Linkage: The Narrows of Time

Chapter 31

Assault





When he arrived on theother side, his feet slipped out from under him, sending his ass andelbows crashing into the floor. Lucas rolled out of the way asfourteen of Bruno’s security detail stormed through the portalbehind him. They, too, slipped on the floor, one after another,sending them sliding past Lucas on their butts.

“Welcome to theparty, pal,” Lucas told the last guard to arrive.

The exchange roomlooked like a biological bomb had detonated: The walls were coveredin a flood of orange blood, as runny chunks of the Krellian tissueoozed down from the ceiling, dripping into piles on the deck plating.It reminded him of Dexter’s kill room, minus the plastic.

When he stood up andwalked to the banquet table, gravity tugged at the seat of hisblood-soaked pants. The four geriatric men were squatting on thefloor—cowering in the fetal position. The naked female translatorwas alive, but lying on her side with a stubby piece of tentaclehanging from her spine. Her face and body were covered in orangetissue and she was sobbing into her hands.

The security teamdeployed, in standard two-by-two formation, to cover the corridoroutside the wall opening. Lucas lowered his weapons and searched theroom for his brother, but couldn’t find him. Kleezebee and Brunowere missing, too.

Then he remembered hewas wearing the disruptor vest. He looked down at it, expecting it tobe smoldering—it wasn’t. He hand-checked the condition of thewires and sonic pads to find they hadn’t overloaded as Claude hadfeared. “Too bad Dad’s not here to see this,” he said. Hisfather’s invention was a resounding success, well, after a littleof Kleezebee’s tweaking.

“Let’s fan out,search the ship,” one of the commandos yelled. Lucas assumed he wasthe leader. The name on the man’s uniform said Harkins.

“I’ll join you,”Lucas said, following them into the hall.

“Team leaders, I wantthree teams of four . . . Sergeant Nash, you and Phillips remain hereand guard the portal.”

“Yes, sir,” Nashreplied.

The three teamsscurried off in different directions, each taking a differenthallway. Lucas decided to follow the group with the commander and oneof the Bruno copies. They went to the right.

The Krellian ship wasdivided into a labyrinth of short, angled hallways lined with flamingtorches. Lucas expected the passageways to be filled with smoke, butthey weren’t—they were only filled with the runny splatter oforange blood and tissue.

Each shiny, greencorridor looked identical, making it tough for Lucas to maintain hisbearings. He felt like he was running through a carnival funhouse,trying to navigate a maze of endless mirrors. Even if he rescued hisbrother from the bugs, he wasn’t sure he could find his way back tothe exchange room.

The end of eachcorridor had an octagon-shaped hatch that forked into two adjoininghallways. Harkins made only right turns, which Lucas assumed was themost efficient method for searching the seemingly endless network ofpassageways.

Lucas kept expecting tobe ambushed by a Krellian welcoming party as they turned each corner,but there weren’t—only more orange blood and tissue on the floorsand walls. It appeared the range of the disruptor vest was far betterthan they hoped. Or maybe, his decision to max out its power did thetrick.

Eventually they cameacross a twenty-foot-wide nook on the right. Access to the room wasblocked by a lattice of black, riveted metal bars—stamped flatinstead of round. Inside, they saw a herd of naked women, bunchedtogether in the back-left corner. Many of them—two of which had tobe under sixteen—had fully extended bellies that looked ready topop. The floor was filled with a hay-like substance and reeked ofexcrement. It was a hundred times worse than the chemical smell inGriffith’s chem-lab back home.

“Let’s go, men.Kleezebee’s not in there,” Harkins said, turning his head andshoulders to continue down the hall.

“Hey, wait a minute!You can’t leave these women here,” Lucas said.

“We’re not here forthem.”

“But they’re human.We have to get them out.”

Harkins moved closer toLucas, shuffling through his men. “Look, we don’t have time forthis.”

Lucas raised hisstunner and fired it at the ceiling. “Make the time, goddamnit.”

Harkins leaned in closeand sneered at Lucas.

One of his men—theone that looked like Bruno—said, “He’s right, boss. We can’tleave them here.”

Harkins bit his lowerlip and shook his head. A few seconds later, Harkins told Lucas,“Fine, but they’re your problem.”

Lucas nodded withouthesitation, knowing that this delay could mean he might never see hisbrother again. But he had no choice; it was the right thing to doeven if the Krellians were waiting around the next corner to ambushthem. Earlier, when Alicia first appeared through the rift, he hadfailed to act when she held out her hand and pleaded for his help. Hewasn’t about to leave the women there to die.

Harkins told the Brunocopy, “Hand me a brick.”

Harkins took the C-4and broke it into three smaller blocks before attaching them to theinside of the door’s hinges. He inserted a detonator into thecenter of each block, then said, “Stand clear.”

The explosivesdetonated, sending the bars clanking across the hallway in a cloud ofsmoke. “Let’s move it,” Harkins said, “they probably heardthat and are on their way here with reinforcements.”

Lucas ran inside thecage, leading the way. “Ladies, you need to come with us.”

None of the two-dozenwomen budged from the back wall. He held out his right hand, tryingto appear friendly. “It’s okay; we’re here to help you. But youneed to come with us right now.”

One of the smallerwomen in the back row pushed her way forward through the herd. Lucascouldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the dark-haired beauty.“Abby?”

She flew into his armsand cried hysterically. He held her tight, feeling the hand-carved,alien tattoo etched into her shoulder. “It’s okay, you’re safenow.”

Lucas realized that thetheatre flash must have been some type of sampler probe, not adestructive energy dome as he’d first thought. It snatched her upalong with the rest of the students standing completely inside itsperimeter. Jasmine had been cut in half because she was straddlingthe edge of the field.

Abby leaned awayslightly, looking up at him with her tear-stricken eyes. “They’vegot Drew.”

“I know. That’s whywe’re here. Do you know where he is?”

“No,” she said,shaking her head and sniffing. “I only saw him once, when theycarried him past our cell. But that was yesterday.”

“We have to leave,now!” Harkins yelled.

Lucas broke free fromher embrace and led her out of the confinement cell. Abby stoodhalf-crouched among the men in the hallway, with her arms and handstrying to cover her privates. Lucas removed his vest, then unbuttonedhis shirt and gave it to her to wear. The other women joined them inthe corridor, flocking around him as if he were a famous celebrity.

“Do you remember theway back to the exchange room?” Harkins asked Lucas.

“I haven’t a clue.”

“I can take him,sir,” the Bruno copy said.

Harkins did not respondright away. Instead, he turned slightly and spoke into hiscommunicator watch. “Harkins here.” A few seconds later, he toldthe caller, “Where? . . . Are they injured? . . . Secure the area.We’re on our way back.”

“Dr. Kleezebee?”the Bruno copy asked.

“Yes, they’re backat the portal.”

“What about mybrother?” Lucas said.

“He’s there, too,along with Bruno and Trevor. Everyone’s in one piece.”

Lucas looked at Abby,who was smiling through her tear-swollen eyes.

“Let’s double-timeit,” Harkins said, running down the hallway, back in the directionthey came. Lucas and Abby followed Harkins, while the Bruno copyhelped herd the rest of the women.

After running through amaze of hallways, they finally turned the last corner. Lucas couldsee a flock of soldiers standing guard outside the exchange room. Hecouldn’t wait to see the look on Drew’s face when he waltzed inwith Abby on his arm.

When they entered theroom, Drew was standing with the help of Bruno’s left shoulder andarm. Drew’s face lit up with a huge smile.

“Look who I found,”Lucas said, presenting Abby to Drew as if she were a royal princessentering the ballroom.

“Abby!” Drewshouted.

Abby sprinted over tohim and planted a passionate kiss on his lips.

Lucas walked slowly tohis brother, waiting for Drew to finish his smooch and come up forair. When he did, Lucas asked him, “Are you okay?”

“I’m hungry andexhausted, but other than that, I’m fine,” Drew replied withAbby’s arms wrapped around his neck.

“Where the hell didyou guys go?”

Bruno held out hiswatch. “We never left. We knew they’d attack, so me and my watchwere ready.”

“Shit, we ran rightpast you.”

Kleezebee lifted one ofhis shoes, letting the orange blood and tissue drip from his heel.“You detonated the vest, didn’t you?” he asked Lucas.

Lucas nodded. “Notonly that, I cranked it up to full power.”

Harkins added, “Ithink it took out the entire ship. So far, we encountered nohostiles.”

“The disrupter signalmust have been transmitted across their bio-comm network, destroyingthem all,” Kleezebee said. He patted Lucas on the back. “Nicework.”

“Thanks, Professor.But it was just dumb luck. I really wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“I’m sure it wasmore than that,” Kleezebee said.

“Orders, sir?”Harkins asked Kleezebee.

“Search the rest ofthe ship. There’s probably more humans on board.”

“I’ll get right onit.”

“What about theenergy domes?” Drew asked.

“If they’re alldead, then we should’ve seen the last of the energy fields.”

Lucas turned to hislittle brother and smiled. “How about that? Dad’s invention savedEarth!”

“Too bad we can’ttell anyone,” Drew replied.

“Can we go home now?”Abby asked.

Kleezebee cocked hishead in Bruno’s direction. “Take ‘em home.”

Lucas whispered intoDrew’s ear, “When we get home, there’s something I need to tellyou about your biological father.”

Drew looked confusedfor a moment, then nodded.

Bruno helped Drew andAbby through the rift.

Lucas stayed behind.“So, Professor, what are you going to do with your new ship?”

“Take my people home,assuming we can figure out how to fly this thing.”

Lucas looked around atthe blood and guts covering the walls. “It’s gonna need a freshcoat of paint and a ton of disinfectant. A little 409 wouldn’thurt, either.”

Kleezebee chuckled.