Sigma/Star

Chapter 59.5: This One Night

Two glass buildings towered above Leif, reflecting everything that passed by them and bouncing the last rays of sunlight down to where he stood. If Narrius was the city of steel, Arkterra was the city of glass, where edifices were moulded into strange, artistic designs, and public transportation was packed into tubes that snaked in between these bizarre fixtures. It was where you could see through everything and look at yourself in the mirror a million times over. It was as opaque as it was transparent.

The young man watched a cluster of people pass by the alley behind him but they paid no attention to him, not even taking notice. As the sun set and the city turned into a brilliant reflection of gold and red and orange, Leif slunk down into the darkness of the sewer that ran beneath his feet, following along the old tunnel as he retreated from the light, from everything he had always thought himself to be. If the Enian Federation was going to take away the light of his life, take away Allyson, then he too would turn to darkness to get her back.

This sewer passage did not connect with the prison though in any way; instead it ran around it. Leif pulled out a small, flat rectangle, and its screen ignited, illuminating his face with a blue glow. The maps he had collected sprung to life before his eyes, and he flipped between them until he found where his tunnel bent and nearly touched one of the walls in the prison. That was his point of entry and escape.

According to the plan, Leif would plant a small explosive there, blowing out a chunk in the wall but not breaking through. He would then have to chip away at the rest of it with the tools in his bag so that he could remain undetected. From there he would be in the thirteenth floor of the prison, or basement level, as it went down into the earth as far as it went up into the sky.

That floor had been abandoned long ago in superstition, as had its equivalent above ground, meaning Leif could safely travel around it without running into the guards. From there, he would have to go down five floors to where Allyson was being held, having to take the stairs and hoping everyone else used the elevators, as his contact had mentioned.

Leif felt the dagger strapped to his belt, its foreign weight dragging that side of him down. If he ran into anyone on the stairs, there could be no witnesses of course. He dreaded having to actually use the training he had received but if it was for her then he must.

Escaping the place was thought to be the easier part and would involve him using a larger explosive to put another hole in the wall, in a cell near to Allyson. That location lead right into the water disposal line, and the flow would carry them out to the lake just outside the city. He couldn't have entered that way since it was just a disposal line, but it would make for a speedy getaway.

Leif had arrived at the bend in the tunnel, and he removed the little metal device that would take out the wall. He set it against the smooth metal and back away, wiping off his now slimy hands on his pants and withdrawing the small laser he would need to cut the next hole. The explosive flashed a few times before a small boom echoed down the sewer line and the wall was torn open, revealing more metal behind it.

It took some time for Leif to cut through with his little laser but his resolve was strong and he had patience. Time was on his side as well; the night was young and he had all of it to consume. He kicked through the wall, knocking down the steel circle he had sliced, and found himself in a pearl white section of hallway that seemed to stretch on into eternity. It was strange and eerie to be in such an empty place, surrounded on either side by hollow rooms without prisoners.

The contact had not been lying though; nobody occupied the thirteenth floor. In fact, it looked like the floor had never once been used, with hardly a speck of dirt gracing the walls and floor and nothing but a blanket of unmarked dust coating any surface it could. Still, Leif wanted to be wary and he crept along walls until he finally reached the stairwell he desired.