Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

" S o this deal with the Guardians…"

Felix shook his head at Andy. "It's a long story." He turned back toward the settlement, a hundred meters distant and almost thoroughly cloaked by night. The lights at the corners of the prefabs barely penetrated the darkness.

"They got anything to do with Project Dreamcatcher?" Andy asked.

"Other than the fact they disapprove? No."

"And Zed talks to them?"

Elias cut in. "He's their emissary. Where have you been?"

"They don't get a lot of news out here," Felix said.

"They really gonna blow this place up if we don't shut Preston down?" Andy asked.

Felix liked Andy. On another world, at another time, he could imagine befriending him. Simple men made easy companions. Now, however, he had only one word for him. "Yes."

Apparently sensing his frustration, or just his thoughts, Elias launched into a description of exactly what had happened to the Blythe .

Spotting movement near the fence, Felix shushed his companions. "We need to continue this discussion later." Or not. Felix would prefer not to discuss the Guardians at all, but had a feeling he and Zed would be having a very detailed conversation about them anyway. When this was all done. When they were confined to quarters by Nessa's orders.

The patrol—two figures, both armed—disappeared back around the end of the last prefab. Felix glanced at the small display over his wallet. "Okay, that's the third pass. I think that's enough to establish a pattern."

"We've got ten minutes before they come around again," Elias murmured.

"Is that enough time?" Andy asked. He'd been rattled by the appearance of the first patrol, but had quickly conceded Preston wasn't stupid enough to leave her back unguarded. Not with Zed and Felix at large.

"It's enough time to get in. We might have to wait for another pass before getting back out." Which would leave their ingress exposed. The fence was full of holes and tears, some bigger than others. The patch Andy had suggested they try was an inferior grade of wire latched over the hole—they should be able to hook it back in place. "Let's go."

Felix shifted his ankle in his boot, a gesture of habit, and smiled grimly as the hilt of his knife rubbed across the bone. Todd and Andy's allegiance might still be in question, but the return of his knife had gone a long way toward evening the score between them. Todd had also equipped them with charged stunners and backpacks to carry the power generators. They slid out from behind the rock and made their way to the section of fence Andy had marked. Conveniently, it was in the shadow of the cliffs, giving them even more cover for their approach. Felix led his party forward slowly, wary of the uneven ground, just as wary of the seconds ticking past. But a twisted ankle would slow them down even more and he had enough aches and pains to deal with already.

The lights hanging from the prefabs seemed to glow brighter the closer they got—and the ground fell deeper into shadow. "I hope we don't have to run out," he muttered.

"Light will be behind us then," Elias pointed out.

To a point, except in the vicinity of their own shadows.

The patch was exactly as Andy had described it—a chunkier, cheaper grade of metal wire, woven and latched onto the finer mesh with a series of easily manipulated hooks. Between them, he and Andy had the patch off in two minutes, leaving them six to get through the hole and into hiding. Not enough time to grab the generators and run, but they could hook the patch back in place using a couple of latches, concealing a faster exit for later.

Felix led a short jog behind the closest prefab and ducked into the shadowed side of it so he could activate his holo map. Andy had marked three prefabs as the easiest to get into. Their immediate shelter wasn't one of them, but they were in the right row.

The first prefab on the list was locked.

"It's not supposed to be locked," Andy hissed.

Felix studied the panel outside the door. "Is there a general passcode?"

"It's probably been changed," Elias whispered.

"Shit." This was going to add time and increase their chance of exposure. Sighing, Felix activated his wallet and ran a quick diagnostic. He pushed out more air when he realized the hack would be simple. "Okay, we should be good."

Thirty seconds later, the panel flashed green. Elias had already scanned the prefab for heat signatures to determine it was unoccupied, but Felix still pushed the door open slowly and listened for a beat before letting anyone inside.

Andy led the way to the power setup, and Felix eyed the battery connected to the solar array and the backup generator with healthy interest. They were in better condition than he'd expected. New models, more compact. He didn't need the battery, but…

No, better not to improvise now. Just grab the generator and move on. He unhooked the auxiliary power couplings and hefted the generator. "Elias?"

Elias turned and Andy opened the pack on Elias's back. Felix tucked the compact generator inside and zipped it up. "One down, three to go." Andy had volunteered to carry the fourth one out while Felix and Elias handled the weapons.

They had one minute to make it to the second prefab before the patrol passed again. "We should wait until they pass."

"We're probably going to have to let two passes go by before we make our exit," Elias said.

"We'll see."

Andy had opened a storage cabinet and was wrestling out a box of packaged 'factor substance. He set it down and pulled out another, stacking it on top.

"What are you doing?" Felix asked.

"How 'bout if I run this to the fence while you and Elias hit up the next unit?"

"That's not the plan."

"It's right here." Andy pulled out another box and Felix began to suspect he'd marked this unit on purpose. It was obviously storage, and the question of what they kept in here had just been answered. "If you pull this mountain down, there mightn't be a lot left of the settlement. We need this food, man."

Felix's resolve wavered. A more thorough survey of the cave system would help him place his bombs with minimal risk to the settlement outside, but they didn't have that kind of time…and Andy was right. The remaining colonists might need this food. Zed had been adamant about them not bringing out supplies, though. Was that because of the increased risk, the shortage of time, or…Surely the Guardians would leave the colony alone if they solved the Preston problem?

Remembering the haunted yet urgent look in Zed's eyes as he spoke about the Guardians' ultimatum, Felix gave a stiff nod. "Okay, but if you get caught?—"

"I can take care of myself."

"What about the generators you're supposed to carry?"

"I'll meet you by the third marked prefab," Andy said.

The lock on the second unit gave way as quickly as the first. It was more storage and as he crept toward where the generator and battery were housed, Felix wondered if Andy would want them to empty these cabinets too. He hoped not. He felt for the colonists in a way he couldn't explain. The idea of home had been so vague for so long, he could almost see himself joining a group like this, shitty location aside. To be out of the way, living by his own rules. To be stuck somewhere he couldn't easily abandon. A slower pace. Not an easier life, but a less complicated one.

Zed wouldn't want to be so far from his family, though. Even the asteroid was too far from Alpha to consider as a permanent base.

Elias put the generator in Felix's backpack. It was lightweight enough not to slow him down as they made their way to the third unit. Felix had just popped the lock when he heard voices—Andy and someone else.

Double shit.

Stepping back from the door, Felix cocked his head to listen for anything other than voices. He could hear noise near the center pavilion and over where the mess hall was. A murmur of conversation. The regular patrol would mean the whole settlement was alert and on edge.

He listened for Andy again, and heard nothing. Not comforting. He checked his wallet. They had six minutes until the next patrol. "Let's check the fence."

Elias fell in behind him as he jogged down the dark passage behind the prefabs and back toward the fence, backpack bouncing against his shoulders. There, half hidden, he could see Andy talking to someone in a low whisper. Felix thought it might be Dayne. She seemed to be the only colonist who habitually carried a rifle. Andy saw him and pointed.

What the fuck?

The stranger began to turn around.

Triple shit.

Moonlight managed to crack through the ever-present cloud cover, muted and unreliable, but better than nothing. It meant they didn't have to fire up their wallets and risk the light attracting unwanted attention, so Zed would take it. The cave looked like any other cave at night—dark, foreboding, mysterious. It was about one klick from the settlement, far enough to be outside any patrols, close enough that it made a decent staging area. A large boulder sat near the mouth, a natural sentry. Zed and his team hid in the trees about thirty meters away and between them and the cave mouth, there was no other growth—no bushes, no dead vegetation on the ground. If he was starting to read the terrain correctly, that meant it was ideal scraggler territory.

So yeah…a good spot for Flick to do his bomb-making shit, if they could encourage the tentacles to go play elsewhere.

"How deep is the cave?" Zed murmured to Todd, who was situated at his right.

"'Bout ten, fifteen meters. Deep enough that if we tuck ourselves in the back, no one's gonna see us."

So in case a patrol did venture out this far, they might still avoid detection. Good. "Does the scraggler—scragglers—" Plural or not? What-the-fuck-ever, not like it mattered. "Are they inside the cave, too, or just out here on the approach?"

"Both."

"So we're talking actual tentacles," Nessa said, her naturally pale complexion even whiter than usual. "Not vines or…something that looks like tentacles?"

"Like there's a giant octopus under the rock," Zed confirmed.

"Thought about calling the bastards rocktopus." Todd shrugged. "Didn't stick."

"Dear God," Nessa whispered. "I mean, we've seen some weird stuff, but…" She shuddered.

Zed pressed his left hand to her shoulder, ignoring the twinge of pain from his not-quite-Mendo'd wrist. "We'll be okay."

"If one starts wavin' near you, grab it and give it a real hard twist." Todd demonstrated, making a vicious motion with his hands. "A few jolts like that, and it'll take off."

"I am curious, Mr. Todd," Qek said, clicking. "Is it a creature underneath the soil with multiple appendages, or is each appendage an individual? Perhaps they are independent organisms bound by a singular network, if they react in unison to stimuli that affects only a handful of them?"

"Ain't no biologist," Todd said. "No call to study 'em or understand 'em. Just needed to know enough to avoid 'em."

And to know if they were edible. In Todd's place, Zed would have checked, just to be sure—it was part of his survival training. Anything you could do to stretch out your rations was a good thing.

"Near as I can tell, they've got sensors of some sort to detect movement," Todd continued. "So there's no sneaking by. Running will make 'em that much more aggressive, though, so just be casual."

"Casual," Nessa muttered. "Right."

They left their cover—Zed in the lead, Nessa and Qek in the middle, and Todd bringing up the rear—and started for the cave. As Todd had instructed, Zed kept the pace even and steady. Not slow, not rushed. Just as if he was walking down the promenade on Alpha Station.

You know, if tentacles might suddenly appear out of Alpha's side alleys.

Because he was watching for it, waiting for it, Zed didn't miss the signs of the incoming scraggler. The slightest rumble, a soft scratching sound—and tentacles suddenly surrounded them.

Nessa screamed and slapped one of the waving appendages—given how nervous she'd been earlier, Zed couldn't blame her. The tentacle reached for her, its suckers flexing as it sought out something to grab. His hands flew out to wrench it, as Todd had demonstrated. Just as his fingers made contact, a high-pitched almost-screech reverberated throughout the clearing.

Fuck. He thanked God he hadn't slipped into the Zone yet—with his enhanced senses, that sound would have been incapacitating. Resisting the urge to cover his ears, Zed twisted the tentacle, then looked around for the source of the noise.

It was Qek.

One by one, the tentacles wavered and toppled, lying on the ground, twitching, before being dragged back beneath the rock. Zed winced as Qek's noise continued until each tentacle was gone, as though they'd never appeared in the first place.

"Had no idea ashushk could make a ruckus like that," Todd said gruffly, his forehead creased with what was probably pain, if Zed's own headache was anything to go by.

Qek's clicks were soft, gentle now. "I apologize if I caused discomfort, but I surmised that that approach might be the most effective at encouraging the scragglers to leave."

"How the hell did you know how to do that?" Nessa asked.

"There is a similar organism on—" Qek's Standard English dissolved into syllables and clicks Zed recognized as the name of her homeworld, but could never pronounce himself. There was a reason why the ashushks' home planet was called Ashushk Prime by the rest of the galaxy. "It is both flora and fauna, and uses disembodied vinelike limbs that have a central nervous system to trap its prey. It can be particularly dangerous to young ashushk, so we are taught from an early age how to repel it."

"Well…" Zed eyed their now lifeless surroundings. "It worked."

"Nice trick. Not real subtle, though." Todd cast a meaningful glance at Zed.

True. If any of Preston's people were on patrol and heard that, they'd come running. Zed and his little team needed to get out of sight. Quick.

"Stay here." Nudging Elias behind him, Felix unshouldered his pack, dropped it to the ground and strode quickly to the fence.

It was Dayne and she looked him up and down before leaning out sideways to peer around him. "Who you got stashed back there? Loop or Zander or whatever the fuck you wanna call him? Mr. Super Soldier. He's got a bounty on his head, you know. Both do." She rocked back to wink at Andy. "I'd offer to split it with ya, but I'm a little confused as to why it looks like you're stealing supplies. You cutting out on us, Andy?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing. 'Cept I can't steal what I already own."

Felix held up his hands in the universal don't-shoot-just-listen gesture. "Look the other way for five minutes and we'll be gone." He cocked his head toward where Elias was hiding. "If you know anything about Preston's research, then you know Zed can blow through you without taking a breath."

Andy shot him a quick look and Felix shrugged.

Dayne looked between Andy and Felix. She turned to Andy. "What's the deal? You guys got a ship?"

Felix held his breath.

Andy shook his head. "Nah, I'm just tired of living under Preston's thumb. Hendrick and I are setting up at the old site for a while."

Nice one . Maybe Andy wasn't as simple as he pretended.

"With them two?" Dayne pointed her rifle at Felix. "How long do you all think you're gonna last out there?"

"We were doing fine before she came along."

"Well, she's here now and she's gonna come looking for them two at least."

Felix interrupted. "Patrol is due around that corner in about a minute. Can we take this discussion elsewhere?" Did they have time to move the boxes outside the fence and fix the mesh? "And can you stop pointing that thing at me?"

Miracle of miracles, Dayne eased the barrel away from him, but continued to hold the rifle in both hands. "I wanna know what you got going on that's better than what Preston is going to give us."

"I didn't come out here to enlist," Andy said. "I don't wanna be a soldier, never did. I just wanna live out here, my own way. No rules, no taxes and no fricking guards hemming me in. This is my food and this is my planet. I'm gonna pick up my boxes and go live where I please."

Back of his neck prickling, Felix glanced over his shoulder and saw the outline of the guards on patrol coming around the corner. Fuck. "Sorry," he muttered, reaching forward to grab Dayne's rifle with both hands. As he gave it a quick, downward yank, he prayed she'd react predictably. She did, tightening her grip. Felix stopped pulling and pushed instead. The rifle barrel snapped upward, catching Dayne beneath the chin. Whether it knocked her off her feet or not, her balance was seriously disturbed. She fell backward, dropping the rifle. Felix reached for the stunner at his belt.

From a half crouch, Dayne held up both her hands. "It's too late, they've seen us."

Suspecting a trick, Felix resisted the urge to check. He didn't need to. He could hear the rhythmic footfalls of two men fast approaching. Fuck and all the fucks . Before he could turn and pull the stunner out of its holster, Dayne rocked to her feet and caught his arm. "I've got this."

"How in?—"

Dayne overrode him, speaking rapidly and quietly. "If you don't want to revisit that deep dark hole Preston put you in, let me do the talking."

The guards were on top of them. There was no time for another plan.

Dayne grabbed his elbow and called out quietly. "Look who I found trying to steal some food."

Trying to jerk his elbow out of her grasp wasn't all an act. Felix fought panic and confusion. What was Dayne up to? And what about Andy—could he really trust the guy?

One of the guards was a big guy. Just looking at him had Felix feeling as if a scraggler had him about the ribs. The other stayed back, face hidden by the deep shadows. The big guy jogged forward, lifting his wrist. Felix caught sight of the familiar creases between his brows and around his eyes—and the gleam of a military-style bracelet on his wrist—before he was shoved hard from behind. He fell into the guard, catching him by surprise. As he stumbled forward, Felix grabbed the wrist with the bracelet and pulled down. He felt Dayne moving in behind him and heard a crack and grunt as something—a rifle stock?—connected with something else. Like a head.

The guard didn't go down. A third body joined the crush, Andy moving up behind so that the three of them were clustered around the one guard. A meaty arm hooked around the guard's neck. Andy's. Felix jabbed short, sharp punches at the guard's front, hoping to keep him distracted enough he'd forget how to shift…or something. The guard tried to retaliate with sweeping blows, but didn't have the room to wind up.

"My belt," Felix said to Dayne, afraid if he stopped taunting his opponent, he'd lose control of the fight. A lucky elbow caught him under the jaw. The taste of copper flooded Felix's mouth as he bit his tongue, and the stars danced overhead, just for a second. One more blow like that and he'd be joining Zed in the concussion club.

Light flared briefly as a stun charge crackled through the cacophony of grunts and groans. The backlash stung Felix's hands. He jerked away. The guard crumpled to the ground. Turning, Felix saw Elias had already got the drop on the second guard with his stunner. That Elias had been able to catch one of Preston's recruits unaware left an unsettled feeling in Felix's gut. These men didn't need Zed to train them. They needed not to be part of Preston's insane project. Not pumped full of stin poison and driven to actions beyond their bodies' ability to cope.

Felix surveyed the men—both unconscious—two generators, a pile of supplies by a hole in the fence and Dayne—who might possibly be a bigger problem than all the rest combined.

"Okay, wanna tell me what's going on?" she asked. She eyed Elias. "And who're you?"

Elias glanced at Felix. Felix shrugged. Elias turned his attention back to Dayne. "I'm a friend of Fix's."

"Should I even ask how you got here?"

Elias shuddered. "Please don't."

Andy straightened. He'd been checking the guards' belts for weapons. Curiously, they only had stunners. More of Preston's training techniques or had she simply wanted to guarantee they were brought in alive? "You know Preston's bounty ain't worth shit, Dayne."

"I know, I know. Why the hell else d'you think I just stunned one of her guards. For a super soldier, he sure didn't move fast."

"She's pushing them too hard and they're…" Felix swallowed.

"Either the guy I took down wasn't part of the program, or he was really far gone," Elias said. "I'm thinking he was just a recruit, though. Even on Ashushk Prime, Zed could have taken me."

Felix closed his eyes briefly.

"What are you all talkin' about?" Dayne said.

"Ever taken a close look at the men and women Preston is experimenting on? What they look like after training? Or after they've been in the program for a while? What she's doing doesn't work." Anger built a fire in Felix's chest. "She's killing them for an experiment that already failed."

"Fix." Elias put a hand on his arm. "We don't have time for this."

Jesus, Joseph and Mary.

Felix sucked in a breath that caught in his throat. He tried again. Ten, nine, eight …When he got to one, he breathed out. "Are you with us?" he asked Dayne.

"I think I already demonstrated that." She glanced at Andy. "We need to talk." Andy opened his mouth. "Later. Okay, what do we do with these sleeping piles of shit?"

"Lock them in one of the prefabs." Felix held up a hand to forestall any objections. "I'm so sick of this project being a death sentence for everyone involved."

Dayne's eyebrows rose, but she nodded and moved to comply.

Having no patrol did not free up the time constraint. At some point, someone would miss seeing these guys on their regular circuit. Felix set Dayne and Elias to binding their captives and securing them in the first unlocked prefab. He and Andy hauled the crates of supplies beyond the fence and ducked back for the other two generators. Then Felix locked every door they'd unlocked and sealed them with an extra sequence to slow down anyone without a good series of hacks. He and Andy had just finished hooking the mesh back across the hole in the fence when they heard voices approach.

"Go." Felix waved Elias, Andy and Dayne back. "Grab as many boxes of substance as you can and go."