Quest for Freedom Read online

“The tentacle!” Janai screamed at Blal’k. “Try to hit the end!” She raised her weapon to fire but Blal’k was faster. A red beam grazed the soldier’s face. He released Vala. “Get out of here!” Janai yelled to Vala, who was on her feet again.

  The injured girl staggered to the opening and threw herself in. That soldier then turned on Janai and Blal’k. Sarah screamed as the remaining soldier dragged her and Ash across the room toward the door. Janai and Blal’k fired at the soldier nearest them, stunning him briefly, and turned on Sarah and Ash’s abductor. The beam bounced off this Morgee’s back but was enough for Ash to twist free. A piece of his jumpsuit had ripped away, but he ignored it and started after the soldier again.

  “No!” Janai yelled to the Kritine boy. He turned to her and she aimed her weapon at the Morgee. Ash ran for the clothes panel. Sarah wasn’t able to free herself and the soldier lifted her with both hands and continued toward the doorway.

  A metallic arm reached for Janai and she ducked out of the way of the nearest Morgee to start after Sarah. Strong fingers pressed into her shoulder and she yelled out with the pain. She felt herself being lifted, and she twisted to try and free her shoulder from the agony. Blal’k grabbed the soldier’s tentacle and deliberately fire into the end. Suddenly Janai hit the floor, hard. The soldier was frozen. Blal’k pulled her toward the clothes panel but she yanked free and started toward the door.

  “Sarah!” she cried. But the door panel was closed and there was no sign of the girl or the soldier. Hands tugged her in the other direction.

  “She’s gone,” Blal’k said.

  “No!” Janai struggled to pull free.

  “She’s gone.” This time he was in her face, liquid eyes harsh and narrowed on her.

  She allowed him to pull her toward the clothes panel and push her headfirst into the darkness.

  11 ~ Plunge into Darkness

  Janai slid down some sort of tube. She sucked in her breath as she tried to grab onto something to slow her momentum, but the sides were smooth and all she could do was ride out the fall. The tube was roomy and she managed to twist her body so that she was traveling feet first. She descended in complete darkness for what seemed like an eternity, but could’ve been only seconds.

  She stopped suddenly when her feet hit a hard surface. Her ankle twisted and she landed on her backside with a resounding thud. Her pack had fallen off one shoulder and she reached for it, feeling something soft beside her. Clothing? Before she could scramble to her feet, a large weight knocked her onto her side. She heard a grunt from someone and realized Blal’k had landed on top of her. The place was dim and she could make out shadows of the others. Blal’k quickly got up and a webbed hand grabbed hers, pulling her to her feet. She winced as she put weight on her left leg and her ankle nearly gave out. She stumbled only to be caught by two sets of arms.

  “You all right?” Ash said.

  “Huh?” Janai felt a bit stunned, but finally the question registered. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she lied.

  Krav’n pointed a shadowy arm to the stack of clothing near her. “You missed the pile.”

  “Yeah, I noticed.” She gently put weight on her left foot again and groaned when a sharp pain shot up her leg.

  Ash tightened his arm around her waist. “You’re not all right.” Her pride wanted to shove him away but the rest of her wanted him closer.

  “Where’s Sarah?” Lance’s question hit her almost as hard as Blal’k’s body had.

  “They got her,” Blal’k answered flatly. He seemed to notice Ash and released his grip on Janai’s arm.

  She gave him a hard stare then closed her eyes against her own anger. It wasn’t his fault, she told herself. A gentle hand gripped her wrist and she looked at Ash.

  “It wasn’t your fault either,” he said softly. Penny began to cry.

  Janai started to say something to Ash when Krav’n gripped onto her vine rope. She laid a hand on his head ridges and looked up at the tube that had ejected her. Her jaw tightened. Her foot touched something and she leaned down to find her light-fire weapon. The weapon was still powered up. She powered it down and tucked it into her belt for easy access. Since it wasn’t originally designed as a weapon, whoever created it had no need for a power indicator, and with no indicator, she had no idea how much charge was left. Thankfully, it hadn’t gone off during her fall.

  The room began to come into focus now and the shadows of the children began to take better form. That’s when she noticed the faint blue lights around the floor against the walls. She studied the tube above her and guessed that after exiting, she had free-fallen about six feet to the hard floor. She was very cold and couldn’t stop shivering now. Her hand fell onto Krav’n’s shoulder. His clothes were wet. All of them were still soaked from the rains.

  “We need to get dried off.” Janai’s teeth beginning to chatter as she hooked an arm around Ash’s waist. He, too, shivered.

  “The Morgee were throwing clothes down in this place,” Lance reminded as he cradled his sobbing sister.

  “Where are we?” Krav’n said.

  “I don’t know.” Janai tapped a scrap of cloth with her injured foot. “Maybe some sort of laundry.”

  The others began to move about, searching through the pieces of clothing that were scattered over the floor and piled under the tube. Janai tried to join the search but Ash held her in place.

  “You sit down,” he told her. “We’ll find something to wear.”

  Her ankle throbbed now. She sat to remove her shoe skin and inspect the injury. Her ankle was already swollen and she could see a bruise blackening the top of her foot.

  Krav’n sat and wrapped arms around her. “Is it broken?”

  She wiggled her toes and moved her ankle. The pain was tolerable. “Just a sprain, I think.” She loosened the boy’s grip and reached for her sinsabe. He saw what she was doing and scooted away to give her room. She pulled cloth strips from her bag and wrapped her foot and ankle then tied off the ends. “That should do for now,” she told Krav’n, and she forced a smile. Then she tied her shoe skin back on.

  “Hey, look what we found.” Penny, who had stopped crying, stood next to Tish and pointed at something in the silent girl’s hands.

  “What?” Lance said as he made his way to the girls. Janai got to her feet and leaned slightly on Krav’n for support.

  Penny gently touching the object in Tish’s hands. “It’s pretty.” She swiped a sleeve over her runny nose.

  “Let me see.” Janai limped to the little Earth girls.

  Tish held her hand up and something dangled from her fingers. It was a circular tied object of braided vine with a blue stone intertwined into one portion.

  “That’s a gemstone,” Krav’n said, pointing.

  Janai trembled as she reached for the bracelet. She knew that’s what it was.

  “Janai?” Ash said.

  She didn’t answer him. She folded the bracelet in her palm and tightly closed her hand. Tears broke loose from her eyes and she wiped them away.

  “Janai? What is it? What’s wrong?”

  She blinked several times to clear the tears from her vision. Then she opened her hand and studied the piece of jewelry again. “This bracelet belonged to a girl in my camp. She used one of the gemstones from the tunnels. For luck. The color of the stone is rare on her planet.”

  “She was your friend.” Vala said in a weak voice.

  “Yes. She kept this in a secret pocket in her jumpsuit during digs and only wore it only at night so the Morgee wouldn’t find out.”

  “Why is it here?” Lance said. “What happened to her?”

  Janai took a deep breath and shook her head. “She went with the others to the free-zone after our camp was rescued.”

  “Penny?” Lance turned to his sister. “Where did you two find that bracelet?”

  Penny bent down and picked up a gray cloth that was lying at her feet. “In here.” She showed him a torn and stained partial jumpsuit with a pocket sewn in th
e breast.

  Janai inspected the clothing. “This was hers.”

  “Look at the sleeves,” Blal’k said.

  Both sleeves of the jumpsuit were in shreds and what was left was seared around the edges. Janai studied Vala’s burned sleeve that had caught on the fencing and looked around in horror. This was no laundry room. It was some sort of waste disposal.

  “They never made it to the free-zone,” Janai said in a hoarse voice.

  “We have to get out of here,” Ash said with some urgency.

  But Janai just stood there staring at the remains of the jumpsuit dangling from her hands. She felt numb.

  “Janai?” She didn’t respond. Someone shook her and she looked up. “Janai?” Ash held both hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “We have to go,” he said slowly and deliberately.

  She scanned the group of children and looked back to Ash. Then she nodded that she understood.

  They scrambled around, searching for the more complete suits that had been discarded. The older ones helped the younger ones change. They did the best they could with sizes. They wrung out their wet clothes, rolled them and stuffed them into their packs.

  Janai placed the bracelet in her pack and scanned the dim room, searching for a way out. She and the others felt around the walls for panels, buttons, anything that would allow them to escape. Penny squealed and ran headlong into her brother.

  “What’s wrong, Penny?” With a hand on her sinsabe, Janai hobbled to the little girl.

  Penny was visibly shaking and clutching her brother. She simply pointed a thin arm in the direction of some clothing. Janai followed the girl’s stare and had to force herself to breathe. A gold shimmering object protruded from underneath a pile of ragged clothing. She didn’t need to get any closer to see what it was. She would recognize it anywhere, a piece of a soldier’s suit, a simple panel of gold. She thought she saw several scraps of the same material. She stepped closer and held her breath. They weren’t scraps. They were actual parts of a soldier, or several soldiers. Darkened stains stood out where the limbs had been severed from the bodies.

  She turned wide eyes to Ash and the others then made her way to Penny. “It’s all right, Penny. It’s just a Morgee suit, that’s all.” She gave a headshake to the older ones so they would go along with the lie. Janai knew they understood. They had seen.

  Vala pulled Tish away from the area just as the lights along one of the walls disappeared into the floor and several small, square openings about two feet high appeared. Within seconds, a loud hum rang out in the room, some sort of a vacuum. Janai managed to stay on her feet, but Krav’n and Tish went down onto the floor and were pulled toward the panels, along with the scattered clothing. Penny clung to her brother and both struggled to stay upright.

  Janai lunged for Krav’n, as he slid past her, and caught the boy by his arm. She fell when she put full weight on her injured ankle and a sharp pain shot through her leg. She gritted her teeth and gripped the boy tighter. Her light-fire weapon clanked loose from her belt and was sucked into one of the holes before she could grab it. She cursed herself for not putting the weapon into her pack.

  She looked around for Tish. At first, she didn’t see the girl, but after a second or two, she caught sight of Ash straddling one of the openings and pulling Tish away. The vacuum stopped suddenly and the lights and wall went back to their original state. Then all they heard was the low, familiar rumbling of before.

  12 ~ A Way Out

  What was that?” Lance said in a shaky voice as Penny clung to him.

  Janai got to her feet, limping, and looked around. Krav’n wrapped his arms around her waist and she placed a hand on his head ridges. All of the clothing that had been strewn on the floor was gone, along with, thankfully, the Morgee body parts. “Some sort of cleaning device, I guess. My light-fire weapon went right into one of those holes.”

  “I still have mine,” Blal’k said.

  “Keep it safe.” Janai scanned the group. “Is everyone all right?” Confirmations came from everyone except Ash. He looked as though he were deep in thought. She hobbled over to him with Krav’n still clinging to her. “Ash?”

  For a moment, she wasn’t sure he even heard her. Then he finally said, “I keep seeing strange images.” He rubbed at his temples.

  Janai smiled with relief and placed a hand on his shoulder, fighting the urge to embrace him. “It’s gotta be your mind gift. Give yourself time. You’ll figure things out.”

  “I know. Remember the colors I told you about back at the hideout? Well, those were the same colors I saw when the fence went out.”

  “I was going to ask you why you took such a risk when you ran through that area.” She studied him. “You think you received a message from someone?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “The fence reacted with the rain,” Vala said in a thoughtful tone. “Maybe that’s how the runner got through. He wouldn’t have known about the fence if he traveled in the rain. It would have de-activated.”

  “Matt, the runner,” Janai said, “told me he came through a storm to deliver our map.”

  Vala cradled her injured arm. “What about the rockdome? He couldn’t have missed that.”

  “She’s right,” Ash said, and he rubbed his temples. “It doesn’t make sense. The rockdome didn’t disappear, just the fence.”

  Janai shrugged and shifted her weight. “I don’t know. We can figure it out later. Right now, we have to find a way out of here.”

  Vala stepped closer. “We can’t go back the way we came, that’s for sure.”

  The others began milling about, carefully checking for any exit.

  “What about those holes?” Lance said as he pointed to the paneled wall.

  “We have no idea where they go.” Janai sucked in a breath as she tested her weight on her injured ankle. “Or how to open them.” She had no desire to find out what lay beyond that wall.

  Vala offered some of the pain herbs she was carrying. “Looks like you’re going to need some of these, too.”

  “Thank you.” Janai pinched off a few of the tiny, yellow leaves and popped them into her mouth. She chewed them thoroughly and swallowed, grimacing at the bitter taste. “How’s your arm?”

  “I’ll live,” Vala said without humor.

  “As soon as we get out of here, I want to take a look at you.”

  “Hey,” Penny called. “Tish found something.”

  The group made their way to the two youngest girls, who were standing near the wall under the waste tube. Tish had found another panel with buttons. None of the lights were illuminated, but the buttons had symbols similar to the ones used to release the other Morgee from the cylinders.

  Vala inspected the panel. “One of these might give us a way out, Janai.”

  “Maybe.” Thanks to the pain herbs, Janai’s ankle would soon turn to a dull throb. “But we have no idea which one.”

  Tish pointed toward the buttons and Vala knelt down beside her. “What is it, little one? Do you know which one we should press?”

  Tish shook her finger at the panel. The others exchanged glances then looked back to the silent girl.

  “Do you think she knows?” Lance said.

  Krav’n looked up at Janai. “She knows lots of different writings.”

  “Yes, she does.” Janai placed a hand on his head ridges. “But those are the languages of the invaded worlds, not Morgee symbols like these. Tish held out her arms to Vala to indicate that she wanted to be picked up. “Vala’s hurt, Tish,” Janai told the girl. “She can’t lift you.”

  Vala, who was still on one knee, said, “How do you know which button to push?”

  The silent little girl got an exasperated look on her dark face and pointed to the waste tube that extended from the ceiling.

  “What’s she trying to say, Vala?” Lance asked.

  “I’m not sure, yet.”

  Tish stomped her foot at the Aknidean girl. She pointed to the pane
l and again to the waste tube.

  “You know how to move the tube?” Lance said.

  Tish stomped her foot at him. This time she reversed her strategy and pointed to the tube first, then to the panel.

  “I don’t think she means the tube,” Vala said. “I think she means the room up there.”

  The silent girl grabbed Vala’s face in dark hands and nodded her head.

  Janai carefully leaning down to Tish. “Something familiar about the buttons? Is that what you’re telling us?”

  Tish nodded again and pointed to the panel.

  Vala stood, cradling her injured arm. “I think she recognizes one of the symbols.”

  That sent Tish into a frenzy of pointing and jumping to reach the panel.

  The others looked to Janai, waiting. She glanced around the small, dim room and shrugged. “Well. I don’t see any other way out of here.”

  She motioned to Ash who then lifted Tish up to the panel. The silent girl studied the symbols briefly and put her finger on one of them. She looked at Janai.

  Janai’s stomach tightened. “Go ahead.”

  Tish pressed the button and a bright yellow light illuminated. Ash lowered the girl to the floor and she slipped over to Vala. Janai waited. Just when she thought the button was useless to them, the room began to shake and the movement threw her off balance. She stumbled and someone gripped her arms to steady her. The louder rumbling returned and Janai turned to see Ash holding her.

  “We’re moving again.” He planted his feet apart to keep his balance.

  “Because of Tish’s button?” Lance said.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  The movement and noise stopped as suddenly as it had started, and all that remained was the low constant hum. Janai heard a faint sound coming from the far wall, and she and the others turned in unison. A panel disappeared, revealing another room. Light flooded the waste room and they shielded their eyes against the brightness.

  When her eyes adjusted, Janai pulled away from Ash, assuring him she was able move about by herself. She managed to do so with a slight limp and only a little pain now. The others followed her to the doorway and she motioned for them to get out of sight. They flattened themselves against the wall next to the door, while Janai and Blal’k peered through the doorway. This vast room, consisting of four, smooth, white walls, a white floor and high ceiling made Janai dizzy when she looked up.