In the forum, the first SYS-soldier gradually clawed his way back to his knees, as another — he who had taken control when the first had been struck down — stepped up and spread shadow over his commander’s prostrate form.
“Is he dead,” seeped Lúez’s voice icily into the second soldier’s ear.
“No, sir, he’s…”
“Then make sure he does not get up.”
“Sir?”
The first soldier squinted up at his comrade. More recovering soldiers tightened in around them.
“He has let me down,” continued Lúez, “So, if you do not kill him, then he will redeem himself to me in just a moment...by killing you.”
The first soldier shook his head in disbelief: “Reish! My friend! You...?”
“Names?” cackled Lúez, “Names?! No time for names! Choose!”
The second SYS-soldier pondered for a moment, then took a step back and lifted his weapon. And as the bolt of flare echoed around the stone forum, Lúez hissed, “Congratulations on the promotion, my clever little grunt. Now...sort out your swarm and find that boy!”
Kai, Nira, Onnd and Shen sprinted from the forum through the narrow, crowded streets.
“Better hope Sann can lead them to B’rra in time,” said Nira.
“Sann has my complete trust, Nira,” said Onnd, “And B’rra...”
“Who is this B’rra?” wheezed Shen as breathlessly as he could imagine someone to be.
Onnd glared down at Shen as they ran: “B’rra is the most brutal, conniving and fiercely intelligent blackguard in the entire Destiny underworld. You had better hope you never have to meet him yourself, old man.”
Shen flushed over brightly beige and gulped hard at the air he could not breathe. Nira smiled.
Following the contours of the map on his hand-display, Kai darted suddenly off to his left and into the elevator atrium from which he had emerged a few short hours before. The others followed, but stopped short at once — a huge, hulking SYS-soldier blocked their way. One huge paw went all the way up to one of his fore-ears. Nira’s hand moved towards her gun, Onnd’s to her staff. The SYS-soldier gazed down at them, but his focus was elsewhere; he replied into his communicator, “A whole family? Kids and all?! Messy! By Déhath, what’s this city coming to?!”
He noticed the three under his nose, then drew his hefty head back up on his stocky neck to meet Onnd’s intense glare.
“What you looking at, outsider?!” he growled, “Get out of my face!”
“Gladly, idiot,” snapped Nira, “There’s only so much hideousness a girl can take!”
Shen whimpered away to white.
“Hey!” growled the SYS-soldier, following through with a confused silence.
“Clever! Just my type!” spat Nira.
“No, no! We...we’ll...,” stuttered Shen in nervous ripples of orange, “We’ll just be off then!”
Kai shuffled around the SYS-soldier in a breath of relief, and the others followed him towards the line of elevators. They squeezed themselves into one of the energy shells and dissolved into the ground at once.
As the elevator shot downwards, the four looked around and down; far below them, tiny black lines of SYS-troops were snaking in between the rows of ships. Suddenly a vertical shaft of red light swept across their elevator, then disappeared.
“Is that it?” said Nira to Onnd.
“It must be,” Onnd replied.
“What, what, what?” blustered Shen.
“They’ve found us,” said Nira.
“Oh no, no, nooooo!!” bawled Shen as the elevator began to slow and redirect itself.
“Well,” said Nira, “this SYStem isn’t working for us anymore. Time to get out.”
She nodded to Onnd, who immediately flicked up her staff and stabbed it into the shell of the elevator tearing a hole in the energy field with a blinding flash. Icy air gushed in deafeningly around them, punctuated by the levels of parked ships rushing upwards.
Suddenly an inanely pleasant voice effortlessly filled the thundering space around them in a perfectly unperturbed pitch with an invisibly broad smile: “Please do not panic. Your SYS-elevator is experiencing a slight malfunction. Assistance will reach you very, very soon. Remember — trust the SYStem and walk with light!”
“Thanks,” sneered Nira, “but I think we’ll find our own way now.”
Onnd twisted hard at the staff and the elevator grated and rasped to a stop.
“Come on,” hissed Nira and leapt straight out from the elevator into the dark, followed by Onnd. Kai looked at Shen; he forced back a smile in a terrified glimmer. Then, together, they leapt out after them.
Next chapter — Chases
Sunday 23 October 2011
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