“Yeah, what’s going on? You didn’t get lost, did you?”
“I have eyes on a Mayir legionnaire.”
“Where?”
“One level up.”
“Have they seen you?”
“Negative.”
“Get back down here.”
“I just want to see what he’s up to.”
“Jannigan, get back down here!”
I muted the comm and took a deep breath. I really needed to see what that thing he had was. As I moved closer to get a better look, another legionnaire rounded the corner and spotted me. He cried out in alarm, just as I dropped to one knee and took a shot at him.
Unfortunately he ducked behind a heat exchanger tower and my blast ricocheted off into the darkness. The first legionnaire had probably heard the warning over his comm, because he was nowhere to be seen.
This was bad.
I wished I had a drone or something, because visibility was horrible in this maze of cooling units. I didn’t know if I was being surrounded or what.
I couldn’t take the chance. I had to keep on moving.
My stomach rolled into a knot. Which way?
I decided to see if I could get back down into the maintenance tunnel. At least there I wouldn’t be so exposed.
Pressing myself up against one of the thermal regulators, I eased my way back towards the maintenance tunnel. But before I could even get halfway there, the two legionnaires flew over my head, propelled by their jet packs. They didn’t appear to be armed, but even if they were, they didn’t try shooting at me. It was strange, because they must have seen me.
I activated my magtouch unit, leapt up on the closest cooling unit, and scrambled up the side of it. From my new vantage point I could see the two legionnaires flying towards a gaping hole in the side of the station’s outer hull.
I didn’t get it. Why were they retreating?
When I re-established the comm link, Ana-Zhi began to curse me out.
“Hold up a second!” I said. “This is important. I saw another. Two hostiles. With jetpacks.”
“Jetpacks?”
“Yeah, and a big freaking hole in the side of the station where they breached the hull.”
“What?!”
“Stay tuned, I’m going to investigate.”
“Be careful, Jannigan!” Chiraine said.
“Always.”
I climbed back down and did a quick circuit of the area, checking for more Mayir. I didn’t find any, but I did find what they had left.
A bomb.
16
The cylinder appeared to be a fusion bomb with a magnetic positioning bolt and a small control panel set into one end. Of course the triggering mechanism had been locked.
This was bad. Really bad.
I didn’t waste any time trying to free the bomb.
“Guys, we have a situation here.”
I quickly explained what I was looking at.
The Sean bot’s voice cut in the comm. “Jannigan, do you see a timer on the control panel?”
“Negative.”
“It’s probably broadcasting its data on an encrypted channel, then. Either that or there’s no timer. They’ll just detonate when ready.”
“I’m afraid to mess with the control panel.”
“You should be. Just move away from it.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” I backed away.
“Guess I was wrong about them not wanting to blow this place up,” the Sean bot said. “Do you see any more charges?”
“No, not in the immediate vicinity. But there were two legionnaires.”
“Yes, they were both probably planting explosives. Even if those are high-yield bombs, it would take a few dozen to destroy the Fountain.”
“We need to get out of here,” I said.
“I need a little more time,” the Sean bot said. “I’ve got the Levirion partially charged.”
“What? Are you serious?” Deep down I had grave doubts about that weird pyramid thing, and never thought my dad could actually activate it.
“Completely,” the Sean bot said. “But I have to get back to it.”
There was silence on the comms for a few moments.
I climbed back up on the cooling unit and looked around the chamber, seeing if I could pick out any more bombs. My gaze went up to the hole in the hull and suddenly an idea came to me.
“I can get the ship!” I said excitedly.
I jumped down and ran towards the outer hull.
“What are you talking about?” Ana-Zhi asked.
I powered up my magtouch. “I think I figured out a shortcut back to the ship. Everyone get back up to the cooling chamber. Wait at the big hole in the hull.”
The ready indicator on my visor display lit up and I engaged the suit’s repulsors and leapt up at the breach hole a half dozen meters up on the wall. With a satisfying thunk my gloves and boots connected with the wall. I crawled out and perched on the outer hull to catch my breath. In front of me a tapestry of thousands of unfamiliar stars glowed against the inky darkness of space.
I did a quick calibration on the boots, so I’d be able to move freely, then raced off, moving as fast as I could along the outer surface of the station’s central spire.
After a few minutes, I started to cut diagonally up, and that was when I caught a glimpse of the Mayir jumpship, hovering near another two-meter diameter hole in the hull.
I flattened myself behind a protruding sensor array. I knew I couldn’t allow them to see me.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips. It appeared as though the Mayir were still setting charges on the top levels of the station. If I could get to the ship quickly enough, it might mean we had a chance.
I redoubled my efforts, racing along the hull, but making sure that I kept out of the jumpship’s line of sight.
A hundred meters from the big mushroom shape of the hangar, the station flared out to nearly twice the diameter of the lower shaft. If I remembered correctly, that was where had found the dead Rhya. Knowing that every second counted, I did something stupid.
Instead of climbing out on the bottom of the flared section of the station, I disengaged the magtouch on my boots and leapt out into space, aiming for the outer edge of the protruding section of the station.
Unfortunately, I misjudged
