Authors: Riley Barton
“We know,” Luna replied, injecting the bio-aid into Mark’s wound. “We saw the whole thing from up here.”
“We’re heading back to the chopper now,” Perkins said. “I suggest you finish up and start back on the double. There’s a good chance that explosion destabilized the entire plant!”
Mark eased himself up. “Understood. We’re on our way.”
“Are you sure you’re good to go?” Luna asked, helping him up.
“I’ve had worse.” He tipped his head toward the terminal. “You’d better hurry up and get Alex’s codes in the system before this whole place comes down on our heads.”
Stooping as she went, she picked up the portable storage device. After a few moments’ deliberation, she plugged it into the terminal.
“Do it, Alex!”
“Affirmative. Commencing upload. I recommend that the two of you return to the Stratocruiser, posthaste.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice.
She returned to Mark’s side and—after making sure the bio-aid had taken effect—helped him toward the elevator.
They were almost halfway down the tower when Bishop interrupted them. “Miss Luna, Master Mark Anderson. There is a problem that requires your assistance.”
“Explain,” Mark said between clenched teeth.
“That explosion has severed my connection with the primary router station. As a result several thermal ventilation systems are currently offline. If they are not brought back online within the next ten minutes, the pressure will destabilize the core, resulting in a most cataclysmic expulsion of energy. From which—I regret to say—none of us will escape.”
Mark shook his head in disbelief. “Well that’s just great.”
“What do you need us to do, Bishop?” Luna asked.
“There is a substation maintenance shaft not far from your present location. One of you must go there and reroute power to that junction in order for me to re-establish contact with the rest of the facility.”
“Okay, got it,” Mark replied, and Luna frowned.
“You’re not planning on doing it yourself, are you?”
He hesitated, “Luna … I have to.”
“No you don’t! I mean, look at you! You can barely walk!” She continued, “Let me do it. I’m just as able to flip a switch as you are.”
“Luna …”
The elevator eased to a halt.
“Go back to the Stratocruiser, Mark. I’ll be right behind you.”
Mark was quiet for a long while and then looked her in the eye and said, “Luna, if you do this, you may not be able to get back to the hanger before the codes take effect.”
She looked down. The thought had occurred to her, but try as she might, she couldn’t see any other alternative. There
wasn’t
any other alternative.
“I have to do this, Mark. You’re injured. The agents are injured. Toad would never make it in time and you’ll need Fox to fly the chopper. I’m the only person left who even has a
chance
of getting out of here.”
“I know,” he sighed. “Just … be careful, okay?”
“I will. Just make sure you’re there waiting for me when I get back.”
He smiled, though his eyes betrayed his inner turmoil. “We’ll do what we can.”
“I’ll stay in touch,” she said with a nod.
She helped him to board the tram and waited a few more seconds—just long enough to make sure he was safely away—then headed for maintenance access.
Chapter 50
The dimly lit corridors and hallways of Cathedral seemed to go on forever, and she found herself feeling more and more like a rat in a maze the farther along she went.
“Turn right at the next junction and proceed down the corresponding hallway until you come upon the series of maintenance hatches,” Bishop directed.
Following his prompting, she turned and made her way down the corridor. Instead of the one or two hatches she expected to see she found herself staring blankly at over two-dozen, evenly spaced access ports running along either side of the hallway.
She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “Which one do I use?”
“Calm yourself, Miss Luna. I will open the appropriate hatch,” Bishop replied, his calm tone only aggravating her further.
Even as he spoke, one of the hatches halfway down the right side of the hallway hissed open, flooding the corridor with steam bathed in an eerie red glow from the emergency lights.
Reluctantly, she crawled into the claustrophobic access tunnel, choking painfully as hot steam poured into her recently cleansed lungs.
She felt as if she were crawling into an oven. Every surface from floor to ceiling radiated heat, because of the plugged thermal vents.
“Okay, I’m in the tunnel. What now?”
“Proceed to the end of the maintenance accesses.”
Luna wiped the sweat from her eyes and did as she was told, pressing on down the hellish tunnel. When she at last reached the end, she discovered that it was even
hotter than the rest of the tunnel had been.
“Ugh! It’s like a sauna in here!”
She climbed out of the shaft and stood up, taking in her surroundings. The room was small and dirty, with one wall completely made up of heavy pipes, which seemed to be the source of both the heat and steam. A pair of terminals and several large breakers with levers in place of switches occupied the other two walls. All other available space was taken up by bundles of wires and smaller pipes, the purpose of which escaped her.
“Okay, I’m at the junction,” she said, walking over to power up one of the computers. “What now?”
“Excellent. Now you must re-route control from the damaged areas through this router.”
Her fingers flew across the holographic keyboard, accessing and redirecting program after program.
Despite having been raised in a world where AI units were the ones doing nearly all of her computer work, she’d still managed to pick up a little tech-savvy know-how over the years. Skills that—though seemingly useless back then—now proved indispensable as she transferred Bishop’s command subroutines into the terminal.
“Do you have control of the vents now?” she asked.
“No. Unfortunately, I do not.”
Her heart sank, and she felt her mouth go dry. “What’s the problem?”
“It appears that several of the primary fuses have been disabled.”
Her eyes shot to the giant breakers. Abandoning the terminal, she reached up and took hold of the lever and pulled with all her might. But twenty years of rust and neglect had taken its toll, and the lever refused to budge.
Frustrated, she released her grip and slid to the floor, winded. “I can’t move it. I’m not strong enough. … ”
“Subject Luna, you must reset this breaker at once! Cathedral’s main reactor is already beginning to go critical. We have no more time!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” she hissed, wiping her stringy, sweat-soaked hair out of her face with a grimy hand. As much as she hated to admit it, the AI was right. She was out of time.
Mustering her strength, she rose to her feet and gripped the lever. She braced herself, took a deep breath, and then pulled with everything in her.
The lever moaned and shifted slightly.
She pulled harder, vaguely aware of a wild scream pouring from her mouth as she threw the full weight of her body against the stubborn breaker.
Suddenly the lever shifted, and she fell backward, her right arm flailing into the steam pipes behind her.
She screamed and rolled to the floor, clutching her burned limb to her stomach, her brain still reeling from the shock. Her vision faltered, and she feared she would pass out. Then she remembered Mark and the others waiting for her return. She couldn’t let them down. It couldn’t end like this. She had to get out!
“Subject Luna! You have been injured!” Bishop said. “Stay where you are—I will summon help at once!”
She shook her head slowly, not daring to look down at her charred limb. “No … I can make it.”
Slowly she pushed herself up, trying in vain to keep from screaming as her arm scraped against the smoldering remains of her sleeve.
Breathing heavily, she asked, “Did … did it work? Can you open the vents?”
“Affirmative. The core temperature is dropping.”
She closed her eyes. “Good … start the shutdown procedures.”
“Understood. I will begin shut down procedures at once.”
All right … come on, Luna. Your job’s done. Now let’s get out of here. Just put one foot in front of the other …
She crawled back into the access tunnel and made her way back out into the maze of corridors, every motion sending a wave of pain coursing through her seared skin.
The comm in her ear crackled to life, and Mark’s voice called out to her, “Luna? Are you there?”
“I’m here.” she whispered.
“The AI is starting the kill sequence. Where are you?”
“I’m … on my way.”
There was a pause then Mark asked, “Luna, what’s wrong?”
“I … burned myself on some pipes.”
“What? How bad is it?”
“Don’t worry about me. Just be ready to leave when I get there. I don’t think we’ll have much time.”
“ … Acknowledged,” he said after a moment of silence. “We’ll keep the engines warm. Just hurry and get back here. The storm outside is getting worse by the minute.”
Gathering the last reserves of her willpower, she moved forward and staggered to the tram.
It only took thirty seconds for the high-speed transport to reach the hangar bays. A minute later she had disembarked and was nearly halfway to the Stratocruiser.
The main doors were open, filling the hangar with gale-force winds that tortured her wounded body and threatened to steal away her breath. Still she pressed on, battling the storm that was threatening to sweep her away with every labored step. She was too close to just give up.
“Mark!” she shouted over the wind, having reached the Stratocruiser at last, “I’m here! Open the hatch!”
She never heard his reply. But a second later the hatch popped open, and she felt strong arms pulling her inside. At last she succumbed to her pain.
Everything was a blur of confusion and activity.
People were shouting—moving about ...
And Mark was there, talking to her.
She couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he seemed to be telling her that everything would be all right. That she was safe.
Someone stuck a needle into her wound, and she screamed. Then very slowly the pain began to subside, and she found herself able to think again.
“ … Mark?” she gasped, tears streaming from her eyes.
“Yeah, Luna. It’s me.”
She screwed her eyes shut. “It hurts.”
“Yeah, I know. The bio-aid should be kicking in any minute now. Then you’ll hardly feel it.” He smiled reassuringly.
“I hate to break up the reunion,” Fox cut in over the comm, “but we have to go. Like, right now!”
“Got it,” Mark replied.
Mark beckoned to Toad, and the two of them helped her into one of the chairs.
Mark strapped himself in beside her and turned toward the cockpit. “We’re all set, Fox! Get us out of here!”
The Stratocruiser lurched forward, engines straining against the wind. For a brief moment Luna thought they would be blown up against Cathedral’s walls like a bug against a rain-barrier. Then they picked up speed and began to climb.
She turned her head and peered out the window. Behind them, the billowing clouds twisted and swirled, forming a funnel directly above the reactor’s main vent, as the excess moisture was drawn back into the earth from which it came.
She smiled. The kill codes had worked.
They continued to climb, winging their way out over the skeletal remains of Centennial City.
As they passed the outskirts, she thought she saw a Swamper vehicle struggling against the storm. But before she could be sure, they passed through the clouds and it vanished, hidden beneath the thick curtain of vapor.
The turbulence subsided a moment later, and they leveled off.
“We did it,” Mark said, beaming. “It’s over.”
She smiled, dipping her chin in a half nod. “Yeah. It’s over.”
Mark leaned back and laughed. “I never thought I’d be able to say
that
.”
Luna closed her eyes. The massive dose of bio-aid pulsing through her bloodstream seemed to be doing more than numbing her. It was making her drowsy, too.
“Lady and gentlemen, this is the captain,” Fox said. “Next stop, home. Please enjoy the rest of your flight. And thank you for flying Unitech Air.”
Luna chuckled and turned to look at Mark. “Wake me when we’re home. Okay?”
He nodded. The last thing she remembered before crossing the threshold into unconsciousness was Patterson bandaging her arm and Mark’s quiet voice saying, “Home … I think I like the sound of that.”
If only it were so easy,
she thought wearily.
Despite all their accomplishments and triumphs, she knew it would be a long time before things returned to normal for any of them. If it ever did. There was so much work yet to be done. Cities to repair. Ecosystems to reseed. Lives to rebuild. Yes, it would take a very long time indeed.
Through the tiniest slit of one eye she glanced one last time at Mark and the other people around her and smiled. At least she wouldn’t be facing the new challenges alone.
Epilogue
Luna walked along the busy New Denver sidewalk, staring out over the hills at the brilliant red and gold sunset painting the evening sky.
It had been almost two years since she’d seen her first one. But after spending nearly her entire life in darkness, nothing—not even the passage of time—could dampen the joy she felt every time the sun went down. In fact, just being able to see the sky at all was almost too much for her rain-weary senses to handle.
She stopped and sighed. The world had changed much in the last few months. The swamp had all but vanished, thanks to the Cathedral’s shutdown procedures. And with Mark’s return and subsequent inheritance of Unitech, the majority of the Swamper population had been successfully reintegrated into society.
The re-emergence of the sun after its twenty-year absence meant an almost instantaneous end of the Blister Wart fungus—as well as the need for Luna’s cure. But she didn’t mind. The disease was gone forever. And that was all that really mattered.