Fallen the emberling boo.., p.10
Fallen (The Emberling Book 5), page 10
“Go!” Erqi shoved Tate and Claire toward the hatch. “Get to the refinery! It’s right across the street.”
Claire ran outside. Tate got as far as the hatch before he looked back. Taggart went over to Odo, but Erqi got there first and started dragging his brother to his feet. “Go, Taggart!” Erqi bellowed. “Get out of here now!”
Taggart didn’t leave. He grabbed Odo’s other arm and helped Erqi get Odo on his feet. They both had to support his weight, and stumbled outside.
They walked into another cruel barrage of gunfire. The Sleepwalkers, the Militia, and Monkskull’s fighter craft sure were cooperating well, considering they’d been trying to destroy each other for decades before now.
Taggart tried to look around, only to get a spray of gravel in the face when a stray Sleepwalker laser hit the nearest building. The wall dissolved, and he almost fell over when Erqi pulled Odo in a different direction. “This way, Taggart!”
Taggart couldn’t see a thing. He kept going the wrong way and nearly falling on his face when Erqi pulled him somewhere else. The two men yanked Odo in different directions every few minutes, and he groaned each time.
Taggart couldn’t see any refinery. Massive buildings surrounded what was left of the crew’s most recent ship. So much for that.
He didn’t really care to fly around in a Sleepwalker vessel, but it was better than nothing. He didn’t see how he and his friends were ever getting off the planet now.
Erqi kept yelling at him. Taggart was just starting to suspect that Erqi was leading him in circles when they broke out of the dust and smoke to halt on a street corner somewhere.
Erqi started forward to cross the street when a thunderous rumble broke the din from the right. He pulled back in time to avoid getting trampled by a herd of giants all bellowing, “ASTRALS! ASTRALS!”
Taggart didn’t see any Astrals, but that hardly mattered with so many giants all stampeding in the same direction. They charged straight into the attacking ships. The ships had a split second to spin around before the giants overran them and drove them out of sight.
A strange silence fell over the city, now that neither giants nor ships threatened the three men. Taggart didn’t like that silence. His ears had become so tuned to gunfire and explosions that silence just sounded wrong to him now.
Erqi stayed where he was and didn’t move. He and Taggart listened for any sound of danger, and Taggart got his first look at a real Kreksa city. It didn’t look much different from every other city, except that everything in this one was at least a hundred times normal size.
The buildings were miles tall and in such a desperate state of disrepair that they looked ready to topple at the slightest disturbance. The streets stretched much too wide, considering that the Kreksas had no vehicles of any kind, much less any that needed this much space.
The smoking wreckage of the attack craft lay smashed across the street exactly the way Erqi said…except that it was at least a quarter of a mile away. No wonder it had taken Erqi so long to get here.
Taggart didn’t see Claire or Tate anywhere, but he did see several stray ships flying around a few blocks away. They kept revolving out from behind a nearby building and then disappearing.
Taggart started to walk that way when Erqi pulled at him. “This way, Taggart.”
“Tate is over there. The Emberling is over there. We can’t leave them out here unprotected.”
“Your brother will go to the refinery. It is this way.”
Erqi’s voice betrayed a bite of command that he’d never used with Taggart before. Taggart had always been able to convince Erqi to go along with just about everything.
Erqi reversed that with a few well-chosen words that had nothing to do with getting Odo to safety. He turned away, and Taggart didn’t fight it. Erqi was right. Tate would be as desperate as anyone to get the Emberling into the refinery, no matter what stood in his way.
Taggart let Erqi steer him around a few corners. No one came out to stop them. No one in the whole sector gave a shit about Taggart, Erqi, or Odo. These armies wanted the Emberling—nothing else.
Erqi turned another corner, and another street opened on a massive building that had to be the refinery. Pipes, chimneys, and vents discharged steam clouds into the sky, while spacecraft came and went from the roof.
Erqi found a mammoth cargo loading door on the ground floor, and he and Taggart stumbled inside with Odo. Erqi lowered his brother onto the floor and pulled a first aid kit off the nearest wall.
“How do we find Stakrox?” Taggart asked.
“You go find him. I am busy here.”
Taggart watched Erqi rip the kit open and start pulling out every kind of medical instrument. It was all Militia-issue, except that each piece was many times the size of normal medical equipment. Erqi worked fast, pulling out syringes, ampules of drugs, and bone fusion kits.
Taggart left them alone and walked off into the refinery. He’d gotten closer to Tate in the last few weeks than he’d ever been at any other time in his life. He was really starting to feel sorry for Erqi.
There had to be a way for Erqi to heal this vendetta he had against Odo, though Taggart couldn’t think about what way that might be. Tate had never maimed, imprisoned, or tried to kill Taggart. He didn’t think he could ever forgive someone who did that.
And then there was Claire. She’d imprisoned and tried to kill Taggart, but she’d done a few good things, too. She’d saved Tate’s life and Taggart’s life and the lives of everyone on their crew. None of them would have been in that danger if not for Claire, but who was keeping score, anyway?
Taggart had crossed the loading area when another smash of gunfire drew him back to the cargo doors. He peeked in that direction, but the noise was coming from a long way off.
He started to leave for the second time when two figures snuck into view across the street. Qiao and Yannik advanced into view, squinted toward the noise of gunfire, and then grinned when they saw Taggart.
“I don’t even want to know how you did it.” Taggart hugged Yannik. “I’m impressed. I admit it.”
“It took long enough,” she teased. “Are you sure I don’t have to keep proving myself to you?”
“Prove yourself by helping me find Stakrox—and Tate.”
“Qiao can help us find Stakrox.” Yannik frowned at the city outside. “I don’t know about Tate.”
“I guess that will have to be good enough. How do we find Stakrox, Qiao?”
“He’ll be in his office. It’s on the top floor.”
“How many floors does this building have?”
“Only about fifty, but they’re Kreksa floors.”
CHAPTER 13
Qiao left the loading area, passed a staircase in the refinery’s central foyer, and stopped at an open elevator shaft. It didn’t look like it had a car, and the doors had been torn off.
He peered up the shaft. “We can get up this way.”
“Why is this city so trashed?” Yannik asked. “And where is everyone? Why haven’t we seen any Kreksas?”
“They live in a different part of town. They don’t come over here if they can avoid it.”
“Why not?” Taggart surveyed some very nice carvings decorating a cornice near the elevator. The plaster had become chipped, but someone had put a lot of effort into designing and carving the pattern to make the building look good.
“Whoever designed this part of town died out centuries ago,” Qiao replied. “Modern Kreksas don’t want anyone to associate them with those people…” He averted his eyes. “As you can probably tell.”
“It’s a shame,” Yannik remarked. “I didn’t know the Kreksas used to be so advanced.”
“Oh, sure. We had space travel and advanced technology and architecture and all that.”
“What happened?” Taggart asked. “Why did they fall so far into such a primitive state?”
Qiao shrugged. “Our culture changed. People stopped valuing those things. No one cared to continue them, so the culture shifted over time. After a while, Kreksas started to see advanced technology and learning as a negative thing. Now it’s something most Kreksas think of as belonging to the little people.”
“The little people!” Yannik burst into a fit of giggles. “Is that what they think of us?”
“Is that what you meant all those times you called me ‘Little Man’?” Taggart teased.
Qiao blushed and looked away. “No one wants to hire a Kreksa for anything but muscle. I might have played it up for the audience.”
“You did a pretty good job on Vion…and everywhere else,” Taggart replied. “You had me convinced there was no one home upstairs.”
Qiao laughed and turned back to the elevator shaft. “You probably wouldn’t have hired me if you knew the truth.”
“I didn’t hire you,” Taggart replied. “I would’ve hired you whether I knew the truth or not.”
“I wouldn’t have,” Yannik replied. “You’re right. No one hires a Kreksa for anything but muscle. I’m sorry, Qiao. I shouldn’t have judged you that way.”
“Why not? I’m a Kreksa, and I needed a job. I wanted you to think that about me. I didn’t want you to know I had a brain.”
“If you have such a big brain, maybe you can explain how we’re going to get up this shaft,” Taggart interjected.
“Like this.” Qiao scooped his big arm around both Taggart and Yannik, clasped them against his burly chest, and swung out into the shaft. He grasped the cables with his other hand and started climbing, carrying both Taggart and Yannik in one arm.
Yannik craned her neck to look down the dim shaft. “Is this how you always move around this building?”
“I’ve never been here before. I told you. Kreksas don’t come to this part of town, and I’ve been gone for years. This is my first time here.”
“How do you know so much about this building, then?” Taggart asked.
“They’re all like this. Most buildings were designed the same way in the old days. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”
“So you’ve seen another one?”
“No, but Kux and some of his friends broke into a different factory in this part of town. He told me what it was like so I would know he was so much bigger and braver and better than me.”
“So…are you one of the little people, too?” Yannik teased.
Qiao laughed. “Definitely.”
He reached the top and stepped out into another corridor. He put Taggart and Yannik down and straightened up. Qiao wasn’t even breathing heavily after the climb.
He set off down the corridor. “This way.”
“You didn’t tell us where all the Kreksas are,” Taggart pointed out. “How is this refinery still running if Kreksas don’t come to this part of town and they aren’t interested in technology? Stakrox can’t be running the refinery by himself.”
Qiao stopped by an enormous door taller than his head. He had to stretch his arm as far as it would go to turn the knob.
It opened onto a huge foyer covering the building’s entire top floor. Massive windows gave a sweeping view of the city in all directions. The whole vast space of floor from one side of the building to the other—it was all empty, except for one small area.
One corner of the top story had been set up with miniature furniture, a kitchen, and a bedroom area partitioned by paper screens. A tiny old alien even shorter than Yannik sat on a half-sized couch, reading an old-fashioned book made out of paper. He was still so short that his feet stuck straight out from his hips and didn’t touch the floor.
He wore a pair of leather pants, and nothing else. Tufts of snow-white hair sprouted from select parts of his bald scalp, his face, arms, shoulders, feet, and torso, and two matched sprouts extended from his cheeks just beneath the eyes.
His sparkly eyes glittered blackish-green when he looked up. “Ah! You’re here to bring the Emberling for me to look at!” He hopped down, put his book aside, and came over to the three friends. He walked with a springy, almost childlike gait.
“How do you know that?” Yannik asked.
“You crashed on this planet riding in a ship supplied by my good friend Manganos. His planet is the only one I have ever studied that uses that particular variety of plasma. I read its signature when you entered the atmosphere, and then I followed the Emberling’s progress to this city. No one else comes near this refinery for any other reason. I’m a pariah to the scientific community, you know.”
The little alien laughed out loud. He had a high, musical laugh.
“Are you Stakrox Feret?” Yannik asked.
“Of course he is!” Qiao muttered out of the side of his mouth. “Who else would recognize Manganos’ plasma?”
“Can you help us?” Taggart glanced around the comical apartment. “My brother is carrying the Emberling, and I don’t even know where he is. Everyone is after it. He might be dead already, for all I know.”
“He isn’t dead. He’s here.”
“Here?” Taggart looked right and left. “Where?”
“Here.” Stakrox crossed to a door in the wall next to the elevator shaft. He opened it to reveal the stairwell that Qiao had passed a few minutes before.
Tate and Claire were just climbing to the top story, and their eyes widened when they saw the alien with Taggart, Qiao, and Yannik already there.
Taggart rushed over to his brother and sister. “Are you two okay? We thought we’d lost you.”
“We’re fine.” Tate gripped Taggart’s shoulder and then turned to Qiao and Yannik. “I don’t even want to know how you did it.”
“It was easy,” Yannik replied. “You just have to show them an Astral, and they do the rest.”
“Thank you.” Tate hugged her and then Qiao. “Both of you.”
“We were just asking Stakrox to help us with the Emberling,” Taggart told him. “He’s been tracking our progress since we left Manganos’ planet.”
“Actually, since before that,” Stakrox chirped. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you ever since you took the Emberling from Nieulia.”
“We want to destroy it,” Tate replied. “Manganos wasn’t very hopeful. You’re our last stop.”
“I don’t know any way to destroy it, either,” Stakrox began. “As far as I know…”
A whine of engine noise cut him off as three Militia Comets soared past the refinery windows.
“What was that you were just saying about hiding the Emberling?” Tate asked. “If you don’t know a way to destroy it, Stakrox, then we need to leave immediately. All our enemies will destroy the refinery to get the Emberling.”
“They won’t destroy the refinery.”
“That’s what you think! Get down!” Tate lunged for the rest of the group. He tried to push them down on the floor as the Comets pulled up and opened fire on the refinery. They targeted the top floor, and their plasma cannons unloaded on Stakrox’s huge apartment windows.
Taggart ducked, but when the shots struck the glass, they ricocheted back and blasted into the Comets. One of them staggered into another building, and the ship’s port engine exploded. The ship had to wheel and limped away into the atmosphere.
The other two hesitated before they dared to fire again, but the same thing happened. Their plasma bounced back and forced them to retreat, too.
“You see?” Stakrox piped. “The Emberling is safe here.”
“Until they find another way to get inside the building,” Yannik pointed out. “It won’t take them long to land ground troops, and then we’ll be trapped in here.”
“I know a way to hide the Emberling,” Stakrox replied. “If they come, we can claim that we don’t have it. They’ll never find it, and they’ll leave us alone.”
Taggart and his friends exchanged glances. “I don’t know if I can believe that.”
“I definitely can’t,” Tate replied.
Stakrox laughed and beamed up at him. “You’re Sector Commander Tate Lowell, born Tate Lowell Wollett. I know your service record.”
“Then you know that someone inside the Militia betrayed me, and now they’re trying to kill me to get the Emberling. I wish I could tell you I was doing this for the Militia, but I’m as much a fugitive as the rest of these people.”
“And this is your brother, Taggart Alan Wollett…and this is your sister, Claire Ann Wollett.”
“That’s right,” Taggart replied. “We’ve already lost everything, including our father and my best friend, on this mission. Please…help us.”
Stakrox laughed again. “I’ve been living here alone for so long, and my last experience with other people ended so badly. I had come to believe that I was better off alone. I owe you something for teaching me otherwise.”
He went over to his kitchen and opened a pint-sized cupboard under the sink. He pulled out a box with a handle bolted to the top.
“How have you survived here for so long?” Yannik asked. “Why haven’t the Kreksas come after you for being one of the little people, as Qiao calls us?”
“They’ve never seen me,” Stakrox replied. “They don’t come here, and I never go out in public. They think Stakrox Feret is an ordinary human, and the Kreksas get so many benefits from the refinery. They don’t check. The arrangement serves us all.”
He carried his box to his living room coffee table, set it down, and unbuckled the two snaps in the front. “You can put the Emberling in here. This box will conceal the Emberling’s energy signature.”
He pried back the lid to reveal a rubbery pink goo inside. It jiggled slightly, and a very pale, faint pink light shone from it.
“What is it?” Taggart asked.
“It’s Riarium plasma.”
“Riarium doesn’t produce plasma,” Yannik told him. “The flux is its most unstable form.”
“That’s what the Academy of Sciences would like everyone to believe. They don’t believe Riarium can exist in its plasma state, because that would violate some of the Academy’s most cherished beliefs about the nature of matter…but that isn’t important. I isolated the plasma in this container.” He looked up at Tate. “Put the Emberling in here and it will vanish from every rangefinder in the sector—and the galaxy.”
