Fury and training warred for position in Evy’s mind. She wanted to shove Silk in airlock and let her suffocate in vacuum. But that wouldn’t bring Zekk and the others back. It wouldn’t help them get off this station.

  Evy cursed. How had she not seen this coming? Easy, came an internal reply, Silk had been with Evy and Gecko the longest. Through dozens of missions, they had developed a mutual bond of trust and respect. Evy had trusted her hacker implicitly, but while that made for smoother working relationship, it also created a blind spot. They were mercenaries. Evy should have remembered that everyone, even her, were soldiers for hire. She’d heard stories of side deals cut on and off mission that destroyed other teams. Somehow, she’d fooled herself into thinking that Gecko was different.

  Stupid, Evy told herself.

  She looked up at the floor readout. As the elevator approached level 5, another tremor ran through the station and rattled the elevator so much that they all bumped into each other and the walls.

  As the shaking subsided, 2246B asked, “What is the Andrani Collective?”

  Tracer muttered, “Depends on who you ask.”

  Niko said, “No one is quite sure who they are. They hunt down and erase all traces of any technology they consider forbidden. That includes the people that developed it.”

  “Why are they attacking this facility?” 2246B asked.

  Niko’s mouth worked for a moment before he awkwardly looked away. Tracer took a large breath and cleared his throat.

  “Because of you,” said Evy.

  2246B tried to process this. For some reason, the reply stung. Was all this trouble because of her?

  Before she could process this thought further, the elevator shook once more. This time, the lights flickered and went out. The brakes engaged as a failsafe to stop its movement. When that happened, the occupants of the elevator suddenly found themselves floating toward the ceiling.

  “What the—?” said Niko. He collided with the ceiling with a thunk. 2246B collided with him and rebounded back toward the floor like a pinball.

  Evy grasped the elevator’s handrail and asked, “Everyone okay?”

  “Think so,” said Niko, rubbing his head. He helped 2246B reach the handrail opposite Evy.

  “Elevator’s out,” said Tracer as he tapped the control panel. The force of his tapping pushed him slowly away and he failed to catch himself. As he drifted helplessly toward the middle of the elevator, he said, “Could use a hand, XO.”

  Evy took her rifle, grasped it by the barrel and reached out to Tracer. The sniper grabbed the butt and allowed himself to be hauled to the handrail.

  She checked on Silk. The floated motionless on the opposite side of the elevator.

  “Silk?” said Evy. Using the handrail, she glided to the hacker and turned her around. She then sighed. “Out cold.”

  “Great,” said Niko, exasperated. “This close to the exit. She was right. We’re done for.”

  “Stow it,” said Evy harshly. “You want to give up now, by all means, but you will not slow us down. Suck it up, or get left behind.”

  Niko glared at her as his face turned red. Good, thought Evy, better than cowering.

  “We need to get this thing moving,” she said.

  “Don’t see how, boss,” said Tracer. “With the power cut and our hacker out of commission, we’re sittin’ ducks.”

  “Wait,” said Niko. “What about 2246B?”

  Evy rotated to face him. “What about her?” she asked, annoyed.

  2246B looked at Niko, confused. Evy was once again struck by the unsettling features of the creature. Not an android. Not a cyborg either. Evy wasn’t sure what to call 2246B.

  “Earlier, she helped me with one of the servers,” said Niko.

  “What do you mean?” said Evy.

  “She somehow communicated with the server.” He looked at 2246B. “Can you do that again here?”

  2246B stared at Niko. She put a hand against the wall of the elevator. “He is stuck,” she said. “Something below us is blocking his progress. In this situation, he has done what he is programmed to do: halt progress and await maintenance.”

  “Maintenance isn’t coming,” said Evy. “Any chance it...he can push through?”

  A moment later, 2246B said, “Possible. He does not know how big the blockage is.”

  Evy’s mind worked. “Have the elevator move back up and slam down. Maybe that will clear it.”

  “Hold on, commander,” said Niko. “That could just as easily kill us.”

  “And if we’re stuck here much longer, the Andrani will do it instead. Now can the elevator do that?”

  A second later, the elevator began moving up again, slowly.

  Evy shook her head. Incredible. The dragon-hybrid-thing could talk to other machines as though they were living things. A shudder run through Evy that had nothing to do with the present danger. This job may have a large payout if they survived, but what would be the cost to the universe? What would a man like the one on the other end of Silk’s camera do with such a creature?

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  The elevator slowed to a stop.

  2246B then said, “Hang on to the rail, feet to the ceiling.”

  The humans in the room tightened their grip and maneuvered into place. Evy pulled Silk in close and, using the carabiner on her hip, clipped her to the rail. That would have to do.

  The elevator shot down. The sudden acceleration pushed everyone’s feet to the ceiling of the elevator as it plunged downward. A loud bang accompanied screeching metal and breaking plastic at the elevator slammed whatever had been blocking it. Debris and bodies flew in all directions. A piece of metal flew toward Evy and sliced across the side of her neck. Red globules of blood floated fanned out from the cut. She grunted at the pain but kept her grip on the railing.

  And then, just like that, everything seemed to stop. Bits of metal and plastic drifted through the air all around them. The floor of the elevator was now warped and twisted thanks to a piece of metal that had punched through.

  She checked on the others. Niko and 2246B hung on to each other and seemed fine though the young man had his own series of cuts and bruise across his arms.

  Tracer retrieved a small kit and began administering first aid. He first sealed the cut on Evy’s suit and then applied bandages to Niko. Evy moved Silk. The hacker was still out cold but had fared surprisingly well in the crash.

  She tried to get a glimpse of the floor number through the damaged walls, but had no luck.

  “Did we make it?” she asked.

  “Yes,” replied 2246B as she caressed the railing. “He got us through. We are halfway between Level 2 and 3.”

  “Tell, uh, him thank you.”

  “He would not understand. He simply did what he was made to do.”

  Evy cleared her throat. “Right. Well, tell him that all the same.”

  She pushed off the wall and drifted to the doors which now stood partway open and askew. With a piece of debris, she forced them open wider. The hallway beyond was pitch dark. Evy flicked on the flashlight of her rifle and shone it through. True to Niko’s word, she saw a network of pipes of various sizes, valves, and filtration units running in all directions. Liquids droplets of varying ugly colors floated in mid-air. Evy tried hard not to think about what the droplets contained.

  “Tracer,” she called back, “take point. I’ll get Silk.” After Tracer had passed through the opening, she said to Niko and 2246B, “Come on you two.”

  “What happens next?” Niko asked.

  “We’re getting out of here, that’s what.”

  “But to where? Where was Silk taking us?”

  Evy swallowed. It was a fair question and one she’d been considering ever since they escaped into the elevator on Level 34.

  “One step at a time,” she said. “Let’s find that access hatch.”

  A distant thud drew her attention. She turned to the opening, but then realized it had come from above.

  2246B was looking up. “Something is coming,” she said. “And it’s…angry.”

  “The Andrani,” said Niko, terror in his voice.

  “Go, now!” said Evy as she grasped Silk’s belt and pushed her through the opening.

  Niko and 2246B followed with Evy just behind them.

  Tracer spun round, snagged Silk’s body, and quickly pushed forward, staying close to the wall as he went. Niko and 2246B did their best to keep pace, but moving in zero gravity proved difficult.

  “We still don’t know where this hatch is,” said Niko, almost in a panic.

  “It is this way,” said 2246B pushing off at an angle through short narrow passage and across a wide open space filled with myriad pipes and catwalks.

  “How does she know that?” said Evy.

  “I don’t know,” said Niko, “but she hasn’t been wrong yet.” He pushed off after 2246B. Tracer followed shortly after with Evy in the rear.

  As they moved across the open space, more sounds came from behind them. Whatever chased them, it was getting closer. With each successive handhold, Evy pulled harder to build up speed. The only chance they had was if the Andrani never knew they were here. They had to find that hatch.

  Amid the maze of pipes and walkways, the group jumped and pulled their way through the zeor-G environment. At one point, Niko had to turn and vomit. Evy didn’t blame him. Having no gravity had a disorienting effect on the human body and it made some people sick. Evy and Tracer had trained for just this scenario. A software engineer like Niko had probably some sort of rudimentary group training from the company since he worked on a station, but that was a poor substitute for the real thing.

  Evy helped him along. Tracer struggled a few times, weighed down as he was by Silk’s unconscious body. Evy hoped the hacker wasn’t dead. Or, if she was, that her corpse would secure them passage on whatever ship lay at the exit. A small, sinister thought crept up: what if the hacker had been lying about the hatch? If that was the case, then where was 2246B leading them? Evy had to guess that the creature’s ability to talk to machines also allowed her to detect them. Still, Evy didn’t like placing her trust in something so flimsy. She still didn’t exactly trust the artificial lifeform. Niko’s question still weighed heavy in her mind: What happens next?

  Evy always knew what the next step would be. Analyze, assess, decide, act. The decision loop played constantly through her mind but, for the first time since she was rookie, Evy drew a blank. Standard procedure told her to get to a safe location, contact SaCaleta, and await extraction. However, whomever or whatever lay at the exit might not allow that. And besides, Evy still didn’t like the idea of handing over something as potentially dangerous as 2246B to the man at the other end of the camera, damn the payday. But, if they went that route, where would they go? A man like that wasn’t likely to let his prize get away so easily, assuming they could get escape the Andrani’s notice. If they failed that, the Collective would pursue them to the ends of the universe.

  Evy let out a short huff. One thing at a time, she thought to herself. First, find the hatch.

  2246B darted down and to one side suddenly, twisting around large machinery. “Through here,” she called back.

  The rest followed and soon found themselves staring at an access hatch. It was only large enough to fit one person at a time. Several clamps held it in place and an electronic panel rested on the wall to one side.

  “Maintenance airlock,” said Niko, still suffering from zero-G sickness. “Looks a bit small.”

  Evy could no longer hear the sounds from behind them, but that didn’t mean the Andrani had stopped looking.

  To 2246B, Evy said, “Can you get it open?”

  She put a hand on the hatch and then shook her head. “The panel is dead. Something cut the power to this area.”

  “Mechanical backup?” Evy directed the question to Niko.

  The software engineer shrugged. “Might be. I’ve never had to use one before.”

  Evy cursed inwardly. To Tracer, “Search the area. We have to get this open.”

  Tracer began scanning the edges of the hatch while Evy studied the nearby conduits on the wall.

  “Found somethin’, boss,” Tracer said. He pointed to a small panel on the outside edge of the door affixed with screws.

  “Watch our six,” she commanded and produced a knife from her hip. Using it as an screwdriver, she carefully undid each screw. She didn’t how much time they had before the Andrani caught up with them and worked as quickly as the improvised tool allowed. Once the final screw came loose, she removed the panel and found a recessed red handle behind it. She reached in and grasped the handle.

  “Hold on, commander,” said Niko. “We don’t know if anything is on the other side. What if we’re sucked into vacuum?”

  Evy glanced back in the direction they had come. “You have a better idea?”

  Niko pressed his lips together and then, after a second, shook his head.

  Evy set her feet against the wall and pulled on the handle. At first, it didn’t budge. Then, with a metal scraping, it gave way and the hatch slowly opened. Evy let go and peered into the opening. A narrow tube led to another hatch, closed.

  She exchanged glances with Tracer and Niko and then went inside the tube. A sense of claustrophobia set in as she moved through, so tight were the confines. She reached the hatch and put a hand on it. A light hum came from the other side. That was a good sign. She began pounding on the hatch.

  “Open up!” she yelled. She pounded on it some more. “Come on!”

  Several long seconds passed. The door didn’t open. She tried again.

  “Open up, dammit!”

  Another few seconds. Still nothing.

  Then, with a click and a release of pressure, the hatch slowly opened. Relief washed over Evy. She started forward but stopped as a face came into view accompanied by a gun.