CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
"No man is wise enough or good enough to be trusted with unlimited power." - Author Unknown
"Whew! Damn, it smells down here," said Harry, who had been trying hard to ignore the offending stench.
He couldn't believe he'd actually been glad to have the dirty rags covering him to breathe through. The air was not only putrid, but weeping moisture and goo dripping off the walls and ceiling made the humid air unbearably heavy and hard to breathe. Fluorescent green, yellow and white lichen covered the walls with an eerie glow and created just enough light for the group to wind their way through the dark underground network of tunnels. Carlos alone seemed to know where he was going.
"How do you like this reality, Harry? Carlos said as he removed Harry's blindfold. "Sorry we can't do anything to make your stay more comfortable, but we're relatively safe from detection."
Harry looked anxiously into every corner and niche, above and below, as they trudged through a disgusting reddish sludge, blanketed by a smelly greenish fog. He shared a concerned look with Dar who had also had her blindfold removed. Both seemed to have drawn the conclusion that they were on their way to Hell.
"Rust, ammonia, methane, petroleum and radioactive waste, and probably some pretty awful chemicals," Carlos explained, looking back at Harry who trailed a couple of paces behind him. "Careful what you touch. The methane. Static sparks can blow up half the city—including us."
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"Under the city. Used to be a sewer—a disposal for human waste. Chemicals and oil from the nearby disused plants that haven't been operational in 50 years or so. When they abandoned them, the owners just left their trash. Not very pleasant is it? Kieran and I grew up in this muck. Some parts of the underground system are better than others. Give it some time. You'll get used to it—even forget it stinks after a while. Until you get a breath of fresh air on the surface... That always makes you want to take back what's rightfully yours."
"No Makr or SensaVision to take it all away. I think I know what you meant about a 'living Hell.'"
"Wouldn't have it any other way. This place does have its uses."
"Cyberts!" warned Harry as he spies two large insect-like creations approaching the human group.
Shiny black and green with tiny glowing orange eyes, they had four spindly legs that penetrated the sludge and found footing easily. The group was relieved to see them move off quickly to their destination. If you stood them up on their last two hind legs, they would clear six or seven feet by themselves, if you ignored the sheer length and number of appendages. Walking on the last four, the two cyberts were menacing enough. Spindly legs propelled them easily through the muck, while six or eight tendrils from their upper torsos felt along the walls and ceiling in as many areas as they could reach.
"Don't worry, it's only maintenance. They work here," said Carlos. "They're not very sophisticated as cyberts go, but they do sting. When they get in range, stay very still and they won't see you. Because most of this place is pitch dark, they're blind. The 'eyes' you see are short-range motion and heat sensors. They also have sensors on the end of each arm next to a 2-level disintegrator. As long as we don't take off our Stealth cover, we should be all right."
"Can they hear us?" Harry whispered.
"No, but they are very sensitive to vibrations. If they're close enough, they could feel the vibration of your mouth moving through the fabric of your hood. So when I say, 'Don't talk;' don't. Don't move. Don't scratch or even blink. They kill all the rats and other creatures they find. Giant mutated rats are the main residents down here now. Some bigger than a medium-sized dog. A holdover from when our ancestors wrecked the environment."
"I've never seen a rat," whispered Marlene. She had never seen a dog either.
"Better hope we don't see one," a Shadow whispered back. "There's never just one and they aren't picky about their food."
"Shhh, you two!" Kieran pulled her laser ax off her shoulder and readied it for action. "The bugs are coming right for us, Carlos!"
"Quiet now. Steady. If you use that ax, you'll bring all the cyberts in this quadrant. Not to mention if that laser ax blade touches this muck, we're all liable to go up in flames with it. Remember, these metal bugs have stingers in those tentacles of theirs."
"I thought you said we were safe," Marlene whispered to Carlos.
"We are. No Makr down here. Just Cyber civil servants. The Old World, ancient metals and composites, and concrete surround us. Raw materials are more efficient to use. Not worth Makr's trouble to recycle here while there are raw materials easily available elsewhere."
"They're still coming this way, Carlos." Kieran made her way slowly to stand next to Harry.
"Everyone, move back slowly, very slowly. Inch by inch, if you have to, but go slow. Easy. Steady."
The Shadows plus two were lined up against the wall of the tunnel. Carlos was watching the insect-like cyberts' every move. Suddenly, one turned to the side, pointed with a single tendril and fired. A fifty or sixty pound rat who had stuck his nose out from behind a block of primitive machinery emitted a squeal for less than a fraction of a second as it disintegrated, leaving a red stain on the wall.
"Freeze! Flat against the wall. Don't move. Don't breathe." It was Carlos.
The team of ten, including Harry and Marlene, tried to become one with the wall. The cyberts wheeled around at the sudden noise, but paused, unable to pinpoint it. One man standing beside Harry couldn't hold his breath any longer and exhaled. As his body relaxed with the air expelled from his lungs, his shoulder dropped and his laser ax fell, bouncing against the wall first, then splashed into the gooey river in the middle of the passageway. The next instant, Harry felt a hot blast beside him and saw an empty space on the wall. Not even time to scream.
He looked from the corner of his eye and saw that Kieran was still standing on one side of him. She frowned and shook her head as she noticed the Shadow on the other side of Harry was gone.
The team of ten was now nine. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched fearfully as the exterminators' tendrils ran along the wall where they were standing, as if preparing the group for a firing squad. Harry froze as a cold, wet and slimy tendril passed over his chest. Seconds become minutes. Minutes seemed like hours.
"Okay, all clear," Kieran announced quietly.
Everyone breathed a quiet sigh of relief, except Marlene who felt a warm liquid running down her leg.
Kieran saw her reaction to what was happening. It was fear. Not the best place for Fear to express itself. "We better move...," she said.
There was no time for her to finish. A turtle-like creature with a hard shell about four feet in diameter was heading for the warm spot in the murky sludge. As it came up out of the sludge, its mouth arched open revealing a sharp jagged ridge along its mouth. Snap! Snap! Extending its neck, it struck blindly at the source of the warmth—the pool of warmer liquid surrounding Marlene. When Kieran pushed her out of the way, Marlene ended up face down in the disgusting river of sewerage and toxic waste. Confused by the abrupt movement, the turtle struck again, this time at Kieran who slammed the butt of her laser ax on the Bio creature's exposed head and pushed down hard until she felt the neck break. These damn Touchables are too much trouble, she thought, but this makes up for it.
"Dinner," she proclaimed as she picked it up with both hands by the two foot long tail. Heavy. About thirty-five, forty pounds. Nice.
"That's not a turtle?" Harry asked as he examined the creature at a distance. First, he noted the extremely bony armor that had formed on the top of the 'turtle's' head and the razor sharp beak. With armored platelets sticking up on his back like tiny sharp shovels, the turtle creature resembled its ancient dinosaur cousins. Why did it need so much more protection? Then, there were the feet: webfeet with about four inches of claw. Tiny, nearly sightless eyes. Another adaptation to living in the dark beneath the city. Still, a dangerous adversary for any unwary Bio-creature, human or otherwise.
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br /> "It used to be a turtle," explained Carlos. "Now it's a food source. Chemicals, nuclear waste and biogenetic waste have combined to change some of the old dwellers in this sewer. You haven't seen anything yet."
"Doesn't this muck poison the food source?"
"We thought so, too, but desperate situations require desperate actions. We were hungry. Some of us died, some didn't. In time our bodies adapted to keep us from harm."
There's another world down here, Harry thought, and it's amazing! Surely, Shadows don't live down here? Of course, they do. Except for the sewage filth, the Bio creatures, and, of course, the maintenance cyberts, it's perfect to avoid detection.
Marlene trudged along in silence, more in deference to the new environment than in disgust with it. Kieran found two pieces of flexible wire, each about four feet long. Its gauge was about the same as the wire with which she had bound Harry's wrists—strong and flexible, good for multiple uses. She pulled on them to test for strength. Then, taking the shortest one, she wrapped one end around the 'turtle's' neck, and the other around her gloved hand, letting the creature hang down her back as she made her way to the front to talk with the others. The other wire she draped around her neck like a shawl.
"Ever eat one of these?" she asked Marlene who turned away initially, then back to her.
"Absolutely not, but I'm sure you find them delicious."
Marlene tried to wipe some of the black goo out of her eyes, but got more in them in the process. Oh, the stinging! The burning! Kieran, ignoring the snub, pulled out her canteen from inside her Stealth and dumped it over Marlene's hair and face. Someone else offered a canteen. She accepted it and poured half directly on Marlene's eyes. While the water washed the goo from her eyes, it unfortunately found its way to her mouth.
"Whatever you do, don't swallow it. Here, rinse your mouth out. Spit. Again. Again."
Marlene, not liking the tone, knew it is for her own good and did as she was told.
"That stuff will kill you," Kieran continued, referring to the waste sludge's lethal ingredients.
"Thanks," Marlene said weakly.
"Oh, you mean for saving your miserable life?"
"Yeah, something like that," Marlene acknowledged grudgingly.
"Let's just say, I think you have nice eyes. Hate to see anything happen to them." Actually saying the words made Kieran appreciate that she could still see.
"I think I'll live," Marlene said. "Thanks, again."
"I don't want your gratitude—Marlene is it? If you get this garbage in your eyes and you don't get it all out, you can forget about cloned eye replacements. This stuff can eat through to the brain if it's been there too long."
Now, at least, the newcomer female had another chance with survival. As it was, they all would have minor burns because of this stroll through the underbelly of the city.
"Guess what's for dinner?" She laughed and moved up to Harry. "Is your friend always this angry?"
"She has her reasons.
"I don't think she cares much for her life at the moment."
"She's not alone there. I'm still trying to figure out what's next."
"Aren't we all?"
It appeared both Harry and the tough lieutenant had something in common. Both were disappointed with the status quo.
Carlos, at the front of the procession, held up his hand to signal a halt. "Quiet. We're not far. From here on out, walk softly and make sure there's not a rattle from your weapon."
As he raised his hand to start the procession once again, he stopped abruptly, his hand still raised. Ahead, two more cyberts were coming their way! Not again! Don't breathe anyone. Don't breathe. Closer...closer...closer. Mentally, he visualized his next move. Pulling his weapon off his shoulder? He might get one of them. Kieran might get the other one. No, she's weighted down with that turtle. Damn! I should never have allowed her to bring it back to the Nest. Now we might not even make that.
Not a peep, anyone, he warned with his body language. They all seemed to understand perfectly except Marlene and Harry who of course weren't Shadows. Carlos let his finger creep ever so slowly to take his weapon off safety; the cyberts picked up their pace and made a sudden right turn. As he peered around the corner, he saw the bright flashes of light and heard the telltale snap of electricity as the cyberts began zapping other unfortunate Bio-creatures of the sewer.
"It's over. Let's go." He let the air out of his lungs as quietly as he could. It still sounded like an explosion in the quiet of his mind. The others followed suit, some not nearly as silent. You can't control everything, he tells himself.
"A few more minutes," he said to Harry.
All had hardly caught their breath when the sewer sludge seemed to have solidified and formed a crust on the surface. As the muddy substance oozed away, with two-foot waves from what was pushing it upward and parting the underground sea, it exposed a creature longer than the procession itself, more than forty feet long and barely wide enough to squeeze through the passageway's smaller branches. The monster revealed intense, evil-looking, glowing green eyes as it opened them twice, exposing a second and third set of translucent eyelids. If they had had the time to examine the creature that looked like the murky floor itself, they would have discovered a fierce reptile whose ancestors were most likely crocodilians that had not changed much in millions of years—that was until now. This one was larger, much larger, with jaws that opened as high as a man was tall. An incredible five feet wide and forty feet long, the monster was more than a match for its human prey. Even among the stealthiest of the group, no one noticed the creature until they heard the screams and the sickening crunch of bones. One Shadow soldier! Two?
The monstrous jaws opened and closed three or four times and the creature was ready to kill again. This time it came upon a victim climbing as much of the wall as possible in a split second. Snap! Snap! There was the crunch of bones and a final scream. The snapping noise was a hundred times louder than the turtle's snap, and different from the maintenance cyberts' electrical snap that echoed throughout the chamber. The biggest difference was when the Shadows heard the snap of the jaws, they were keenly aware that one of their own had died horribly.
Carlos maneuvered behind the monster and leapt on its back. As the sewer behemoth twisted and turned to dislodge its rider, Carlos inched his way behind its head, holding on to the animal's rough scales for dear life as he waited for the right moment. The gigantic jaws slammed shut on air once more and Carlos slid down the snout as far as he could, wrapped his arms around that jaw and attempted to hold it shut. He knew from experience that the creature used less force to open its jaws than it did to slam them shut on prey, but he had to be at the very end of the snout before he could hold it closed. Then his soldiers could kill it.
Kieran swung all thirty-five plus pounds of the armored beast over her head several times and then began beating the gigantic reptile with the hard bony casing of her recent acquisition. It only seemed to agitate the monster more. She felt a tugging at her tunic. It was Harry. He had spotted the wire draped around her neck and pulled it off. What the...? He quickly made a slipknot and used the loop to lasso the creature's snout.
Carlos was barely holding on. He had used his weapon sling to tie his arms together. If he ever got loose, he knew his arms wouldn't be much good to him for a while. Harry's primitive loop wasn't working as he'd hoped either. Miss! Miss! It kept falling short or long, or the creature jerked its ugly snout about.
Finally, Carlos could hold on no longer. The beast opened its monstrous jaws and raised its loathsome head, catapulting Carlos off the top of its snout and back to its tail. It could have made a meal of the Shadow leader except that it couldn't turn around in the narrow quarters. Carlos narrowly missed being impaled on the spikes on the tail, and instead caught hold of one of them to keep from being dumped into the poisonous swill. The creature sensed Carlos has attached himself to his tail, twisted its hindquarters, and swept its spiked tail, effortlessly tossing the Sh
adow leader's struggling form against the tunnel wall some ten or fifteen yards away with a thud. Carlos moaned as he was slammed violently into the wall, but was silent as his limp body slid it and splashed face up in the goo.
Harry had missed with his crude lasso when the creature opened its mouth; the loop wasn't large enough. This time, however, the wire caught between razor-sharp six-inch teeth and his chin. As the creature attempted to bite down on the foreign substance, Harry sprang to take Carlos' place on top of the snout, and attempted to wrap the rest of the wire around the jaws. If he could only keep his balance long enough... He wrapped the wire completely around only once.
Harry felt the powerful spring-like jaws straining against the single wire strength, the monster gnashing, fighting to free itself. Have to hang on! Can't give up! Harry imagined the horrible result if he failed to keep it at bay. The creature whipped its head back and forth trying to dislodge the man and his wire. The man was scarcely able to maintain a grip as the creature went under and rolled over and over in the toxic sludge, but he held on as he was tossed and jerked until his bones felt like mush; his flesh scratched, torn, bruised, bleeding. He was numb, and went down with the creature as it made a desperate dive in the shallow.
Don't give up! Harry told himself. Can't give up!
Aware of the highly poisonous muck, he clenched his jaws tight and kept his eyes as tightly closed as much as the muscles in his face would allow him. His lungs were about to burst, or worse, as he took some of the toxic sludge into his mouth or nose. He tried to spit out the poison that made it to his mouth, but ended up vomiting as his body sought to rid itself of the deadly toxin.
To get a better grasp, he forced his fingers under the wire lasso where it cut into the reptilian crusty, scaly skin. Unfortunately, when the creature squirmed, the wire also sliced into his own fingers.
Fatigued by his struggle to dislodge the man, the creature came to the surface just in time. Harry exhaled and gulped air gratefully. But it was not over yet.
This creature had slowed a bit, but not enough; it had yet to be stopped. That is all that matters. Have to hold on! The pain made the adrenaline flow, which in turn, made his superhuman effort even greater. He succeeded in wrapping the wire round the jaws twice more and managed to pull his bleeding fingers free as he twisted the wire on itself. He fell exhausted into the toxic sewer as the frustrated creature thrashed about uncontrollably.
With the savage jaws out of commission, Kieran leapt in front of the mutant creature and fired a single narrow laser beam, set for maximum intensity and the least likely potential for spillover and fiery disaster. When she saw the steam rise from its head, she knew she had penetrated and burned a hole through to its brain. Part from habit after killing cyberts, and part from wanting to be thorough, she proceeded to cut through the back of the creature's head to take it as a trophy.
The fight was over. At least two more Shadow warriors were dead, crushed by the weight and force of the creature's tail as they'd been whipped around and slammed into walls and ancient underground equipment. Carlos stirred, sloshing the murky slime a bit as he raised himself out of it—groggy, but alive.
Another soldier, a young woman who had landed nearby during the melee, was not as fortunate. She was lying across the end of the creature's tail, a bloody spear-like spike protruding from her back near the shoulder blades. One of the three two-foot spikes had impaled her. As her comrades pulled her body off the spike, her Stealth hood fell away from her face, revealing a pretty girl about 19 or 20 years old made ugly with the agony of her death. Up close and personal, her face was horribly contorted as she had screamed, her eyes bulging and frozen in time.
The group had been so worried about the jaws that they had forgotten the deadly tail—another throwback to a prehistoric age. Harry knew from his reading that alligators and crocodiles were one of a few species that had managed to remain relatively unchanged by evolution for millions of years, while other creatures had evolved and become extinct. Until we polluted our waters and let toxic waste penetrate our water tables and sewers such as this, he thought. For once Makr is right. Humans did this, and now we pay.
The Shadow People wouldn't easily forget the creature's tail that had taken some of them so easily—especially the young woman who had been impaled. Nor would they forget this incident and their survival, or the brave deeds of their leaders, Carlos and Harry. The story would often be told to children around the comforting Shadow hearths.
Two soldiers, weary but unhurt, pulled a dazed, cut and bruised Harry from the murky, deadly sewage. Fortunately, his face had not been submerged in the muck. Harry tried to open his eyes. The pain was horrific, stinging, burning like nothing he had ever felt before.
Dying would be a relief, but now was not the time. The black sludge covering his entire body had begun eating away at his flesh. Burning everywhere, he had a wound or a scratch, and places where he didn't. Someone dragged him a few feet from where he had stood before his heroic leap, and placed him on drier ground. Without a word, the Shadow peered into Harry's eyes with a look that could only ask why. The answer was obvious. Sometimes humans were just human.
Everything about Harry was on fire; he was carrying his own private little Hell.
"Carlos! Where's Carlos?" he yelled.
Kieran, who had finished beheading the giant reptile with her trusty laser ax, was examining the pipes overhead. Too heavy to carry, the massive head was by her side, with wire fixed through the lower jaw so she could drag her trophy home. Spying the pipe she wanted, she cut through it with her laser ax. Hot steam and warm water sprayed, then cool water gushed as the force of its pressure widened the fissure she had created. Cleansing and healing water rained down on all, as Kieran motioned for the Shadows to move Harry under the heaviest part of the shower. His moment under the cooling water was better than any SensaVision dream—almost pure ecstasy.
"Where's Carlos?" he asked again, more calmly this time. His vision was gradually returning. His eyes burned a little when he opened them, but he could see well enough to move on.
"Over here. He's hurt, but he's all right," someone acknowledged. Several of his people were around him, trying to clean the miserable sludge from his body. He had worn it so long it had severely burned his flesh. He was still unconscious.
"A few blisters, but he'll live. How about you? You okay?" Kieran looked at Harry, trying to figure out this unassuming hero. As always, her curt manner made short work of any polite words. "Well, hero, what's next? I used up my laser ax back there."
"I don't think we should wait for the cyberts or who knows what to investigate, do you?" His voice was a little hoarse. Pain showed on his gaunt and gray face. Must have swallowed some of that gunk.
"Here, swirl this around, spit, then drink." She shoved a canteen of liquid at him. He did as he was told. Then he drank. It burned all the way down. It wasn't water. Wide-eyed, Harry protested that he'd had enough, then suddenly doubled over and vomited the contents in his stomach. A couple of dry heaves after that and he was sweating, out of breath, but feeling better.
"Home-made alcohol. Not exactly the use I had in mind for it. Better?"
Harry nodded weakly.
"Good. You did fine out there," she said, pointing to the river of sludge that was now red with human and crocodilian blood. The croc's flesh sizzled in the highly acidic soup.
"You're welcome."
"Look, I have to look after Carlos," she said to Harry. "Get us out of here, if you can. Just take the passageway around the corner to the left. Like it or not, you're in charge."
"Why me?"
"Who else? Look at them." She gestured to the other Shadows who looked beaten, weak, and barely alive.
"Does it look like any one of them is likely to compete for the job? They saw what you did back there so they'll follow you. I have to look after Carlos and the others and I can't do both."
Harry shook his head.
He looked to Marlene who said, "Don't wor
ry. They'll listen...and so will I."
"Are you sure about this?" he asked Kieran.
"Yes, of course. Can we go now, please?"
"Well, all right. If you insist..." but he still didn't like it. He was their prisoner one minute and leader the next. But it was obvious to him that someone had to do it so he took charge.
"You two, pick him up, please," his voice carried a natural authority. "Carry him if you have to."
Two of the Shadows pulled Carlos to his feet. He was awake, but scarcely able to move forward—even with support. At least he was conscious, Kieran thought, as she walked beside him. Carlos reached out and gently touched her arm. He smiled. She returned his smile, turning away as he closed his eyes in exhaustion. Tears of joy streaked the half-dried muck on her face.
She noticed almost everyone had lost most of their Stealth covering in the melee, but at least they were moving. Hopefully we're moving fast enough.
As she wiped her face, the black streaks became even more apparent, giving her face an odd camouflaged look of its own. Damn sludge. Black. Green. Now, red. Filthy. Slimy. She'd managed to wash the burning slime off the others but not herself. Her face felt like it was slowly being eaten away. After all she had gone through today, she was almost beyond caring. She knew she should have been wondering if she could get some of her clone's skin. Instead she was worried about Carlos.
After seeing that Carlos was being taken care of properly, Kieran pulled some soft clean cloth from a bag she carried on her hip under her Stealth, and began to wrap Harry's hands and wrists as they walked. They shared a look. Not a romantic one, but a look associated more with bond of camaraderie, which had been born in battle.
"Can I do that for you?" It was Marlene. "Harry's not sure of the way."
Kieran gave in to Marlene's request. There was no animosity this time from Kieran—just her usual defiant and seemingly dispassionate shrug. She had forgotten her animosity for Marlene, relegated it to the back of her mind, and was concentrating on the mission. Marlene looked after the wounded, and Kieran took her place keeping a watchful eye after the others further back. Always the soldier, Kieran had removed her feminine side for the moment.
After seeing to the others, Kieran returned to the front, taking her place behind the new leader, but Harry grabbed her clothing as she approached and pulled her in front of him.
"You need to lead us now," he said gently.
"But Carlos?" she asked.
"You've done all you can?" Harry looked at her for a moment, raised an eyebrow and smiled warmly. "You're doing fine. If someone has to do it, you are obviously the best qualified. Carlos would want you to."
"It's not far now anyway," she said nonchalantly as she took her place in the lead.
There was no question in her mind that he should lead them now, but this Harry character was an enigma. He seemed to have such natural leadership qualities that it was hard to believe he was a recent Insider, and a Touchable. A traitor or spy? Traitors and spies could be brave and resourceful, too.
The remaining 200 yards or so were uneventful, but painful for those who were injured. Carlos was semi-conscious, in and out of reality so much so that his two comrades had to drag him much of the way. Harry followed Kieran, his hands so badly bruised, scraped and cut that his bandages were entirely blood red. The makeshift bandages offered little blood-stopping aid, but clotting had already begun and the bleeding had stopped. The others had their own wounds to nurse, but they still kept a wary eye on the leaders and the newcomers as though their very survival depended on it.
Finally, they came to a door cut by hand out of the structure itself. It looked as if someone had hacked away with a laser ax and then welded hinges on it. There was no apparent attempt to hide the silver and black weld marks. Shut, the door was relatively invisible, which was all it needed to be. Certainly it was invisible to the sightless cyberts that maintained the sewer. Who else would come down here to this wretched place?