Claustrophobia

Chapter Seven - Amirerea - 8

Below them was a small cart hovering just above a metal chute. It had two seats of purple leather, lights flickering, white trim resting on the steel track. It was crude but functional.

'A Magna-Train,' Lar.4G explained as they hastily clambered down the roughly-hewn stone steps, Z9 wishing they'd installed a handrail when they'd excavated the place, 'only smaller.'

Standing by the cart and tinkering with the controls was a short, stocky man with eyebrows thicker than a Brykthylosian's arm. Next to him was a Kakr woman with a dark, panicked expression on her face. Z9 recognised her from the Halo-Core.

'Z9, D. I. Ko'gunn.'

Ko'gunn looked Z9 over with disgust. It looked to Z9 like she was trying to chew a hole in her own cheek. Her fingers twitched. She imagined the woman pulling her gun and shooting her dead. The gun at her side with a custom D. I. insignia inlaid into the grip.

Holy shit, Z9 thought when she saw Ko'gunn look from herself to Lar.4G, and back again. She fancies this guy. I'm a threat to her potential love-life.

'C.A.T Agent Z9,' said the spy, sticking her hand out.

'My people are dead because of you,' spat the Amirerean.

'Unintentionally,' Z9 said, trying to bat away the aggression. 'And we have more pressing issues.'

'There's nothing more pressing than the lives of the men and women up there saving your ass,' Ko'gunn said. 'But please, go and save your own skins whilst we die for you.'

'Oh, come on...' Lar.4G began.

'Get on the shuttle,' Z9 commanded with such authority that he did as he was told, shimmying away like a scolded child.

The mechanic gave a thumbs up. 'All ready. She's set for constant speed to a little safe house fifty miles away. Get out and hit that big red button in the middle: that'll send it to a secure location that nobody'll trace it to.'

'Why do you even have this escape shuttle?' Z9 asked. 'You're a police station, not a secret service.'

Ko'gunn gritted her teeth and refused to look her in the eye. 'It was installed three years before the invasion of The Empire, three hundred years ago,' she said. 'It escorted the Old King out of the city during the occupation. He died peacefully in hiding, unknown to Celestria.'

Z9 nodded. To Ko'gunn, she wasn't just a part of the problem but the problem itself. People, humans, were the problem, The Empire its flagship of holocaust.

Gods know why humanity is the enemy and she wants to sleep with Lar.4G.

'Come with us,' Z9 said, 'both of you.'

'Not enough room,' the mechanic said, drawing his gun. 'Any more than two and it'll break apart.'

'I'll honour your King, then, by taking his route,' she said. Z9 bowed to the Detective Inspector.

'Don't flatter yourself, whore,' she replied. She drew her own gun. The sounds of fighting echoed behind the door at the top of the staircase. 'Just go. And remember that you people owe Amirerea more than the lives of those dying for you. You owe us three hundred years of misery.'

Z9 nodded. 'Thank you.' She turned and jumped onto the shuttle. 'Punch it.'

Lar.4G flicked a switch and the machine rumbled into life. A large engine at the back of the shuttle powered up, burning fuel an Amirerean purple. Lights on the chute flickered on like runway lights, heading into the tunnel unknown. A slight wobble saw the shuttle lift off the floor on the magna field, Zero-G kicking in.

Lar.4G gripped the throttle lever with a tight fist. 'Time to fly, baby girl.'

Z9 looked up at the door. The handle was turning. Mysen's men were about to break in. Z9 wondered if reinforcements really had come to their aid.

Ko'gunn and the mechanic were hidden behind large control panels by the track's buffers, peering out from behind their pathetic barricades with guns ready and aimed. They were silent, zoned in and focused on a final stand that would see their blood painting the tunnel's brushed steel red.

Z9 promised to make up for it all.

The shuttle took off and they left the city to fend for itself. It would perish as it may.