CHAPTER 26

HEAVY CHOICE

Corridors - Lower Levels

John and Jing stood in the corridor, waiting to see if their Captain would reply to Exo's message.

There was no reply.

'If he's broadcasting to her, it means she's still alive,' Jing observed.

John nodded. 'Yeah, but we haven't been making that many transmissions, how has he been tracking us?'

'We've been calling Dan a lot, but if this place is for processing animals, he's probably got cameras or internal sensors to keep track of them.'

'We will still be trapped. Even if we stop transmitting, he'll know where we are,' John remarked with a sigh.

'At least we know the captain is alive,' Jing said.

'Mmm. That's good to know. We should prioritize getting Dan back.'

'I've still got Dan's location on my tablet. If he hasn't moved, we know where he is.'

'We still need to get to him,' John said.

'I don't think we can,' Jing said, knocking on the wall panel next to them, 'we have nothing to get through these panels.'

'Maybe someone will accept the Guardian's offer.'

'Why would anyone do that?' Jing said, frowning.

'Better some of us make it out of here, than all of us being stuck here,' John said.

They walked down the corridor.

'That's not how we do things. We don't leave people behind,' Jing said quietly.

'We do it all the time in the war. Ships are lost with all hands-on board because we can't stop and rescue them. Troops are left on the ground because we try to rescue them but fail. Remember the massacre on Orniva?'

'That was different.'

'Every thing's different. No two situations are alike. It still didn't get those men home alive. We couldn't get through the blockade.'

'So why don't you agree to stay behind?'

'I'm not convinced it's that desperate yet,' John said, 'If the Guardian is negotiating, then he hasn't won yet. Let's move away from Dan's location. If the Guardian wants to keep us away from him, and there's no way for us to bust through those movable walls, we'll just be wasting time. Let's go look for something we can use.'

Jing nodded, 'All right.'

***

The numbness was fading, and the pain that had plagued him earlier tugged at his senses again.

Dan was still laying on his side. The Guardian's robot sat next to him, another patch in his hands.

Dan felt cold, and he was having trouble focusing his eyes.

'Exo,' he said.

'Yes?'

'I... I accept your offer. Just let everyone else go,' Dan said.

He felt the robot peel the old patch off and apply a new one in its place. The edge of pain that had been working its way into his body was expelled once again.

'A wise decision. Please wait here while I assemble medical equipment to stabilize you. Then we can move you to another room and go from there.'

'Go from there?'

'You are to become my new Advocate.'

Dan breathed haltingly, his body refusing to let him breathe in deeply, 'I didn't... know... that... was... part... of... the... plan...'

'Have no fear. The process will not be as invasive as it is now, just a simple Advocate uplink. You will keep your humanity.'

'Might... want... to... hurry...'

'Other robots are already on their way.'

***

Sam, Victor, and Shirp had found access to an elevator shaft. It stretched upwards a distressingly long way, but down only a few more floors. There was a ladder that was set into an alcove in the wall, so one could climb without risk of the elevator scraping them off as it moved. Shirp looked to them.

'Shirp is leaving. Much fortune with your story.'

Sam nodded. Shirp took to the ladder and started up the shaft.

Sam stepped up to the side of the access and reached to the side for the first rung. She started downward. Victor came in behind her. He had been quiet since the broadcast from Exo, and that was fine with Sam, she didn't much feel like talking.

Suddenly, their comms transmitted again.

'Captain Samantha, this is Exo, one of your crew has agreed to stay behind.'

Sam stopped climbing. Victor did the same above her.

'If you reply to me, I will ensure that the rest of you can leave. You will be given a ship and allowed to depart in safety.'

Sam resumed climbing.

'If you refuse to reply, I will assume you are hostile and the rest of your crew will be treated as such.'

Sam gritted her teeth and kept climbing. They'd descended a floor and a half and had one more to go before they reached the bottom.

'This is Lieutenant Commander John Macce, on behalf of the crew of the U.P.N. Kanto. Before any of us agree to anything, we'd like to know who agreed to stay behind,' came the voice of John over the comms.

Sam felt so insignificant. She'd wanted to know the answer to that question herself, but if John was asking, there weren't many options left. She knew who it was, and it didn't think the answer would surprise her.

'My comments were not addressed to you, John,' Exo said.

'If you are doing a general broadcast, it means you still don't know where the Captain is. I figure she'd like that to stay that way,' John said, an edge in his voice.

Sam and Victor reached the bottom of the shaft. There was a large door, they looked for a manual release for the door.

'Your reasoning is sound. The crew member who has agreed to stay behind is one Daniel Higgins.'

'May I speak to him?' John asked.

'Not at this time. He is being prepared for medical treatment, he injured himself trying to escape. If you are worried that he might be dead, I would say I have no use for a dead man.'

Their search of the shaft wasn't turning up any emergency releases.

'I hope that's all you need to make your choice Captain,' John said over the comms.

'Captain, what if we can't get in here?' Victor said, 'I mean, what use does he have with an emergency release on this side? Or at all? He's got full control of all the systems in this place.'

Sam sighed and walked to the middle of the shaft.

'Captain?' Victor said.

Sam reached up and turned on her transmitter, 'This is Captain Samantha Geer, we accept.'

Sam and Victor stood in silence for a minute.

'You've been going places you shouldn't have Captain Geer,' Exo said in reply, 'If you would be so kind as to ascend back up to the next floor above, I will open the door and you can wait for the elevator.'

'Why not just come and pick us up on this floor?' Sam asked.

'That would entail letting you into the door you've been trying to gain entrance into. I would like to keep you out of that room,' Exo said.

Sam nodded. 'So we were on the right course.'

'Right is subjective. You were heading toward your objective, assuming your objective was my destruction,' Exo said.

Victor and Sam started up the ladder to the next floor. The door to the floor was open and waiting for them when they arrived. Two robots waited in the opening. They climbed over into the open door and waited as an elevator car came for them.