Chapter 4 #2
Landing on the roof of the lift car proved impossible.
What he’d taken for a dusty solid surface was actually a warp mesh that couldn’t handle the weight of the airsled and would snare the runners.
He set the sled to a stable hover and opened the side door.
Holding onto the sidebar with one hand, he leaned out and beckoned Jhidelle.
“Come on.” If the third power coil wasn’t so bad, he wouldn’t have had to yell so loud to be heard over their vibration.
She clutched her coat lapels with one hand and walked quickly toward the airsled. He gave her a hand up and pointed her toward the jump seat. “Pull that down and web in.”
Moyo stood in her crate, tail wagging, making a soft snuffling noise. Jhidelle’s head snapped to the back. Her eyes widened as they darted to each crate.
“They’re our trained rescue team,” he told her and pointed to each. “Moyo, Shen, Phobos, Deimos, Mariposa, and Lerox.”
The animals were clearly as fascinated by her as she was them.
Taz’s tone sounded in his earwire. “I’m halfway down.
I think this shaft is twisted five or six degrees, which is probably why the lift grounded itself.
Some of the service ladder rungs have popped their anchors.
My scans agree with Hatya’s on where the lifesigns are.
The basement hallway seems clear, and it’s big.
Maybe the lifesigns are stuck in one of the storage units?
Hatya’s updated records say each unit has its own life-support system, but they depend on the building’s independent power. ”
“Which is glitching,” he subvocalized.
Waving to get Jhidelle’s attention, he pointed to the side of the jump seat. “Web in. Safety rules. Sit sideways so there’s room for your feet.”
“I recommend we get the others now,” said Taz, “rather than making a second trip.”
After making sure Jhidelle hooked the web all the way, he squeezed by the tall equipment cases to stand at the front controls.
“With only two good coils instead of three, we might have to make a second trip anyway, if the lifesigns are heavy. As it is, we’ll have to re-stack the crates, or hook one to the roof.
” The airsled’s scans agreed with Taz’s and Hatya’s. “Let’s try it.”
“Copy that. Meet you in the hallway.”
Since the girl was webbed in, he didn’t bother closing the side door as he slowly raised the airsled up the shaft twelve meters, then eased it into the wide-open doors of the basement hallway.
Simple hovering was easier on the coils than grounding and lift-off, so he floated in place a half meter off the floor.
Scans didn’t stress the coils, either, so he ran the full array.
A series of at least twenty or thirty light-ringed doors lined the hallway, each with the company’s logo and a number, an impressive-looking lock, and a nearby wallcomp.
Seen from this perspective, the building was a lot bigger than it had looked upstairs, and this was the short end of its L-shape.
Taz swung into Rylando’s holo camera view a moment later, as if she’d used anti-gravity to get to the hallway entrance. Her floodlights turned off as she walked to stand next to the airsled’s open door. All he could see out the door was her suit’s knees to her shoulders.
He turned to look at his passenger. “Which storage unit will your father be in? And do you know who’s with him?”
“I don’t know,” replied the girl, sounding miserable and worried.
In the sling on his chest, Otak abruptly turned around and stuck his head out toward the open door, nose quivering. Rylando lightly connected to the big rat’s thought stream. The reason for Otak’s alert was unsettling.
Turning back to the controls, he reached up to tap his earwire to tell Taz, then hesitated.
Would she take him seriously, or would she be like most of the unit and their boss and call him deluded?
He made himself touch his earwire and subvocalize anyway.
“Otak’s nose says this corridor has traces of explosives. Likely Kem-X.”
Time stood still until she replied.
“Acknowledged. Give Otak an extra treat for me. I’ll do chem scans along with the rest so we can report it. Let’s free our targets and jet out.”
Relief gave him back his ability to breathe. “Good. Yes. Right.” Apparently, it also made him sound like a fluffhead.
He turned to take Otak back to his crate when movement caught his eye. Jhidelle’s big puffy coat was squirming. Extending his talent told him why.
Giving Jhidelle a raised eyebrow, he pointed to her middle. “Perhaps you should open your coat so your animals can get some fresh air.”
She froze, then shook her head. Finally, her expression fell, and she opened her coat.
In a cleverly crafted vest with pouches, she carried two small animals.
“Father doesn’t like them, but I couldn’t leave them behind.
” She pointed to a red-furred face with ears twice as big.
“This is Farenoso. He’s a Fennec fox.” She stroked the brown, large-eyed creature. “This is Tzima. She’s a kinkajou.”
He couldn’t very well fault her for something he would have done as a kid.
Actually, considering the crates in the back and the rat nestled against his chest, something he still did.
Which made him realize Jhidelle and he might have more in common than he thought.
Reaching out to her pets confirmed his suspicion.
She was an animal-affinity minder. In their minds, he felt her presence as a kind of extra energy.
While it was unlikely the girl had bad intentions, he kicked himself for not realizing the reason for his own team’s heightened interest in her.
A higher-level talent could override his connection to his animals.
He’d done his best to train them to resist and escape, but they could still be forced to do things against their will.
Taz swore. “I lost my connection to Hatya. How about you?”
Returning to the front console, he checked the readout. “I still have thin band. Considering how thick the denscrete is above us, I bet I’ll lose all comms when I go farther down the hallway and out of bounce range.”
Taz growled. “This is ridiculous. As soon as we get back, I’m upgrading my suit comms out of my own savings. GSAR Tech Sec will have to catch me.”
They wouldn’t. While the Tech Security division was notorious for confiscating unauthorized tech, it was also the most understaffed and under-funded division in GSAR.
“I’ll send Hatya a ping with our plans, with a status check in thirty.”
“Copy. I’ll scout for our target.” She snorted. “At least our earwires still work down here.” She took off with a distance-eating stride.
He sent the comms packet and nudged the airsled forward to follow.
Taz was already activating the first storage unit’s wallcomp by the time he caught up with her.
The overhead lighting flickered twice, then went out. The residual glow from light-ringed doors and the wallcomps died a moment later.
Their only illumination in the hallway came from the airsled and Taz’s suit.