Quest for the Well of Souls

Topside

An armed guard was posted near the elevator, and the camp was moved to the center of the grassy park. They didn’t want to be surprised again.

“Why not take the ship and scram for help?” Renard suggested. “We sure as hell are living physical proof of what we say, and the Council could then move to blast this place.”

“That’s just what Yulin would want us to try,” Mavra retorted. “Once out in the ship, he could swing the big dish on us and bag us all in one sweep. That’s why he hasn’t bothered to disable it.”

Renard looked toward the elevator, perhaps a hundred meters away, now guarded by Wooley and Vistaru. “They’re going to come for us sometime,” he said flatly. “Soon.”

She nodded. “Well, we have the wire from the technicians’ repair center. Three hundred meters—that’s more than enough. If we can only get close enough to use it.”

“They have to relax the defense mode to get their people in and out,” the Bozog pointed out. “That would be the logical time.”

“Yeah, maybe we should wait by the bridge,” Renard interjected. “Ready to go, so to speak.”

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “No, the plans indicate that Obie can see the entire area from the end of the entrance corridor all the way across to his door. And if we stay in the corridor, our backs are to the elevator; Yulin can change his zombies into whatever he wants and nab us. No, I think—”

“Hey! Something’s coming up!” Wooley yelled, and both she and Vistaru tensed and the others started toward them.

The elevator door opened and emitted a hideous-looking cloud of mixed orange-and-green gases. It was thick and enveloped them. A wild shot was fired from near the entrance, then nothing.

The others reached the area where the cloud hung but stayed back cautiously when the first whiff proved acrid. The Yugash and Bozog advanced, disappeared, then reemerged moments later. The huge ball of smoke started to rise up and away as the automatic circulation machinery caught it.

“They are gone!” the Bozog exclaimed. “Both of them! Vanished!”

Renard shook his head sadly. “Now we are four, damn it all!”

“And, more important, he’s eleven, even without including himself,” Mavra responded. “This changes everything.”

“We could give chase in the other car,” the Bozog suggested.

She shook her head. “No, that’s no good. It always stops at the upper door, remember? And it whines. So we get there, the door opens, and we’re all taken.” She turned to Renard. “Still got your energy pistol?”

“Here,” he said, slapping his holster.

“All right, then. We’ll give them some time, then we’ll call a car. You’ll spray it with stun fire before we board, and the Ghiskind and the Bozog will also check it out. When we get down, you’ll spray again as it opens, and all the way down to the lower floor. We’re going to go fighting!”

“But just that very activity will alert him,” the Bozog objected. “Logically, he’ll keep his people inside until he needs to send them out. Yulin will want to avoid something happening to one of them. He cannot know all our capabilities.”

“I’m counting on that,” she replied. “And on the fact that the lower car was down and they used the upper. If that is the case, we’re safe for almost an hour. Ghiskind, you and the Bozog keep watch just in case. Renard, one last trip to the ship, and then it’s do or die.”

“Or learn to love Ben Yulin,” he sighed.

Lights flashed, figures spewed forth under Renard’s. hands but Mavra’s guidance. It took several minutes, but finally they were through.

“It’s an automatic sequence,” she told him. “If we manage the explosion, it’s entirely possible life support will continue, at least for a while. If so, you might be able to get up here—with the others if you can—and get to the ship. Once you activate the fuse, don’t waste time! If power goes, you’ll be asphyxiated in the elevator. Get everyone you can, get inside, get up here, get into the ship, close the locks, and punch e-lift on the board. The ship will disengage and follow a course that will bring you within radio range of the Council inside two days, so then you call for help. They will board you, see you, and believe. Tell them New Pompeii must be utterly destroyed. Atomized. Otherwise, some scientists will come here, and some politicos will get control, and it’ll all be for nothing. Everything must go.”

Renard didn’t like the tone. “You’re talking as if you won’t be among us,” he protested.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” she replied. “We can’t take the chance on me being here. If you can, get into the control room and get the people out.”

“But they’ll all be Yulin’s slaves!”

She shook her head. “No, they won’t. Physically, yes. But any mental controls put on them will fail. Nikki Zinder was under a love-slave compulsion to Yulin when she was lured here, but when they disconnected Obie to relocate him to New Pompeii, the spell was broken. It should be the same this time.”

“All right then, but I won’t leave without you.”

“If it’s necessary, you must!” Mavra snapped. “Believe me, Renard. You’re the only one now who knows these procedures. And don’t let anybody else go for me or try to rescue anyone else if they can’t be gotten to immediately. You can’t kill all those people for me. Promise me you won’t!”

He sighed. “All right, I promise,” he almost whispered.

They left the ship, locks open, and rejoined the two Northerners.

“We’re lucky it wasn’t Renard they grabbed,” she told them. “The three of you can still pull this off if one bit of luck shows up.”

Even the Bozog was getting nervous. “What’s that?”

“We’ve got to have them all inside the control room,” she replied. “I hope he has enough ego to think he doesn’t need guards, and enough insecurity not to switch off the defense mode unless he has to. If he doesn’t know we’re down there until we’re ready, we’ll make it.”

“But how will I get past the defenses?” the Bozog asked her.

“Diversion,” she responded. “Me. I’m going to be the bait. A little pony sitting out there watching the end of the bridge. It’ll be too tempting to pass up.”

“But he’ll know we’re around,” Renard pointed out “What if he makes a try for us, too?”

“It won’t matter. You see, they’ll have to switch off the defense mode just to send his slaves out. It’s a long way across that bridge. When I’ve gone as long as I can stall, I’ll charge them.”

“And what happens to us while you’re doing all this?” the Bozog prompted.

“Bozog, you’ll take the wire and go along the outside of the bridge. Ghiskind, you’ll lead him. Renard, keep that energy pistol firm and stay slightly back, out of sight. Yulin might see the wire but not figure out he’s been had. Even if he does, he’ll have a job getting at it. As soon as the wire is in place, tug three times. That will tell Renard to give it all he’s got. Get clear after you tug, and make it back up if you can. All hell will break loose when that goes.”

“And you?” Renard asked, concerned.

“If I get inside, I’ll try and raise as much hell as possible,” she replied. “No matter what, Yulin’s attention will be on me, I think. You should have several minutes—more than enough time. If they do catch on, Renard, use your energy pistol on anybody and everybody. There’s no way Ben Yulin can neutralize the effects of that on a living body!”

“But it might be Wooley, or Vistaru!” he objected.

“Even if it’s me!” she snapped. “Renard, save as many of the living as you can, kill who you must. It’s that or good-bye to us all! This plan’s got enough holes in it, that it’ll probably fail anyway!”

“There is no better that I can devise, not at this late stage,” the Bozog added. “Shall we go?”

She nodded. “Renard, call the elevator and hold that pistol ready.”

There was no one on the elevator.

“A good sign,” the Bozog said, approvingly. “I think Mr. Yulin may yet be in for a shock. He does not know how fast a Bozog can run!”