Page 33 of Escape from Nova Nine
A lanky Volksstam prisoner named Visser met them at the lift. “Our people are in D-71. Lunaso is A-40.”
“Nope.” She grabbed Zade’s upper arm possessively. “They gave him to me. I’m keeping him.”
Visser blinked, then shrugged.
Zade turned to her with a solemn look. “Did you just claim me?”
Before she could answer, a call went out over the telepathic net that Sutrio needed Zade’s help with the griffins. Julke relayed the message and told him how to find her.
Turning to Visser, she asked about the overhead airlocks problem.
“Solved. But we’ll be fish in a barrel for the ten minutes it takes them to open.”
She gave him a tired smile. “I have an idea for that. Let me talk to Lantham.”
* * *
Zade met Sutrio on the collector’s viewing platform at the top of the cavern. The woman had bruises like saucers under her eyes, but she’d explained it was just blowback from talent overuse. “I’ve called all the griffins I can and gotten them into ships, but the rock griffins in the Abyss won’t listen. They might come for you.” A corner of her mouth twitched in a smile. “And Mayek.”
“Where is the Abyss from here?”
She pointed down. “Below the bottom gravity plates. We discovered a ship-sized breach in the far corner. Probably explains the variable winds and the oxygen in the Abyss.”
“Okay, I’ll try. I feel like I should tell you I’m high-gliding on mystery chems from the interrogation team. Once those burn out, I might collapse.”
“Fair enough. Sit down now, then. You’re too heavy for me to catch. What’s your blowback?”
“Migraine headache.” He did as she asked.
“Fun.” She waved an expansive hand. “They’re all yours.”
He activated his talent a bit, just to get a sense of the griffins already nearby. Mayek felt like a warm glow in his mind.
Closing his eyes, he visualized the Abyss and the hole that led to the cavern. He took a slow, deep breath, then let his talent loose.
Come with me,he beckoned them.We’re all going to a new home.The words were just sounds to carry his emotions and images. He included the love he felt for Mayek.
The rock griffins responded immediately, like they’d been longing to hear from him. He couldn’t tell how many. He continued beckoning until Sutrio put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s done it. Tell them you like me, and I’ll get them sorted.”
He pictured Sutrio, and how clever she was and how much he and Mayek trusted her, then let the connection go. Exhaustion was winning the war against the chems. And a migraine was lurking in the shadows.
Sounds of a commotion below galvanized him. The rock griffins were suddenly scared and mad. They needed his help.
* * *
Julke wiped sweat off her neck and hid in the shadow of a scaffold cross-brace, waiting for her next ambush victim. Her stolen beamer had plenty of charge, but she had no armor if anyone shot back.
The escapees had been unbelievably lucky up until five minutes ago. Then trouble came swarming out of the tunnels, and the fight was on.
The enforcers and the pharma mercenaries were bad enough, but they’d never seen the caverns and their orders seem to only allow disabling the prisoners. The prisoners’ counterpunch pushed a large portion of the attackers back out in the tunnels and stranded them there.
But the relentless mech-suited warden’s guardians went straight for the kill. Avoiding them worked for a while, but they were unstoppable.
Until the rock griffin began vomiting on guardian helmets. The noxious mass melted through the faceplate and burned whatever delicate tech and tender flesh it found.
Warden’s guardians didn’t scream, they just slowed, faltered, and died. She knew they were probably already brain dead the moment they were fitted into their red armor, but it was still hard to watch their deaths. Thank the gods that she hadn’t recognized any of them as former prisoners. That would have been a memory she could do without.
The prisoners’ telepathic net was stretched to the breaking point when the news came that the griffins were in. Time to seal up the ships and get ready to launch.
