylinder into the darkness, and lighting her way with the flashlight.

Obviously someone would come back and try to reset the levers, but she hoped Pyre only needed a small window of opportunity.

She heard a strange whirring sound coming from the darkness to her right. It was so unexpected she stopped dead and swung her light around her, and found herself surrounded by some of Gerna’s warriors.

“It’s me,” she told them, knowing as she did that they couldn’t understand her. Then she pointed the light at herself, so they could see her.

The whirring stopped, and she blew out a breath. She didn’t know what that was, but she had a feeling nothing good. And if she hadn’t identified herself, she would have found out the hard way.

The warriors escorted her back to the fire, and Gerna was waiting, huddled close to the flames.

“You did well.” Gerna turned to her, translator in her hand. “The guards in the towers are gone, I think to fetch portable lights.”

“They are locked in their equipment room.” Pyre’s voice came over the translator. “Others are locked in their barracks. I have set my internal temperature to the correct level for your eggs, Gerna. Only twelve Hasmarga can fit inside my ship, so there will have to be a rotation. But the office can also be set to a warmer temperature, and that should hold the others. There are two Fisone inside the office who will need to be dealt with.”

“Any others?” Gerna asked.

“There are five I haven’t been able to trap and lock in. You will have to deal with them, too.”

“They’re armed?” Rose asked.

“They are armed. The two in the office also have the weapon you had in your pack, Rose.”

“So six weapons?” Gerna shook her head, as if the odds were not in their favor.

“I had another one. I hid it behind a rock where you picked me up, Pyre,” Rose told her. “Is it worth you taking me back there to grab it?”

“A weapon that shoots the blue sky light?” Gerna asked.

Rose nodded.

“We cannot hold against these weapons,” Gerna said. “It nearly kills us, and whoever is touched by the light is very ill for many days.”

“I have a feeling it is the same for me,” Rose said. “So if there are five guards armed with it here, plus the one from my backpack in the office, perhaps getting the weapon I hid is worthwhile.”

“I agree.” Pyre started the ship’s engines. “Rose will have to come, as only she knows where the weapon is hidden, but Gerna, there is no reason you shouldn’t be in the warm. I can only take you and five of your warriors, though, if I have to fly.”

Rose jogged toward the ship, feeling the baby kick and twist as she moved. She was breathing hard by the time she climbed in, and Gerna and her chosen five were already inside.

“You are in discomfort?” Gerna asked her as she sank down on a bench as the ship took off.

“I’m not used to running at this late stage of my pregnancy,” Rose said, tipping back her head and closing her eyes while she tried to calm her pulse.

“This is very interesting to me.” Gerna shifted on her seat. “I think your type of reproduction is closer to the Fisone than to my people.”

“Possibly,” Rose said. “I don’t know anything about the Fisone.”

And she was sorry she’d ever met them.

“I’m landing exactly where I did before.” Pyre set the ship down, and Rose pulled herself to her feet with a groan and made her way down the ramp.

She stood a moment, trying to get her bearings, and realized the sun was finally rising and she could see much better now than before.

She could make out the rock she’d been standing on and where she’d slid down to the ground.

She judged the distance to where Pyre’s ship hummed softly, and worked out where she had sat to wait for the guards to approach her.

She sunk down on the rock again, and felt around for the weapon.

There.

“Let’s go,” she said, lifting it up.

Before she could stand, she heard the sound of someone sliding down the rock behind her, and she twisted in place, clutching the weapon in her hand and extending it.

A helmeted figure slowly lifted his hands and then glanced back, and she saw a second figure.

The two she’d dealt with at the secret watch station?

The one in front said something to her.

“Do you understand them?” she called to Pyre.

Pyre didn’t answer, but one of the Hasmarga warriors appeared at the top of the ramp, and tossed the translation device toward Rose.

It was a good throw, and landed right near her feet, so she didn’t even have to stand to pick it up.

“Say that again,” she told them.

But the two guards were standing still, shocked at the sight of the Hasmarga standing at the top of the ramp.

She used the distraction to get to her feet and then shuffle back toward the ship.

“What did you say?” she asked them, when her movement forced them to focus on her again.

They were both silent.

“What did they say, that first time?” She glanced back at the ship.

“They said they wanted their weapons back,” Pyre said through the translator. “So they may be the people you encountered at the watch station.

“Do you know which group brought me here. To Dimal, I mean?” Rose asked. “Neither the watch station people nor the mine group seemed to know anything about me, which doesn’t mean their people weren’t involved, just they weren’t informed about it.”

“Interesting question,” Pyre said. “I don’t know which group brought you here, either.”

Rose looked back over at the two guards, and realized what had been bothering her. “There was a woman and a man at the watch station. These are both men.” She lifted the weapon with both hands. “Take off your helmets.”

Pyre translated for her.

Their gaze fixed on her weapon. They looked like they wanted to refuse, but she kept her grip steady and they obeyed slowly.

Once the helmets were off, Rose studied them. Neither one was familiar.

“Well?” Pyre asked.

“These aren’t the two I encountered before.” Rose narrowed her eyes. She gestured with the translator. “Where are you from?”

Suddenly the man at the back stepped closer, hands lifting a weapon and aiming it at her.

She shot him.

The two guards were standing so close together, the blue light that leaped from her weapon danced over both them, but it seemed to have no effect.

Given the guard who’d been shot by mistake outside the secret station had gone down, Rose guessed these two had different suits. Protective ones.

As the blue light winked out, the second man lifted a weapon as well.

They glanced at the ship, and Rose quickly checked. The Hasmarga had disappeared from the doorway, and she remembered Gerna saying they were very badly affected by a weapon strike.

“You will throw down your weapon,” the one in the front said.

Rose slowly crouched down, weapon held away from her. “What now?” she asked Pyre as she straightened, hands empty.

Instead of answering, the gun fixed beneath the ship fired once.

Both men went down, and Rose coughed a little on the ozone as she straightened back up.

Ha.

She walked over to the fallen guards and crouched beside them, taking both their weapons.

She thought she might detect a faint rise and fall of their chests, but she couldn’t be sure.

“They’re not dead,” Pyre said. “But they will be down for a while.”

Good enough. “Is there time to take one of these suits?” She wouldn’t mind having one. It meant she wouldn’t have to worry about being hit by whatever it was these weapons shot out when they returned to the mine.

“The Hasmarga will help you.”

Rose looked for the fastenings, and three Hasmarga ran out to help her get the suit off the guard who was closest to her in size.

It was a pity the Hasmarga were too big and completely the wrong shape for any of them to fit into the other one.

When it was done, she took the suit and walked back to the ship. They had gone looking for one weapon. Now they had three.

And maybe a new set of enemies.