Liberty's Heirs

Chapter 30

They emerged into a plain hallway with yellow walls and a checkered green and white floor.  It was well lit by the same kind of pinprick light sources that illuminated Miss Boggen's bunker, but this time they were behind panels that spread out the light and made them bearable to look at.  The floor must have seen many decades of use based on the wear and tear, and it was as clean as it could be considering it lacked an army of robotic cleaners.

Black, unlabeled doors lined the hall.  It was as quiet as Nikolai had predicted.  The only sound came from the mechanical ventilation, air was running through big tubes behind the white acoustic panels in the ceiling.

"There's a loading dock that goes underground on the south side of this building.  These bombs were usually pretty big so they'd want to bring it that way."

"Sounds reasonable," said Blion, but it seemed to him that the bomb wouldn't have to be very big.  A critical mass of plutonium 239 would be less than a seventh of his own body weight.  With a half-life of just over twenty four thousand years, less than half of one percent would have decayed by now, assuming that the fissile material was manufactured two hundred years ago. It seemed that people on this island would not have the industrial capacity to mine and refine the necessary isotopes. It would be irreplaceable.

The corridor appeared to be designed to take them through a roughly square path.  "This way," said Nikolai.  His sense of direction must have been as acute as Blion's to intuitively know which way was south after all the twisting and turning they did through the underground.  There was only one door on the south side of the building, which was very convenient for avoiding unfortunate mishaps when opening the wrong doors.

"When I say 'Go,' I'll try opening the door.  If it's unlocked we go in.  If not, I'll break it down.  If there are guards, take them out," Nikolai whispered.  He held the communicator in his hand.  A shiny little thing, copper in color with decorative engraving, a bit thinner and longer than his pinky finger.

Blion nodded to confirm his comprehension.

"Ready.  Set.  Go."

The door swung open and Blion lunged in first, his staff raised to deliver a blow to whoever was nearby.  Three young men with surprised looks on their fresh faces turned to face them.  The shortest one was very near to Blion and all three began raising their guns and preparing to pause.  Blion nearly paused.  Nikolai had no obvious weapon and Blion alone couldn't possibly take down three men armed with guns, but it wouldn't work to hesitate now.  His staff was nearly instant as it hit his mark, smashing the bones in the youth's hand, and rendering it useless to control the weapon which was knocked out of his crippled hand.  Blion's heart sank.  That hand would never get the medical attention needed to heal properly.  How could a place like this provide it?

At the same time there was a cracking sound and a pop. The communicator that Nikolai was carrying must have had additional functions. Blion had never heard the sound of a maser pistol being fired before, but he had heard rumors of their use by Attendants.  Riojme had once mentioned that her family had seen one used on a trip to the Sahel region. An Attendant used it to stop the charge of an African buffalo that had been goaded by an obnoxious boy and was going to kill him in a fit of rage.  Though the weapon was small, it's effects were devastating on living tissue.