25. Chapter 25

“We are descending onto the roof pad on C-3,” the Tuxa wheezed into the communicator, speaking with the planet down below. He rattled off a few code words into the mic.

The trip was uneventful. It took only around an hour before they came into view of the planet. Ava sat glued to the window, her breath making it fog from being pressed against it. There were several cities ringing Torga, which slowly spun underneath them as they got into orbit. Like clockwork, and with good navigation, their craft positioned itself over the main Tuxa city that looked familiar from her photos.

“Status report explaining this unexpected landing?”

Static accompanied the reply back from the planet below.

Ava watched, fascinated, as the Tuxa replied again, “This transport was found abandoned. It is loaded with Haroo tech and is hard to maneuver. Rear stabilizers are damaged. Direct surface landing is best to not damage the goods.”

“Understood. We will send a transport for you once you land to shuttle it in manually.” The communicator clicked out.

Ava grinned into space. That went easier than she had dared hope.

Her luck held as the transport landed safely on the top of the dome that was indicated by Ebel for the best point of contact.

Ava fastened her oxygen mask on herself before the locks were disengaged, pulling the rubber bands at the back tight under her hair bun to seal it fully. The Tuxa remained sitting, stationary, not a care in the world. She patted one on the shoulder as she got up and organized her items around her, earning a “stop that” reply from him.

Leaning forward, she hit the button on the top that started the process for the transport to self-destruct. It was rigged when pressed to issue a huge plume of smoke from underneath.

Ava watched the smoke gather and swirl, heavy in the polluted air before she turned the latch on the transport door. The Tuxa sat there, staring ahead, as she exited the craft. Dropping down into the mist, she stayed in the smoke cover a minute to gather her bearings before walking across to the filtration unit sitting close by the transport. Ava had the larger cutter out and already primed. Unfortunately the wind was already blowing the smoke away, but it was too late to worry about being exposed. She engaged the trigger on the cutter and put it to the metal, moving fast in case she was being monitored.

The plasma cutter went through the side of the vent easily until she could peel out pieces of the metal, creating a mid-sized opening. Ava grinned, feeling powerful. She crawled in hurriedly, turning on the headlamp she had on to see where she’d ended up. Then she turned around and pulled the panel back into place so there wasn’t a gaping hole.

If the Tuxa inspected this area they would see the damage, but with the transport combusting they hopefully wouldn’t look too closely. Her com indicated she still had a few minutes to move on before that happened. Hurry, hurry.

Flicking her headlamp to recenter it, she looked around. The motor for the filtration unit was in front of her, doggedly whirling, but the vents extended to both sides. Ava scurried away from her entry point while she shined her beam of light down both sides.

When they landed, she had a vague idea that she needed to head west once inside. She activated the locator function on her com and shook it. It flashed static but didn’t seem to want to locate. She hit it in frustration.

She took a deep breath to calm herself and was flooded with oxygen from the tank she had on, making her head spin. She took the mask off and delicately sniffed. It’s breathable. She wrinkled her nose. It didn’t smell good, but it was better to save the oxygen in case she needed it later.

Ava came to the conclusion she was going to have to do this by sight if the handheld tracker didn’t work. She banged it a few times on her knee but it remained static. Of all the times for something to not work.

She reached into her bag and got out the magnetic hooks, putting them on her hands, then crawled to the nearest outlet grate to get her bearings. Looking down, she got out her drawings and tried to piece together where she was.

Her com lit up. “You’re moving due west.”

Ava looked at it, feeling relief that one thing worked, then typed back, “Can you see my location move?”

“Through the tracker in your arm, yes. You have been stationary for too long.”

“The other one I had programmed is a bust.”

“This works. Keep moving in the direction you have been. You neglected to check in.”

She grinned. Despite being on a foreign planet, she felt comforted in a weird way being back in the vents. This was what she knew. Closed spaces felt right. It even had pom droppings, just like the ship. Poms apparently made their home everywhere.

Time passed slowly, though she checked in with Vox frequently to mark her progress. Ava was sweating under the suit profusely, only taking small sips of water to satisfy her thirst. It was hot in the vents. Heat must be radiating from somewhere to keep the domes temperature controlled.

Despite being uncomfortable it was fascinating being up here, watching the city move underneath. It was not laid out like the towns Ava had been in before. She peeked out of every grate she could as she crawled through the city. The areas she visited with Nuor usually had distinct commerce sectors and markets, with food vendors and entertainers scattered throughout.

Not here. The Tuxa home world was as sterile as they made their products, utilitarian and boring. It was gray metal without adornment everywhere, like barracks lined up military-style. Decorating style was clearly one thing that the Phor and Tuxa could agree on.

But the Tuxa though . . . the entire place was swarming with the ugly reptiles. They were milling about, eating, manufacturing products in different areas. So much of their city was devoted to manufacturing that there were assembly lines placed all over haphazardly.

Shit, there’s a lot of them. “There’s a lot of Tuxa below,” Ava typed out to Vox. “Hundreds in every dome.”

The response came a bit slower. “Do they look threatened?”

“No, they look like they did when you were in the cells. Just bored and walking around.”

“Good.” The feed vibrated again a moment later. “Ava, take a detour. Go north three or four segments. That is far enough off the path we will be taking from the transport. Destroy the filtration there for a distraction.”

She looked at the vents and chose the next one going north, feeling nervous watching the multitude of Tuxa underneath. Erox said that was how they initially lost the females on Xai. That the Tuxa could swarm and overtake them. Just how many did that need to be before Vox and the others were overwhelmed?

“This one far enough away?”Ava asked once she was outside the unit. An affirmative text came a second later.

She put her oxygen mask over her face and took the cutter directly to the filtration unit, cutting at the wires and cords randomly until she heard the unit fail, whirring and sputtering as it shut down. For good measure she also turned and cut a hole on the inside of the vent and the outside metal hull covering for the air to come in and pollute faster.

She rushed over to the next unit across the dome and did the same, then another. She hit four in a line before she thought it was too risky to take more time in this area. It wouldn’t take long before they took notice and began investigating.

Her arms were shaking from holding the cutter, which was hot to the touch. She dragged it along by its leather cord, unable to hold it by the metal handle any longer, and went south to get away from the segments she’d destroyed.

The first chance she got, she looked out of a grate and saw that most of the milling Tuxa were still casual, but there was definitely movement heading north where she’d destroyed the units. Ava moved forward, continuing to sabotage the filters as she went, though not every one as the cutter remained overheated and Ava didn’t want to linger. She took the oxygen off her nose and took a delicate whiff before grimacing and resealing it to her face.

It would take a while for that smell to filter down, but they should be aware soon that something was wrong. That, plus the transport that had long since exploded where she landed should definitely be a good distraction. In fact, she was surprised there wasn’t more of a reaction down below; they had to be aware of all the damage by now.

Ava sat back, resting in the vent for a minute, taking a break. Her calf muscles were starting to cramp from crouching so long. She stretched them in front of her.

“How much farther?”she typed in and transmitted, bringing water out of her pack to drink. She held her breath while she lifted the mask and drank.

The answer never came. It isn’t delivering. Ava clicked on her tracking com repeatedly, a low signal sign flashing. She was in one of the main hubs. Hopefully that was the reason it was blocked out, and not from any signal jamming that was happening due to her handiwork in the vents. Feeling uneasy, she closed the com again. The reassurance talking with Vox had given her made her forget where she was and gave her a sense of security.

But she wasn’t truly alone. The biologics thumped on her chest in time with her heartbeat, as if reminding her they were there as well. Ava wrapped her arms around the container, feeling it swirl and pulse in her embrace. “I’m glad you’re with me too,” she said softly before she let go and continued forward.