I cursed myself for not wearing thicker shoes when I had left the hotel a few nights earlier. That said, who could have known that a trip to a bar would have ended up like this?
We squeezed into the tunnel and crept down it. I was conscious of the water level increasing with every step.
Yes, ‘water level’. Let’s pretend this foul brown liquid is water. Lovely refreshing water. Yum.
Thankfully, before long, we reached an access point. Te’rnu, giving me a nod, began to climb up.
‘I told you it was no great distance,’ Te’rnu said.
‘No you didn’t,’ I replied.
‘Oh. I meant to.’
He signalled for me to be quiet, and then, slowly, as quietly as possible, he opened the hatch. Through the minutest of gaps, Te’rnu watched, waiting for the path to clear. It took some time, but eventually, sure enough, he was able to open the door, and we climbed out into a quiet backstreet.
‘So this is how you always get in, huh?’ I asked.
Te’rnu responded by shh-ing me. ‘No time to speak.’
He waved me over to the cover of a large waste bin, and we crouched until the road was clear.
‘This way,’ Te’rnu whispered, before rushing quietly to a gap between the buildings.
We continued like this for a while - me struggling to keep my trap shut, and Te’rnu masterfully navigating us through the winding alleys of the Iyr stronghold. Finally, we came to the back entrance of a building bearing some of the Iyr’s symbols, and Te’rnu turned to face me.
‘This is it. This is the guard barracks.’
‘Lovely,’ I replied, ‘Last chance, then - want to back out?’
Te’rnu took a moment to consider and then shook his head.
‘You sure? If they catch us…’ I trailed off - and left the result to his imagination.
‘I am sure,’ he replied. ‘This is it. This is what my life has been heading towards.’
‘Good answer.’
When the coast was clear, we crept up to the back door, and Te’rnu pulled on it.
It didn’t budge.
‘It is locked,’ he told me.
‘Yeah, I assumed.’
Te’rnu stared down at the ground, a look of deep concentration on his face. Then, he looked around at the exterior wall.
‘Ah,’ he said.
Next to the door, down by the ground, was a small metal grate. I could see exactly where this was headed.
Te’rnu pulled on the grate, and it fell to the floor with a clang. Terrified that we had alerted an Iyr to our presence, we both looked around, terrified.
But there was nobody in sight.
Te’rnu crouched to get into the now-open ventilation shaft.
‘First creeping through sewers, and now crawling through air vents. You do know how to have a good time, don’t you?’
My friend ignored this throwaway comment and gestured for me to quickly enter the ventilation behind him.
If Z’h’ar as a planet was hot, then it was nothing compared to this particular building’s ventilation shaft.
Oh, boy. And I haven’t even put deodorant on in three days.
Hot, humid air blasted us in the face as we crawled, as quietly as we could, through the enclosed space. Te’rnu began to steam ahead, as he was less affected by the heat than me. I was disappointed when Te’rnu rushed straight past the first possible exit.
‘Te’rnu!’ I whispered after him.
He peered over his shoulder as best he could in this limited space, and eyes widened when he saw me.
‘It is too hot?’
‘Yeah…,’ I barely managed to croak.
He nodded - and then crawled backwards to get a look through the first grate.
‘I do not see anyone…,’ he mumbled.
‘Think you can get this grate off without it crashing to the floor?’ I asked.
Te’rnu shrugged.
‘That doesn’t fill me with confidence.’
With his delicate fingers, the Arellian pried the edge of the grate away from the shaft… and promptly lost his grip on it.
A clanging sound echoed around the hallway as it crashed to the floor.
‘I dropped it,’ Te’rnu clarified.
I pursed my lips. ‘Yes.’
Quickly realising that being crammed into a small confined ventilation shaft didn’t give us the best chances in a fight, I instructed Te’rnu to jump out.
Apparently adept in the art of covert operations all of a sudden, he dropped silently to the ground and took cover in the nearest room.
I took a quick look at the drop. It wasn’t far, maybe two and a half metres, and would put me in the middle of the barracks’ central hallway. It was a long, narrow room with many doorways at its perimeter
I dropped, slightly more clumsily than my partner in crime, and grabbed the wall to catch my balance.
Behind me, I heard the familiar whooom of a phase weapon being started up.
Uh-oh.
‘Stop!’ an Iyr’s voice shouted at me.
I slowly raised my hands and turned to face the Iyr whose trigger finger would determine if I lived or died.
13
Mechsuits: The Top Trend From Z’h’ar Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2337
Standing in front of me, phase rifle armed and ready to fire, was the Head of Guard. The red stripe on their helmet glistened under the neon lights.
‘I know you!’ the Iyr declared.
‘Yeah? I know me too, so what?’ I replied.
The Iyr paused. I couldn’t see under their helmet, of course, but they almost seemed taken aback. After all, taking people aback was a speciality of mine.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see an alarmed Te’rnu sneaking away. I did my best not to glance at him, so I wouldn’t give his position away.
‘What are you doing in here?’ the Iyr demanded.
‘I came to report a crime,’ I replied.
‘What?’
‘A crime. I’ve come to report one.’
‘You came… here for this?’
I feigned confusion. ‘Well, you are the city’s guards are you not?’
Another pause; longer, this time.
‘Do you take pleasure in irritating me?’ the Head of Guard asked. ‘You disturb on our first meeting, and then you break into my place of work? Is it me that you are after?’
I forced a giggle, flashed the Iyr a smile, and did my best to gaze longingly at them. ‘Do you want it to be?’
‘No! Stop this!’ the Iyr demanded, getting increasingly frustrated.
