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I slapped Pitr on the shoulder, then ran ahead of him into the room. People were either on the curled up floor or staggering drunkenly around the room. Everybody was yelling and howling and bumping into each other, and nobody was looking at us. I ignored what I had told Pitr and headed for Alyssa as well. She was curled up in the corner, arms over her head, wailing. I grabbed one arm and Pitr grabbed the other and we hauled her to her feet. She screamed and struggled, and Pitr was trying to yell his name into her ear. I knew we had to get out as quickly as we could, so I simply started dragging both of them towards the door.
By the time we were halfway across the room, Alyssa seemed to have realised who we were and stopped fighting, although she was still blinded and didn’t seem able to move too fast. I kept pulling until we were at the doorway, the pushed them outside and up the corridor.
‘Run. Get to the room. If you can, keep the door open until I get there. If not, shut it, keep it shut, and do whatever you have to. You have to reset that box. ‘
I cursed, realising that without the drone I had no way of knowing how long we had left. I knew it was only a matter of minutes.
‘But - ’ Pitr started to protest. I pushed him away.
‘Go! You need a head start.’
Slowly at first, with Alyssa stumbling awkwardly beside him, Pitr started to back away from me. In the dim light I could make out when his face took on a resolved look, then he turned and started to run in earnest.
I looked back into the room. People were slowly starting to come to their senses, but there was no point in me trying to hold them in the room. That way, I was trapping myself too. I took off up the corridor behind Pitr and Alyssa but kept an eye over my shoulder, waiting to see if anybody was coming out. By the time I got to the first corner, two people had stumbled out of the room. I didn’t know if the debonder would work at this range, but there was only one way to find out. I switched it on and played the invisible beam across them like a torch.
I took a few seconds to have any effect. At first, the two men just rubbed hands irritated across exposed skin. Then they rubbed the backs of their hands, getting more frantic the longer they stayed in the beam. Howling and cursing, they ducked back into the room. There was derisive laughter, then two more came out, this time a man and a woman. I repeated the process and they also hurried back inside. The scornful comments now sounded angry and there were even hints that a scuffle had broken out.
I set off back towards the main corridor and the office I so needed to be in. Before I had taken ten steps, I heard an outraged yell and voices raised in anger that was not targeted at each other. They had only just noticed that Alyssa was missing. That meant they would be right on my tail.
I got to the next corner and checked to see we were alone. Pitr and Alyssa were only half way to the office. I had to buy them more time. I turned to face back down the side corridor and waited.
The voices and the sound of hurrying, but not running, feet got closer and closer. I raised the debonder and aimed where I expected the first heads to be. As the first two bodies appeared around the corner, I switched the debonder on and sprayed it at them. They quickly ducked back, then were pushed forward again by more people coming around the corner. A milling confusion occurred, with half the group trying to go one way and the other half trying to push forward. Any that broke away and tried to crawl along the floor or edge along the walls got special attention and soon fled back. Cursing even louder, they all pulled back behind the corner.
Looking over my shoulder, I could see that Pitr and Alyssa were almost there. A noise from the other direction pulled my attention back to the nameless enemies as three edged carefully around the corner, all at the same time and with their heads and hands covered by clothing. The debonder might have managed to burn its way through quickly enough, but I couldn’t take the chance. I turned and ran.
- 1 -
I saw Pitr opening the office door at the other end. I also heard the sound of angry pursuit behind me. I put everything I could into running as fast as my legs had never carried me before. My ankle screamed out at me, but I ran on.
Pitr had the door open. He and Alyssa, who looked as though she had recovered, were stepping through and starting to turn, probably on hearing the noise. I saw Alyssa’s hands go to cover her mouth.
No more than twenty-five metres now. Pitr stood at the door, ready to slam it shut and Alyssa stood on the other side. Ten metres, and if I slowed to help with the door I would be caught. My ankle gave and I fell into the office.. I tumbled over a desk, then crashed into the wall behind. Pitr slammed the door. I saw him and Alyssa grab the desk. I lurched forward to help. The desk started to slide, then tipped forward. We all shoved it against the door..
Pitr, Alyssa and I promptly sat against the desk and held it in place as our pursuers hammered and shoved at the other side.
‘Alyssa. You have to push the button,’ I said.
‘No,’ she replied, and I looked sharply at her. ‘I can’t reach. You do it.’
I looked again and she was right. The box was high up on the wall and it was probably out of Pitr’s reach too. I looked carefully to get my bearings. I didn’t want waste time hunting for the button. Ignoring my ankle, I launched myself up, over to the box, hit the button, and was back to the desk in five seconds.
Now all we had to do was wait two minutes. With no clock, I counted as slowly and evenly as I could but the hammering and crashing against the door kept spoiling my rhythm and Pitr keeping asking ‘How long?’ almost made me lose count. I kept going to 150, sure I was counting too fast, and nothing obvious had happened.
‘You have to try the wires,’ yelled Pitr.
I wasn’t sure. I was sure the deadline had passed, and that was why the button press had done no good. Our attackers seemed to have got themselves organised and the thumps against the door were now more regular and co-ordinated. I wasn’t sure how long the others would last if I moved.
But then it seemed pointless not to try. I launched myself up again, grabbed the two wires and, after an agonising fumble with one of the clips, got them switched over. I looked back in time to see the door move slightly, and I threw myself back at the desk. The door slammed shut and I started counting again. The pounding against the door continued. I reached eighty-five.
Pitr and Alyssa looked at each other, and I did my best not to look at either of them. It was a private look, and I didn’t need to share it.
‘How long?’ he asked, just as there was a particularly savage push at the door.
‘I count 110.’
‘Did she say how long?’
‘No, but we might already have missed the countdown, so we wouldn’t know anyway.’
Pitr nodded and concentrated on bracing himself against the desk. I did the same, then I felt a hand creep into mine. Alyssa. We looked at each other.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘For what?’
She shrugged and made a sad smile. ‘For letting me come with you. Mostly, for coming to save me.’
I smiled back and gave her hand a squeeze. Then I felt Pitr do the same thing on the other side. It felt right, somehow, as though we were all linked at the end.
‘I count 190 ... 195 ... 200.’
I fell silent.
Pitr sighed, then grunted as the door crashed forward slightly, then slammed shut as we pushed back. ‘It’s not going to ... ’
A vibration, faint and quite high pitched, hummed through the floor and into our hands and buttocks, and into our feet. Everybody looked at everybody else, mouths and eyes round ‘O’s of wonder and hope. Then, proceeded by a crack that sounded as though the asteroid had broken in two, a deep rumble replaced the soft hum and there was the sensation of a gentle push from the side, almost too subtle to be felt, but enough that we knew what it was. The asteroid’s engines had fired. The voices from outside the door went from angry to afraid, then receded into the distance.
We had done it. Aphrodite was on its way to its new home. Our new home.