Paphos, p.20
Paphos, page 20
The air felt different; her senses told her that before she was done wiping her eyes. She was on a grated walkway elevated by stairs hung above a main floor, and there were blinking lights next to her. A row of squat control panels was hung along the stairs. Athen dragged herself to her feet, using everything her hands could grab so she could get herself upright. Her leg was again deciding that going anywhere was not an option, and those negotiations were final. She looked down at the ten steps she would eventually take to get to the floor beneath her and decided to wait another minute before attempting them.
She’d go step-by-step, slowly and safely. It was time. Gripping the handrail with a death grip, she carefully pressed her weight into it and slid her bad leg down. Crying out in pain, she recovered and waited. One step down, but she’d really appreciate more pain meds, please. She groaned. She had a strategy in place, nothing now except to get it done. One step and then another, she carefully made her way down. A fear of tumbling grew as she became lightheaded with shaky hands, until fifteen minutes later, when she finally reached the bottom of the stairs.
The room seemed unfinished, like so much of this place. After a short reprieve, she hobbled towards an open doorway; the flat floor was so much nicer to move across. It made all the difference in the world right now. Light came from a thick blue window, casting a line in sapphire. The floor was still gritty at times and dug into her bare feet. She began charting a path that avoided the grated sections. “Damn aliens knew I’d be here one day, and they knew I’d be barefoot, and they put this here just to piss me off,” she cursed. Another moment came for curse or cry, she didn’t need to cry again.
She made it to the open doorway. It was a small room with a table, a pile of bones beside it, and a thickly tinted window. To the left of that window, she noticed a spiral staircase going both up and down. But it was the window that captivated her. Through it, she saw the room from the beginning, the reception area they’d called it. Tables, chairs, large markings; she recognized it as the first room, the one after the decline that almost killed her. Her heart leapt; this was the top floor! This was where the façade began, before it turned into the abyss of experiments and whatever else. This was where the building ferried in different species, made them feel comfortable, and then took them below. She didn’t hold back her smile. She was getting out of here.
Eager to see real daylight again but blocked from her destination by this thick window, Athen looked for a way to get herself from here to there. So far, she has come up short. No doors seemed to lead to that room; it was as if only the window connected them. She pounded on the window, a simple test to see if it would budge. It did not. It was thick, at least as thick as the wall. In fact, she didn’t remember seeing this window from the other side; she was sure she would have noticed it when they first entered. It was seemingly camouflaged on that end, like a one-way mirror you didn’t know was there. Unless, and she prayed this to be wrong, it was a completely different room.
No, couldn’t be. She recognized everything beyond this window the longer she gazed. She’d been in that exact room, the one just beyond this cursed window.
Athen grabbed a chair and hurled it into the window, but any hope for it to be that easy quickly faded. She rebounded her efforts before the chair finished bouncing. She was getting out of here, damnit.
“You will break!” she yelled. “And then I’m getting out of here because I’m taking a hot shower tonight!”
Athen faced the window with a willpower so strong it might have shattered of its own accord. She wondered if she could pry it free. She made another vow before digging into her pouch for a screwdriver. She wedged the sharp end into the corner and wiggled it into the windowpane. An explosion would be helpful, but all she had for materials was her flashlight, and it wouldn’t be much. The flashlight was often a critical device down here, but it’d be worth it to get topside. She unscrewed the battery and performed actions with the wires that contradicted the safety warnings before taping it to the same corner as the screwdriver. It wasn’t protocol, and she’d have to avoid breathing its fumes. She ducked down and covered her ears.
Nothing? She rose to check on it just as the battery exploded. Bigger than a firecracker but hardly anything close to demolition level, she was hit in the face with a shower of sparks and smoke. Great timing, Athen. She pushed on the window and saw that it moved almost a millimeter, which was much less than she needed. But there was a bit of movement now, so she wrestled the screwdriver in and out. It wasn’t much. It wasn’t enough.
She tried not to breathe in the fumes, but she worked on it anyway. She wiped soot from the window and found a crack had occurred in the glass, somewhere near twenty centimeters across and at least five deep. “Now we’re talking.” She took the screwdriver and ran its point into the crack, then she grabbed one of the bones off the floor and started hammering the back of the screwdriver into the glass until it shattered.
Sweet air gushed at her from the other room as a chunk of glass fell, almost removing her toes, but thankfully missing. The window’s age had helped, as it shattered like big chunks of ice for her to push aside. The air had a taste, like sweet freedom. She climbed through the window pane, ignoring her leg’s protests. It was a good meter down to the table beneath her, and she sent herself flying to it before any fear might stop her.
With a thud, she landed and cried out, her body paralyzed from the fall. Of course, adrenaline was pumping now, and then came a fear that she wasn’t alone. But look as she might, there was no sign of the creature. She looked at the drab interior, checking every corner and shadow, until she heard the wind howling outside.
The wind. Just outside. When she heard that, she found the ability to drag her crippled self off the desk and hobble towards the incline, the way out. A trail of blood followed her; she’d need to get patched real soon. Landing on the table probably undid all the coags in her leg.
This was absolutely the area where the parasite had attacked them; the same furniture was strewn about in the same way, and everything was the same. She saw their own boot prints, fresh from the dirt above, confirming everything. Caution was ignored as she barreled forward; she could almost feel the sunshine. With guilt, she suddenly stopped and turned her head. Her teammates were down there, but what was she going to do? Hobble down and save them? Not in this condition.
Her body was shaking; she hadn’t noticed it until now. She was likely in shock. No, she was in no position to help anyone. She needed to return to patch up at the quadrohuts, or at least bandage her wound. She needed more pain meds, too, and water. If she could make it out with this leg, they could make it out too. She had to trust in their ability. Or she had to trust in their survival until she could help. That was the best she could do.
Athen stood at the incline, staring up the ramp at true daylight. The sky above the trees was dark and cloudy, but she still had to shield her eyes. The wind howled up above like the most beautiful of freedom songs. She wished she could share this with her teammates. Soon, she promised them as she forced her way up and out. The incline was longer than she remembered, but nothing stopped her until wind gusts rippled her suit. At last, she stood victoriously in the forest, exhausted but smiling at the trees like a madwoman.
Thirst. Her victory would have to be celebrated later; she needed water. She suppressed a groan as she realized the quadrohuts were still a good kilometer away. Her leg was stiff and unyielding, but her spirits were high as she forced herself onwards. Trees became crutches, bushes became helpers as she grabbed everything she needed to pull herself forward. It started to pinprick with rain, guess she’d made it in time for a storm. She scoffed. Rain? Bring it! She opened her mouth to the sky, taking in the free droplets.
Tiny roots and pebbles dug into bare feet. She ignored them and pressed harder, filled with a strength that bordered on madness. She recognized a peculiar bush, gnarled and with orange leaves that had a purple streak through the tips, and she knew she was on the right path. She passed a familiar boulder with striated green moss. Finally, the clearing emerged, the white of her quadrohuts appeared in all their glory. At the end of the clearing was also their return shuttle, raindrops sparkling off its glorious polished hood. Everything was here as it should be. She had never felt so glad to be home.
The quadrohuts waited beneath the gray sky, its white glare mottled by the coming clouds. It felt like midday. The frames of the quadrohuts shook from a gust of wind; the storm was quickly spoiling her daylight. Athen traversed the unsteady ground all the way to the sealed door of the quadrohuts, trying not to slip in mud as it formed from rain. She waited an agonizing three seconds for it to recognize her and open. Surrounded by man-made things, she barreled inside with a fierce smile and headed straight to the mess hall. She collapsed at the sink and slurped water from the faucet. She had made it!
As she quenched her thirst, she admitted a little guilt, which she couldn’t help. She had to at least partially plan her return trip while trying to relax and recover. She would need to get herself bandaged up, pack food and water, more tools, and more medicine, as well as shoes if they had extras… soon, she promised. She deserved this victory. She deserved to sit on the cold floor and look around at her human-built dwelling, to gaze down the lightless hallway shaped for a human being, lined with doors that were all perfectly her size. Actually, it was largely assembled by robotic units, but those robots were manmade, probably. She shook her head clear and then lay herself flat on her back before looking up at the cable-lined ceiling. She was tired, too tired to find her bunk. But when she wiggled her toes and felt the dirt between them, she found the strength to take a shower. “Okay, girly…,” a word she hated, “…time to get cleaned up.”
Athen climbed into the shower fully dressed. She blasted warm jets of water down her face and neck, her clothes suddenly weighing double. She embraced how good this felt and watched the water swirl in brown as it drained out the bottom. She grabbed the soap and scrubbed what she could reach, taking joy in washing away dirt. She wiggled her toes and frowned; they were blistered and encrusted with stubborn dirt, and her leg hurt too much to really get down there. Despite that, the intense pleasure of hot water covering her body was religious. She carefully stripped down in the shower, leaving a wet mess where she tossed her clothes. When the pain in her leg took over, she leaned against the wall. It was a long while before she stepped out of the shower naked. She had soaked up every ounce of satisfaction before turning it off.
Naked, she hobbled over to the medical bay. She couldn’t have imagined doing this before getting clean, but now it was time. She struggled to get a proper angle at the narrow steel rod, still trickling with lines of red. Whatever Dmitry gave her was a miracle drug for being able to numb that, and by looking at it, she knew the meds were still doing something. She needed that taken care of, soon, but she couldn’t remove it. She dug into the med cabinet, looking for painkillers she might recognize. Athen found a small vial and took it without delay, dropping the torn package for the server bots to clean later. She hoped it was the same one Dmitry had given her. Then she dug around and found some spray-on skin and emptied the cannister over her wounds, then she wrapped a bandage for added security. She took a step back and almost fell onto the exam table. How much did she take?
Still naked, besides her leg bandage, Athen stumbled over to the mess hall to fill a coffee mug with hot water. She looked for a packet of instant and suppressed her guilt once more. It was selfish to sit here and enjoy a cup of coffee, even though every bit of her deserved it. She needed to get back to her teammates.
Her face turned at the sound of the main door opening. The wind howled before it was shut out again. A man had entered, staggering and ominous, and she gripped her coffee cup in wait. The sudden cold made her body shiver, amplified by the shower droplets still covering her.
It was Austin, standing in the hallway, the definition of exhausted. There were no tentacles or worms coming out of him; he just looked like a man dragged through hell. She dropped the mug.
“Austin!” she cried and ran to him, grabbing and holding on.
Austin hugged her back, with a grip that ignored all fatigue, a silent grip filled with a dozen words. On any other day, it would have been an awkward moment.
CHAPTER 33
After that moment passed, the awkwardness of nudity did settle, and Athen went to dress. Austin sat and rested before gathering supplies. As he felt better, the storm continued to worsen. The walls of the quadrohuts shook with punishing gusts. Huge raindrops drummed above him.
He’d just seen Athen naked, held her tightly too, which would have been a bigger event on most days. Her emotions, and he had to admit his as well, were so pure and sincere that modesty wasn’t an issue for the first several seconds. Then a laugh and ‘I suppose I should get dressed.’ It ranked low on special things today, all things considered.
He was relieved someone else had gotten out of there, and he had plenty of questions for later, but right now, he only had thoughts of heading back. She was getting dressed, but could be ready before she was done buttoning. And if he waited for her, she’d slow him down with that steel in her leg. With Carolina needing him, he couldn’t wait for Athen. He needed to fill a canteen, stock up on some glucose packs, and grab something heavy he could swing with.
Fully dressed, she limped her way back to the mess hall where he was filling a canteen. She actually laughed at the pipe he’d grabbed. “Sorry, it won’t do anything to the creature.”
“It’s for something else,” he assured her before turning to the main doors. The wind was practically shouting for him to wait, then he felt her grab him by the arm.
Austin looked over his shoulder, and she let go of his bicep. “I’m leaving. I’ll be back.”
“If you patch me up a little, I can help you save the others,” she said.
“I’m not worried about the others,” he replied bluntly. She appeared a little confused, and he didn’t blame her. She probably didn’t know about Dublin attacking him or the way Dmitry had ditched them all. But his only real concern was Carolina, and she needed him. Still, Athen looked pale. She’d taken some medication, he could tell, but she’d lost a lot of blood. She really did need his help.
In two minutes, he could patch her up—two minutes, not a second more.
“Wait here.”
He grabbed a blanket from the supply shelf and wrapped Athen in it before leading her to medical. He was no medic, but he knew enough, and he moved with a certainty that Athen needed right now.
“Go light on the painkillers, I helped myself a little while ago,” she said.
She’d already cleaned and wrapped her wound, and he wouldn’t be performing any removal surgery, but it was plasma she needed. He found an emergency kit in the First Aid box and injected her with a pouch of synthetic blood and plasma. Then he gave her another. He brought her a pillow, a fresh pair of boots, and then looked around at whatever he might be missing. Athen closed her eyes and lay her head back. She was exhausted, and his being there allowed her to close her eyes.
“You saved my life,” she said with her eyes still closed.
Austin dismissed it, his face hardening. This was taking too long.
“I mean it. You saved my life.”
He offered a weak smile. “You needed two blood packs. I’m amazed you could still walk. I’m amazed you survived.”
“I’m tough.”
“You are. I have to go now,” he said and left for the doorway. Whatever she said and whatever she needed didn’t matter anymore; she was taken care of. The doors slid open, and the wind screamed at him; rain pelted a line at his feet, warning him not to cross. He looked out across the puddles forming as the storm gushed. If the wind gets any worse, the quadrohuts might tip over. It was a good thing Dublin had reinforced them after landing… Dublin. They better not cross paths. This place was making everyone crazy.
Athen said something too soft to hear as he stepped outside, letting the doors close behind him. The day had turned dark, with charcoal swirls blocking out all evidence of the sun. To move forward, he had to lean into the gusts, cutting a line with his body and using gravity to help. The wind improved somewhat at the forest line, though it grew in volume as it whistled through the trees. He moved slower than he wanted to as the ground was quickly becoming muddy and slick. He grabbed a trunk and used it to get up a small incline just as a branch snapped above him. He did not enjoy being in a forest during a windstorm. He didn’t make it this far only to get crushed by a falling tree.
He wouldn’t get crushed. If a tree fell, he’d dodge it. And if a flood came, he’d swim it. Nothing would stop him from getting to his daughter. Nothing would happen to her on his watch.
At about halfway, he was crossing small rivers formed from the downpour, which concealed many of the giant tree roots he needed to avoid. It also camouflaged the trail, and that could be disastrous. Hearty cracks of wood echoed above him as trunks bent against the wind. After several minutes of uncertainty, he found a recognizable boulder, which helped. Austin put his foot down in a newly formed puddle and fell when the ground wasn’t there, falling chest deep and splashing his face. If it was this bad in the forest, he wondered how the facility was faring.
Austin reached the top of the ridge where he had expected to see the wall, but when he looked around, all he saw were trees bending to the wind. Another massive snap erupted in the air, and he heard a tree fall in the distance.
“Oh hell,” he snarled. He looked around, studying the area, begging not to be lost. He turned back, but the rain was making it all but impossible to see. The storm was making every trail look different. He closed his eyes and thought back to his path, and in a moment of clarity, was able to pinpoint where he may have overshot. He backtracked carefully and found another path, the correct path, as it had a distinct gnarled branch that he remembered. When he rounded the top of this ridge, he sank to his knees before the obsidian wall, which lurked impervious to the rain and wind.
