weaving around the rocks and boulders that were tumbling down the sides of the
rock walls.
Ryan had already turned away, before the wag had even left the redoubt.
“Let’s move. Usual formation, and quick.”
They moved to the elevator in single file. There was no one around at that
level, but they could never afford to let caution lapse.
The elevator half dropped to the level of the mat-trans, the cable snagging as
the car hit the buckling walls. It was time for them all to sweat, except for
Doc. He was too wasted and drained by his experience to truly, at that point,
take in what was happening.
Ryan and Jak forced the elevator doors back as it reached the level they wanted,
the door mechanism opening too slowly for their liking as the earth shook and
the walls started to shed shards of concrete and plastic. The metal lining of
the air-conditioning shafts had come down through one point in the corridor, and
they had to weave around it, stepping over the chilled corpses of sec men,
whitecoats and techs.
“Ritual culling,” Doc murmured to no one but himself.
Finally, hearts pounding and sweat pouring from them in exertion and fear, they
reached the outer chamber of the mat-trans.
Krysty went straight to the comps in the control room.
“Still working, lover,” she murmured as she hit the code to start the mat-trans,
using the knowledge they had picked up from the few units they had seen that
didn’t use the door closing as a jump trigger.
They entered the chamber, taking their positions on the floor and preparing for
the jump. Jak and Dean helped Doc to a sitting position, then huddled themselves
against the wall. Mildred and J.B. sat together, holding hands, blasters close
by.
Krysty sat and waited for Ryan as the one-eyed warrior closed the door and spun
the wheel. He turned to join Krysty, and was thrown across the chamber as the
redoubt screamed in agony, walls beginning to crumble and cave in under the
pressure of the shifting earth.
As Ryan hit the floor, the disks began to glow, the air crackling around them
with electrostatic discharge, and a white mist rose and formed around them in
curling tendrils.
He reached out for Krysty as the nausea rose, and everything began to fade to
black. The chamber shook around them, and his last thought was a hope that the
jump would be made before the chamber was destroyed by the earthquakes.