Elston's Brain Box

The gate's iron rails shrieked. The lead scout dashed into the tunnel's enshrined void like a starved dog set on fire. Inside the guard chamber the stained fluorescent panels flickered awake and the auto vents siphoned in a new roomful of processed air. The lead scout pummeled the metal seal at the tunnel's end. The guard chamber's bell alarm trilled. Auxiliary Guard Riggs shot open his eyes as his mind resurfaced from a deep fever. Lead Guard Elston sat up and spat and unholstered his pistol.

"You think it's the scouts?" said Riggs. He bit down on the rubber hose that hung from the ceiling and inhaled two sharp bursts of the concentration.

"Don't know. Feels too early," Elston said.

"You need any?" Riggs pushed the hose toward Elston.

"No. I'm freezing."

Riggs caught the hose and pressed its end into a bracket on the wall. He wound the delicate hand crank on his wrist piece. "They're a fifth day too early." The lead scout's fists thumped against the metal plate once more. "Way, way too early. What's your call on this?"

"Open it. We need to see them," Elston said. "They shouldn't be this early, though. If something is off I'll take them out right away. The devil can have me for it, I don't care."

"Yeah, I don't blame you," said Riggs. "They all know how strict the time and punctuality laws are. You don't mess with that."

"Let's hope they're okay to pass."

Riggs stood up and walked to the middle of the air seal. He struck the plate four times with the heel of his gloved palm. "Set."

The scout hit the air seal twice from the other side.

"At least he is lucid enough to signal back to us," Elston said. He readied his pistol. "Armed. We do a three count and exhale. Begin."

They took a massive breath and counted to three in silence. They squatted low and exhaled. Briggs depressed the safety kill switch and made a chopping motion with his free hand. Elston braced his shoulder against the wall. The trembling pistol settled between his palms.

Briggs toggled the hook lever. A tension release mechanism whined and the air seal sprung open.

In the uncovered void stood a trembling waif of a man. His dehydrated arms swayed above his head. An oval blood stain caked his crooked shoulder patch.

"You've five seconds to affirm, or else I fire," Elston said. He tasted a thread of the outside air. A metallic burn simmered in his lungs. His trigger finger tightened.

"Lead scout. Lead scout, group a-two-four. I'm clear. I am clear."

Elston tapped the wall panel twice with his knuckle. Briggs pulled his palm off the kill switch and reversed the action on the hook lever. The lead scout stepped into the guard chamber. The air seal collapsed behind him.

"Alright, come here, come here," said Elston. "Prick your finger. Let's get you verified for entry. Get you a meal and a bunk."

"Wait. Where's your backup?" Riggs said. "Where the hell is the auxiliary scout?"

"Gone."

The lead scout pushed the pad of his pinky across a silver edge. Elston gathered the blood drop onto a test strip.

"Two solid lines. Almost, almost a third."

"So I made it?"

"Yes. Close call. You can report what happened later. Go on, go get yourself a food pack. A high lipid one is what you need right now. Get some sleep." Elston pulled on a hanging chain. A concealed door swung aside. Behind it lay a gray corridor lined with sputtering incandescent bulbs. The corridor's floor and walls flowed down a gentle slope into a distant blur of pale golden light.