Earthblood

“Busy somewhere else?” offered Jim.

The bend in the passage, beyond the group of corpses, finally revealed the massive security doors. The dark gray paint was chipped and gouged, showing the brightness of raw metal. A fire had been lit at the base, blackening the entrance and the ceiling above. But the doors still seemed solidly closed.

“They never got in,” said Jeff. “Sons of bitches never made it.”

“Didn’t have the kind of high ex they’d have needed.” Mac shook his head. “If they couldn’t, then I guess we can’t either. Unless…” He let his words trail off, looking to the right where a discreet box, less than a foot square, was fixed to the wall. “Unless they smashed the controls.”

Kyle was nearest and he lifted the lid, revealing rows of small, recessed buttons, each carrying a letter or a number. “Still here.”

“Anyone recall the code?” asked Mac.

The silence stretched on and on.

Steve giggled nervously. “I could never remember it. Not even when I used it ten times every day. It was four numbers and letters. Not a lot of help, is it?”

Jim shook his head. “After two years they’ll have changed it a mess of times.”

“If you got it wrong four times in a row, the alarm went off and everyone came running. And it brought down a permanent lock,” Carrie said with a grin. “Remember when Bob Rogers got tanked up and couldn’t hit the right buttons? Knew the code, but his coordination let him down.”

Jim rubbed the back of his neck where the whiplash was still painful. He knew he should be showing powers of leadership. That was his job. Captain of the Aquila. But his brain seemed to be plowing through endless layers of oatmeal.

“Odds are millions to one against hitting the right combination.”

“Used to be birthdays—” Pete looked around, seeking confirmation “—didn’t it?”

“Anniversaries,” offered Kyle.

“Hey!”

Everyone turned at the surprise in Henderson McGill’s voice.

“There, Jim,” he exclaimed, pointing at the wall just to the right of the lock control.

“Graffiti. Like the others. So what’s so fucking interesting?”

“What’s interesting, Mr. Thomas, is that this is signed.”

It looked as though it had been written with a narrow-tipped green felt pen in an elegant, sloping, italic hand.

“Jim H.” was all it said. And then three initials beneath it. “J.K.Z.”

“My God!” breathed Jed Herne. “Has to be.”

Jim punched his right fist into his left palm. “Why would General John Kennedy Zelig have written on the wall? Written my initials? It doesn’t make any sort of sense.”

Mac pointed at the writing. “General Zelig wasn’t the kind of man to do a damn thing without good reason. You don’t get to be head of the United States Air Force’s space-research section by being real stupid. Zelig wrote that, then by God he had good reason for it.”

“His writing?” asked Carrie.

Jim nodded. “Sure is. Green pen and those funny angular letters. No, it’s Zelig. Why?”

“Code.”

“How’s that, Kyle?”

“I don’t know, but it has to be. The security door opens on a four-digit code. Your first name and second name initial, Captain.”

“Could be.” Jim looked at the others. “Anyone got a better idea? No? Nor me. Let’s give it a go.”

He leaned forward and peered at the small display panel, then punched in a J, an I, an M and finally an H.

The dark screen above the coding buttons suddenly showed a message in yellow lettering: “Incorrect entry. Try again. Caution. Four incorrect entries will lead to security alert and will incapacitate locking mechanism.”

“Shit!” Jeff Thomas glowered at Kyle Lynch. “Great idea, shit-for-brains!”

At that moment they all heard the sound of footsteps behind them, way toward the main entrance to the complex.

“Company,” said Mac quietly.

“Could be help?” Pete looked at the other seven. “Well, it could be.”

“Sure. Sure, and pigs might fly,” said Carrie. “Don’t see much airborne bacon passing by on the wing these days.”

Now there were voices, talking and calling out urgently. Jim looked again at the controls, feeling everything slipping away from him.

On an impulse he pressed the same letters as before. This time in reverse.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *