My Other Car is a Spaceship (19 page)

Hal
shrugged. “It was just a thought. It sure would help if we knew what Nude had in mind when he gave it to us.”

“How can I help you?” Nude spoke loudly enough for the guards staning by the door to hear.

Why is he still here?
Why haven’t they gone?

Hal
did likewise. “I tripped and fell. I think I sprained my wrist.”

Nude lowered his voice as he examined
the man’s wrist. “I expected you to have escaped by now.”

“
How?
” Hal asked softly but with exasperation. “We know what the calibrator does, but not what to do with it. Besides, we wouldn’t leave without you.”

Now
Nude
was exasperated. “You are
supposed
to use it to match the frequencies of the door and the shackles to open them. As for me, I had to promise Penrod I would not try to escape.” He raised his voice, for the guards. “Does this hurt?”

“Ow! Yes.”
Hal dropped his voice to a soft whisper. “I
know
we’re supposed to match the frequencies, but which ones? There could be
thousands
of possible combinations.”

“Can you not
hear
the frequencies of the locks?”

“Hear them? What are you talking about?”

“Ah, yes. I forgot about the limitations of the human auditory system.”

Nude shook his head in frustration.
Humans! They still have so much evolving to do.

He raised his voice again.
“You will need a wrap on that wrist. Hold still.” Then softly, “Do you have the calibrator with you?”

“Sure. Here it is.” He held it in the “injured” hand.

Nude reached in a drawer and pulled out a self-conforming piece of foamwrap that molded itself to the contours of Hal’s wrist and thumb and stiffened even as he took the calibrator from Hal. He quickly pulled off the cap and spun three of the dials with his thumb.

Hal
heard a soft click and felt his shackles loosen. He forced himself not to react with surprise and quickly snapped them both closed again.

Nude replaced the cap on the calibrator and slipped it into
Hal’s palm, under the edge of the wrap. “I cannot help you with the door frequencies unless I am there to hear them.” He raised his voice. “There you go. Try not to fall on it for a few days and you will be fine. The wrap will dissolve when it is no longer needed.”

“Thanks, doc.”

Jern Ishtawahl
knocked on Penrod’s doorframe. “Tarl, I have spoken with Dr. Felmendar and he assured me that he can have the first nuke repaired within the week, and a second a week after that. They were not as badly damaged as we thought. The circuits were fried by the electromagnetic pulse from the nuke that detonated. Other than replacing the controls, there are one or two other parts that need to be manufactured, and then everything must be tested to be sure there is no hidden damage.”

“Excellent.
” Penrod said with a satisfied smile. “And the rest?”

“The other four can be repaired within a month or two after the second one, he thinks. Building and testing new warheads for the salvaged plutonium will take months longer, perhaps up to a year for the last one.”

“Good, good. Six should be plenty to get the ball rolling and have governments and companies throwing money at our feet to keep the mean ol’ pirates from their front doors. The other five will simply be insurance. We may never need to use them, but they’ll be good to have in reserve, just in case. Good work, Jern.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“By the way, I have several candidates picked out for our first target. When you get a chance, we can discuss them to come up with the ‘winner’.”

Eight days later, Hal and Kalen still hadn’t had success opening the door to the holding pen.

“This is impossible,” Kalen lamented. “We could be here forever and never hit on the right combination.”

“Maybe so, but what else are we going to do with our time—?” Hal froze as he heard the door lock click. “Did
you
do that?”

Kalen shook his head, then stepped back as the door opened.

Instead of the expected guards, eight prisoners filed in, one by one. The men got out of the way of the procession and watched. One of the four guards who trailed the prisoners unlocked the shackles while the other three kept their weapons leveled.

“I guess business has been good lately,”
Hal muttered.

Kalen responded in kind.
“
Too
good. Now what? We can’t keep trying to break out of here with all these witnesses.”

“Maybe we won’t have to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Take a closer look at
our roommates.”

Kalen frowned.
“What? There’s a human, two Foren, two Sestrans, an Alberian, a Thorian, and a Chan’Yi.”

“Exactly. A Chan’Yi who can
hear
the frequencies.”

Kalen’s eyes lit up.
“Ah, yes. But how do we know we can trust her?”

The other man shrugged.
“How does she know she can trust
us
?”

“Touch
é.”

“T
his could be the break we’ve been looking for.” Hal had a spark of fire in his eyes for the first time in weeks.

“
God, I hope so.”

“It could take a while to win her trust
, though.”

“So? You have somewhere else to be?”

Hal’s face grew hard. “How about Penrod’s office, with a gun in his face? I believe we owe him that much, and then some.”

“I like the way you think
, Mr. Nellis,” Kalen said with a smirk. “Let’s mark that day in our calendars, shall we, so we don’t forget?”

“So how do we get her alone to talk to her?” Hal asked. “We’ve got seven other sets of ears around. How do we know one isn’t a mole working for Penrod? Or at least someone willing to trade information for favors.”

Kalen shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe when she
checks out the sanitation unit we can offer to show her how it works. After all, she probably hasn’t seen one of those before. Hell,
we
hadn’t and we get around more than most.”

“Works for me.”

It wasn’t long before the prisoners stopped milling around and chose bunks. Because there was nothing else to do in the pen, people either paired off and chatted, or investigated the unit.

Eventually,
curiosity overcame the Chan’Yi female. Hal and Kalen casually approached the unit from the other side.

“If you have any questions,” Kalen offered, “we’d be happy to answer them.”

The Chan’Yi backed away from them, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you want?”

“Nothing. We’re just being friendly.”

“Really.” Her voice was cold and formal. “I noticed a distinct lack of friendliness toward the first four people to approach the unit. Yet you somehow felt a wave of friendship when
I
approached. Why is that, I wonder?”

Kalen and Hal exchanged looks. Hal took a stab at answering. “We have a good friend from Chan, the Chalmis clan, given name Noud’Ourien. I guess you remind us enough of him that we felt more comfortable approaching you first.”

She relaxed minimally. “I am familiar with Clan Chalmis. Honorable people, by and large.”

Kalen nodded. “Yes
they are. Our friend’s a prisoner here as well. He’s a doctor, helping out in the medical facility by treating the other prisoners. I’m sure you’ll meet him soon enough.”

“Oh?”

“There’s been an illness going around and everyone’s getting inoculated.”

“I see.
” Her face still showed doubt. “How about you two? What do you do?”

“My friend Hal here is a pilot. I was
Captain of the Unity ship
Adventurer
, until she was destroyed attacking the pirates.” His face tightened from the memory and the thought of all those lost in the conflict. “Most of our people were killed. Only four survived.”

The Chan’Yi’s face softened
at last, as did her voice. “I lost many friends as well. I am Pestas’Souk’Glouf, an astronomer. My colleagues and I were exploring the Brevitan Nebula, taking measurements of a fascinating pulsar that recently became active. Then out of nowhere another ship hailed us and demanded that we surrender. We were unarmed and had no choice. When the pirates stormed aboard, they killed all they deemed too old, weak, or otherwise unfit for slavery, including Prof. Frem’Nous’Vouc, one of the most preeminent astronomers on Chan.”

Her voice broke and it took her a moment to recover her composure.

“He was like a father to me, shepherding my career from university through graduate studies, and then a fellowship. This was my first field study as a formal team member.” Her voice broke again. “I suppose now it will be my last.” She looked over at several other prisoners huddled miserably on their bunks.

Kalen squeezed her
arm. “I’m sorry. Are these the other members of your expedition?”

“Hmm? No. I know none of them.
We were separated. The others are in the two adjacent cells.”

“I’m sorry,” Hal said softly.
“How many others are in your group?”

“Five
, all Chan’Yi.”

Hal whispered,
“Maybe there’s a way we can all get out of here together.”

Her eyes brightened
. “Out? How?”

Kalen shook his head fractionally at Hal.

Hal shrugged. “I don’t know. But we can’t lose hope. There has to be an answer.”

The spark
of excitement dimmed in Pestas’Souk’Glouf’s eyes. “Perhaps. What will happen to us?”

Hal shrugged again. “We’ve been here a month and we’re still waiting to find out.”

“Good news, Tarl.” Ishtawahl flashed a hundred-plus pointy teeth in the Alberian version of a smile.

“Oh?”

“Dr. Felmendar says the first nuke is ready for use and the second will be ready in another
three days.”

“Outstanding!
It’s almost showtime. When we get the second nuke we’ll have enough to initiate Operation Midas Touch.”

Penrod leaned back in his chair with a smile and interlaced his fingers behind his head.
“From now on, everything we touch will turn to gold.”

“What do you think, Kalen? Can we trust her?” Hal looked over at Pestas’Souk’Glouf, lying on her bunk.

Kalen nodded. “There aren’t any guarantees, but I think so. I’m not getting any weird vibes from her. I think
she’s exactly who and what she says she is.”

“I agree. I guess it’s time to have that talk with her.
”

Kalen sauntered past
her bunk and when he caught her eye gave her a head-nod toward the sanitation unit.

She looked puzzled but followed. Hal met them a moment later.
Seven other sets of eyes followed their movements. The other prisoners had no idea what was going on, but sensed something. The trio turned their backs on the rest.

Sue looked from Hal to Kalen. “Well?”

Kalen went first. “We have a way out of here, but we need your help.”

Her eyes lit up with interest and then narrowed with suspicion. “Why me?”

“Can you hear the frequencies of the door lock?” Hal asked.

“Of course. Why? Can you not hear them?”

Hal shook his head.

“Fine, but how does that help you? And why should I?”

“It helps us,” Kalen answered, “because we have a way to open the door,
if
we know what the frequencies are. And, of course, we’ll take you with us.”

“You have my attention
, but I would not leave without my friends. What is your plan after we get out of this cell?”

Kalen looked at Hal and then shrugged. “We plan to play it by ear.”

Sue cocked a surprised eyebrow at him. “You have been planning an escape for a month and that is the best you can do?”

Hal defended his
Captain in a fierce shisper. “Hey! We’ve only been outside this cell twice in all that time, and we haven’t seen much of the place. It’s hard to plan for the variables when
everything’s
a variable.”

“I see. Perhaps we need a plan to eliminate some of the variables.”

The men exchanged a surprised look. Kalen spoke first. “What do you have in mind?”

Ishtawahl poked his head through the doorway. “It is done, Tarl. The nukes are aboard
Queen Anne’s Revenge
and the ship just launched.”

“Thanks, Jern. This should be interesting. Once everyone knows we have nukes and aren’t afraid to use them, they’ll fall all over themselves to throw money our way.”

“We shall see. Let us hope there are no unforeseen problems.”

Penrod smiled. “Have faith, my friend. This is just the beginning of a long and glorious partnership.”

Ishtawahl grinned back with all those razor-sharp teeth.

The next morning, the cell lock clicked and every eye in the room looked up. As always, two guards stood watch, weapons leveled. The other two rounded up the Sestrans, the Melphim, the Thorian and the Alberian and led them out in shackles. Hal and Kalen could see others already waiting in the corridor outside.

When the door clicked
shut again, only the two Foren, Pestas’Souk’Glouf, and the humans remained.

Sue
, as the humans had taken to calling her, walked over to where the men sat and joined them. “We must hurry. The next time the guards return, it may be for one of us.”

Kalen nodded. “I know. But a half-baked plan is worse than no plan at all. Still, a perfect plan won’t do us any good if we’re no longer here to implement it. All right then. We’ll leave to
morrow night. That gives us today and tomorrow to finish our plan.”

Hal put his palm over Sue’s mouth to keep her from crying out. In the dim light, her blue hue looked almost black. He held a finger to his lips, hoping she understood the human gesture. Kalen waited by the door, listening for sounds outside. Hearing none, he waved Sue over to him. When she arrived, he handed her the calibrator and stood back.

The longer he stood there, the more antsy
Kalen grew. He just
knew
someone would wake up, or the guards would come for someone. After several minutes of standing and watching Sue fiddle with the dials and buttons he wanted to scream.

The soft click of the lock accompanied the door
hissing open. First hurdle overcome. Sue handed the calibrator to Hal.

Th
e next hurdle was equally critical. If the other prisoners awoke they would certainly want to leave, too. That could jeopardize everything. A large group traveling the corridors at night could be suspicious. The trio slipped through the door as quickly as possible, before the bright light of the corridor did what the hiss of the door hadn’t.

Hal turned one of the dials and the door sighed shut again. “So far, so good.”

Kalen turned left and Sue right. Each walked as far as the next intersection, looking for guards. If they saw any, they would return as casually as possible. Hal stayed by the door so he could open it quickly, if needed, allowing them to duck back inside. He could have waited in the holding pen, out of sight. But if something happened and he was unable to open the door again—due to a lockdown, perhaps—he’d have been trapped inside while the other were locked out. This way they could all try to escape together if something went wrong.

This was not “
The Great Escape” as Hal had dubbed it, but an exploratory sortie. The conspirators had finally agreed on that. There were too many unknowns for an escape to have much chance of success at this point. If knowledge is power, they were pretty well powerless. They didn’t know where the exits were, where the ships were docked, or for that matter, where in the fortress
they
were.

Although Sue knew where her colleagues were kept, Hal and Kalen had no idea where Nude was. They knew the way to the medical facility, but not where Nude stayed when he wasn’t on duty.

Not
trying to escape at the first possible opportunity—now—came with a risk that they might be sold before the right opportunity presented itself, but all agreed that it was a risk they had to take for the sake of gathering intel about the fortress. The more information they could accumulate and bring to the Unity, the greater the odds of a later attack on the fortress succeeding. Assuming, of course, there even
was
a Unity left to report to.

Hal and Kalen chose to
have an optimistic outlook. If they truly believed the Unity was gone, then all the lives lost and all the pain suffered were indeed for nothing, just as Penrod had claimed. Neither man was willing to concede that Penrod was right.

Escaping with Nude and Sue’s colleagues was their primary mission. If there was an opportunity to take other prisoners with them, so much the better. But escaping with vital intel had to be the first priority. Their
fallback mission, should escape prove to be impossible, was to find a way to damage the fortress as much as possible. At the moment, though, neither outcome seemed likely.

One point in the trio’s favor was that they hadn’t been issued any kind of garb that identified them as prisoners. That meant as long as no one saw them leaving their cell, there was no reason to suspect that they were prisoners.
Hal’s tan jumpsuit and Kalen’s blue one were similar enough in style to the pirates’ coveralls that the differences should go unnoticed at a casual glance. And Sue wore the same type of flowing gown that all Chan’Yi wore. The color identified her as a scientist, but surely a fortress this size had some Chan’Yi scientists aboard.

After finding no guards in the immediate area, Sue and Kalen returned to Hal.

“Remember,” Kalen said under his breath, “we have every right to be walking these halls at night. We’re maintenance workers. If we don’t act suspiciously there’s no reason for anyone to stop us.”

“Right,” Hal replied with a smirk. “Maintenance workers without tools.”

“Maybe we’re on our way on-or off-shift and left our tools at the job site or in the maintenance office, or somewhere.”

“Or somewhere. Yeah,
that’s
a good answer if we’re stopped.” Hal grinned.

The other man shrugged. “Say what
ever you want. Just be convincing. All right. It’s time to split up. Sue, you and Hal go that way,” Kalen pointed to the right. “I’ll go the other way. Keep your eyes and ears open. Learn all you can. There are bound to be security cameras here and there. There’s nothing we can do about that. We just have to hope no one recognizes us as prisoners. Act casual. Don’t do anything suspicious.”