Ryan pondered that. In truth, it took less than a second for him to see the sense of what she was saying. Under any other circumstances, he would have been more cautious until the Gate were free. But time was of the essence.
“Okay,” he agreed, “you two go for it. Know where you’re going?”
Mildred nodded. “I’ve got a good idea. And we’ve got these to keep us safe and warm on the way, right, Doc?” she added, slapping the laser blaster she was carrying.
“It should suffice, madam,” Doc told her.
So, with the briefest of farewells, Mildred and Doc left the rest of the companions at the junction of two corridors, heading toward the level where the woman believed the med lab was situated while the rest of the party headed downward, hoping to encounter as little resistance as possible.
“DO YOU HAVE anything other than a rough idea of where the lab should be?” Doc panted as he and Mildred moved rapidly along an empty corridor. “I ask not from any lack of faith, but purely because I fear I may soon run out of steam.”
“You know something, Doc? I feel pretty much the same myself,” Mildred commented, “but I figure the lab should be on this level. Most redoubts they’re pretty high up, and I’m counting on the late and unlamented fat man Taschen wanting to keep a pretty close eye on things.”
“Ah, yes, the man who invented himself,” Doc mused, “That would make perfect sense.”
So far they had been fortunate. There had been little activity on this level, and with luck they would not have to pass any of the comp rooms or admin rooms where they had seen Illuminated Ones at work on their initial journey through the redoubt. Which left the possibility of stumbling across moving sec. They kept to the sides of the corridors, using the buttresses as cover, but were completely unable to prevent what happened when they reached the level of the lab.
As they approached an open door, Mildred suddenly became aware of the sounds of movement from within.
He held up a hand to stay Doc, who was moving close behind her, but they were already past the last line of cover. And then she heard the voices.
“You got everything you need now?” spoke the first.
“Uh-huh. Be glad to get off this level. The lab always give me the creeps,” returned a second, this one female.
“Don’t let the boss man hear you say that,” returned the first.
“Like I’d be that dumb,” the second countered.
Both voices had grown nearer as the pair approached the open doorway. Mildred swore softly to herself, knowing that there was no way to get into cover.
She had forgotten that she was still wearing the Illuminated uniform with which she had first entered the redoubt, and as she readied to blast, she was momentarily taken aback by the friendly way in which she was greeted by the duo of Illuminated Ones as they exited the room.
“Hey, what’re you doing here?” the woman asked, puzzled. “I thought we were the only ones who—”
Mildred recovered first. Their initial lack of hostility had thrown her for a fraction of a second, but despite the pox her reactions were still quicker than those of the Illuminated Ones, soft from lack of combat.
She raised the laser blaster as Doc stepped from behind her, also raising his weapon. Two short, sharp blasts from the rifles pulsed in the air before the Illuminated Ones had a chance to even bring around their weapons to aim. Both shots had been for the head, a feasible target given the close range. Both skulls were hit by the high powered lasers, the bone crumbling and the flesh searing under the deadly ray. With no actual force of impact, the chilled Illuminated Ones merely crumpled to the ground, a sickening black charred mess occupying the space where their heads had once sat. The head shot had eliminated the risk of either Illuminated One crying out, be it in pain, fear or alarm, at the moment of buying the farm.
“That was a trifle too close to be comfortable,” Doc commented mildly as he stared down at the corpses.