The Alpha Choice (61 page)

‘What about the teleport station?’ asked Jon, who had managed to bury his discomfort concerning teleportation, but now felt the unease struggling to resurface.

‘I overrode the instruction to incapacitate given by Tala,’ came the reply. There was a pause, just long enough to allow the last piece of information to register, ‘but for my actions, the two of you would now be confined.’

Ω

Gorn knew that Beron would soon find his way to this room. If the Tellurians were captured there would be no immediate need for Tala to act against the Tellurian woman already in her possession. If his plan failed, Liz Corcoran needed to remain where she was.

Δ Ω

Jon glanced at Emily who was silent. ‘All right,’ he answered for both of them, there was no objection from his young friend, ‘who are you?’ He had no say over the enigmatic behaviour of the Custodians, but he did not want it to be habit forming.

‘I have told you, I am a friend.’

‘That isn't good enough. Even the Custodians identify themselves,’ he hoped the lie was unnoticed and looked over to Emily whose eyes had narrowed.

‘I have already told you that I am not a Custodian. I will not comply with your request. If you find that unsatisfactory, I can only suggest that you may be better employed seeking the Custodians help.’

The voice fell silent.

Emily spoke up. ‘Why are you helping us?’

The voice of the Avatar replied. ‘Because, I do not want to see the Te succeed. I overheard your conversation with the other Tellurians,’ Jon looked at Emily and silently mouthed the word
Tellurian
, while opening his hands to demonstrate his lack of understanding. Emily simply shook her head as if to say,
it doesn’t matter.
The voice continued, ‘I now know of the Artefact, and your need to get it to President Conway, if you remain here, you will fail.’ The voice had one more fact to reveal. ‘Your friends cannot help you, they have been taken.’

‘How can you know that?’ demanded Emily, suddenly becoming very angry.

‘In the same way I knew of your conversations, and the disabled transporter stations. I have control over all the systems in this facility. Tala has tortured the female you know as Liz Corcoran thereby forcing the male, Hugo Black, to tell her everything.’
 

Jon’s response was immediate. ‘The Artefact won’t allow itself to be used by the Te.’
 

‘That may well be true, but Tala does not know that. Even if she did, she must stop you from reaching President Conway. She will achieve that aim, and the extinction of your race, if you remain here. It is time for you to make your choice, while you still have a choice to make.’

Jon walked over to the chairs and Emily followed. The two of them sat facing each other, fully aware that the intelligence behind the voice could probably hear every word they said. ‘I don't think we have another option,’ said Jon, not making any attempt to keep his voice down.

‘We need to get as far as we can from where they're holding the others,‘ Emily replied.

Jon was taken aback. ‘I thought you would insist on rescuing Liz.’

She shook her head. ‘We’ve got one job, and that’s to get to the President
.
Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for her help, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't thank us for risking everything, to hare off on a suicide mission,’ the resolute expression on her face told him that any further discussion was fruitless.

Jon nodded, despite his own misgivings. Emily was not quite what he thought, she had become an unknown quantity to him, and it made him uncomfortable.

The voice spoke. ‘Your decision, albeit difficult, is wise. There is nothing to be gained by remaining here any longer.’ No sooner were those last words uttered, than a three dimensional plan of the facility appeared in the centre of the room, highlighting, not only their current whereabouts, but also the route to the President. Jon noticed a room marked in red and knew without asking, what it was. ‘You have control over the surveillance technology in this place, show us what’s happening in there,’ he pointed to the
red
room.

The reply did nothing to make him feel better. ‘I do not think that would serve any useful purpose...’ there was a pause as though the mind behind the voice was choosing, carefully, what to say next. ‘To see what is unfolding would only cause you distress,
and might result in you diverting from the task upon which the survival of your race depends.’
 

Jon looked at Emily who nodded, but said nothing.

It made no sense for him to be concerned for the well being of Liz Corcoran; what was one life balanced against the survival of their entire species? Unfortunately, that reasoning fell a long way short of making him feel better. He needed to find a way to save her and get to the President, but if there was a solution, it eluded him. He saw that the route outlined on the map was in the opposite direction to the red room, and so he concentrated his mind on that. As he did so, images appeared before him, as if he was actually standing in the corridors, even to the extent that, as he turned his head, he could see what was behind him. In this way, he traced the entire route to where the signing ceremony would take place.

Having completed the route, he looked down at the floor, to signal that he was finished. He could not bring himself to look at Emily, for fear that she would see the look of disappointment in his eyes. What she had said was right, it made him feel bad, but she was right.

The voice spoke again. ‘It is time to leave,’ and with that pronouncement, the door slid open and they stepped into the corridor. Jon had only gone half a dozen steps when he became acutely aware that he was alone. Stopping, he turned around to see Emily standing where they had exited the room. Her face, impossible to read.
 

He walked back to where she stood. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ she replied, ‘it’s just that I'm going the other way.’

Being punched in the solar plexus would have paled against the impact of that simple statement. Her eyes were twinkling, mischievously, and it was clear she was enjoying herself. An explanation was called for. ‘I don’t know what that thing in there is,’ she motioned to the room they had just left, ‘but I'm not about to abandon a friend on the say so of something that won't even show itself.’

‘What you said about a suicide mission…’ he began.

She winked. ‘For the benefit of our invisible friend! Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be dangerous, and you can't go. That much of what I said was true, you need to get to the President. If we traded places, I can't use the Artefact, and I don’t think you’d be too much use if there are things like force fields to be disabled. We need to split up.’

It made sense. ‘Why didn’t you say something in the room?’

‘Because, for all we know, that
whatever it is
might have prevented one of us from leaving, as insurance against the other going off to help Liz. We’ve no idea what its agenda is, and I wasn’t ready to take that risk, are you?

Jon resisted agreeing with his young friend.

‘Look,’ she continued, ‘it doesn't take two of us to get to the President, maybe this was what the Custodians intended for me. Anyway, they’re all going to be looking for you, so their eyes will be off the ball. I can get in and out, without them hardly knowing.’

He had always assumed he was the leader of their little group, but once again he was reminded that he was only there because of the Artefact. He put his hand on the young woman’s shoulder, and in his best big brother voice cautioned her. ‘Don’t take any insane risks. Get her out, if you can, but make sure you get yourself out. Then, either with or without Liz, make your way to the President.’

He continued looking at her until she replied by nodding her head, then gave him a hug - she was surprisingly strong - and now he definitely felt like her big brother. Without any further words she turned and hurried away down the corridor towards where Liz was held captive, she did not look back.

Ω

Gorn watched as Tala left the detention room. He was wrong, she was smarter than he had credited. No matter, the consequences would be the same. As for the Tellurian female, Corcoran, the short term solution was simple, not so her ultimate fate.

Δ

Three minutes after leaving Jon, Emily arrived at the room where Liz was being held. Just as she had been told, the signet ring caused the door to open, and the petite figure in dungarees entered the torture chamber. Immediately, she was struck by the ozone-like smell emanating from the centre of the room. Her eyes were drawn to the figure of Liz Corcoran, floating silently and serenely before her. Almost immediately, the scene changed to one of absolute horror, as the woman she met less than an hour ago, convulsed in agony, made all the more terrible by the complete lack of sound from her open mouth.

As she looked to her left she could see a heavily built man, dressed in blue coveralls and standing beside a console, he seemed confused.

The technician, seeing her enter the room had panicked and increased the pain output of the field, but in that moment of distraction, failed to notice the galvanised figure of the TeCorp CEO hurtling towards him. Emily watched as Hugo slammed into Liz's torturer with such force, the heavier man was knocked completely off his feet and propelled towards the imprisoned woman. He struck the invisible energy field, rebounded, and landed face down on the floor, where he lay, motionless. As the field was designed to increase its output in direct proportion to the force applied to it, Hugo’s earlier experience had left him only winded and dazed; the engineer, however, would remain unconscious for some considerable time.
 

Hugo became abruptly aware of a silence, previously missing, and realised he could no longer hear the barely perceptible hum, present only when the field was active. To test his hypothesis he approached the point where the unfortunate technician had struck the field, and held out his hand, nothing. As he walked towards her, Liz descended slowly to the floor, still unconscious.

Δ

Because Jon’s thoughts were on Emily, he failed to notice the teleport station to his left as he hurried on his way. Too late, he remembered and turning, saw his pursuers. They were a good way back, so he had ample time to get back to the teleport station, but what now unfolded before his eyes had to be impossible. The lead pursuer, seemingly no larger or fitter than the others, tore away from them at an unbelievable speed.

Everything happened so quickly that precious seconds ebbed away before he could galvanise himself into action. As those seconds passed, so did his chance to get to the teleport.

The voice he had heard earlier, spoke in its unhurried way, making the situation even more frightening. ‘Turn away, the door is not far ahead, run!’ He did as he was told and noticed, as he gained on the opening, the door sliding to a close. Managing to get through with some room to spare, he backed away and looked, through the gap, at his pursuer.
 

Transfixed to the spot, he watched the man, or whatever was capable of such speeds, draw closer to the door, which now seemed, perversely to be closing in slow motion. No longer convinced he was safe, he ran and heard a groan from behind. Unable to control himself he slowed and looked back. The super-fast Te’an had made it to the impossibly narrow opening, only to be caught between the door and its jamb.
 

Ω

Gorn overrode the safety protocol of the door, so instead of opening on the approach of Beron, as it was programmed to do, it continued to close. There would come a time when it would stop, and by then Beron would no longer be a threat to the Tellurian he pursued, or anyone else.

He could see the drama unfold through the Avatar’s control of the surveillance system. In his own case, great physical strength was a given, something he took for granted. He would have been impressed by the man’s prodigious effort, but for his knowledge that Beron had been augmented in anticipation of entry to the brigade of shock-troops.

Gorn was forced into the role of bystander, he had no control over power to the door, only whether the failsafe worked. It soon became clear that Beron would overcome the mechanism. Once through, the door would continue to close and permit no one else to pass. Unfortunately, for the hapless Tellurian, Beron alone would be more than enough to ensure his capture.

The Avatar scanned the complex. The only hope for Jonathon Tyler, lay with his diminutive female companion and Hugo Black, the unwitting architect of the dilemma now unfolding.
 

Ω

Helpless to do otherwise, the Avatar had lowered the Tellurian woman to the ground, then removed all restraints. It
reactivated only that part of the field allowing it to monitor and, if necessary, manipulate the unconscious female’s life signs. Left to her own devices, she would remain unconscious for at least an hour. Its instructions were clear, this was not acceptable.

The impulses in her brain were adjusted so that, within three minutes, she would regain consciousness. Once she was awake the field would be deactivated and remain that way, unless all else failed.

Δ

The field started up again. To Hugo it was a barely perceptible
tingling,
which had stopped when he walked towards her. He looked around, the technician was still unconscious. Then, kneeling down, he
felt the side of Liz’s neck for a pulse, it was there, steady and regular, she seemed to be sleeping. Turning to Emily, he smiled and nodded, signifying gratitude and confirmation that Liz would be fine.
 

Emily’s arrival had led to the technician being subdued, but neither she nor Hugo had anything to do with the field’s deactivation. She thought about the disembodied voice and its claims, but did not have the time to tell Hugo. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘I have to help Jon, he needs me…I’m glad Liz is ok.’
 

By the time he looked up, she was gone. He wondered what would happen now, but that was for Jon and Emily to sort out, he was no longer in the game.