[Danny]

okay, this time i really mean it, no more chapters until people reply!

CHAPTER 45

Tillyn opened her eyes to see Gormanul’s dark shape pacing up and down before the doorway. Occasionally he would pause to inspect the lock, shake the door, or tap the window glass. The slig guard on the other side was watching his futile efforts with amused interest, but with no real concern. Orim was probably right; the cell was inescapable.

“I wouldn’t bother. Orim says it can’t be broken down or anything.”

Gorm turned to her. “Orim?”

Tillyn paused. She hadn’t thought that maybe Gorm didn’t know about Orim. “You mean you haven’t noticed him?” She turned away, waited until her eyes got accustomed to the dark, and then pointed. “He’s over there. He’s our cellmate.”

Gorm approached Orim, who was asleep. He gently lifted Orim to his feet, and looked at him. Orim stirred, and looked back. “Hello,” he said, sleepily.

Gorm looked at him suspiciously. “Hello,” he said, as he sat him back down on the floor. He walked across the cell, and sat down beside Tillyn. Tillyn shook her head. Gorm had never been very good at talking to strangers. He lost all confidence. He was perfectly good at hurting things when he felt he had to, but was totally at a loss when it came to talking to people.

Tillyn glanced at the guard. He seemed to have lost interest in the activities in the cell, and had turned his back on the door. As she watched, he was distracted by something to his left. His head disappeared briefly out of sight, to be replaced by another slig, who Tillyn recognised as the scientist slig who’d brought them here, Zak.

The door swung open, and Zak leaned inside. “Quickly,” he whispered, “Come on!”

Gormanul, unsure of himself, looked at Tillyn, who was already standing up. She turned to him, beckoning him. Orim was already standing up, but seemed unsure of what to do. Tillyn grabbed his arm and made for the door. After a moment’s hesitation, Gorm followed.

Out in the corridor, the first thing that met their eyes was Dr. Angrak injecting something into the guard slig, who was lying unconscious against a wall. An Intern was standing with its back to them, facing the wall.

“What’s he doing?” Tillyn asked, pointing to the Vykker.

“The Doc? He’s just administering a Lethal Injection to the guard.” Zak’s voice was very matter-of-fact; it seemed that he saw this sort of thing on a regular basis.

“Why?”

“So he doesn’t tell anyone who it was who knocked him out. It’s totally painless.” Zak’s calm tone was quite unnerving. Tillyn glanced at the Intern.

“What about him?”

Zak followed her gaze. “The Intern? We bribed it to look the other way and forget all about this.”

“Bribed it? With moolah?”

Zak shook his head. “With enough Sedative Drugs to make him forget all about this.”

As Tillyn watched, the Intern filled up a small syringe from a large jar, and began to stick the needle into his arm. Tillyn shivered, and turned away. The Vykker seemed to be done.

“This way, please…” His voice grated on Tillyn’s ears, but she followed. The Vykker’s eyebrows rose when he saw Orim, but he shrugged and said nothing.

As they walked, Tillyn strode beside Zak. “Where are you taking us?”

“To the flyer hangar.”

“Why?”

Zak looked at her as if she were stupid. “So you can get away, of course!”

Tillyn raised an eyebrow. “You’re letting us go?”

Zak snorted. “Of course. You’re a very important young lady.”

Tillyn wasn’t sure whether to laugh or punch him. “A WHAT?!”

Zak paused, puzzled, and then threw back his head and laughed. “You mean you don’t know? You’re the one great hope for the slig race to finally be free and you don’t know?”

Tillyn looked around in bewilderment, not sure what was happening. “What are you talking about?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? You’re Female!”

Tillyn stopped walking, and Gorm bumped into her. Zak stopped with her. “I’m a what?”

“Oh, for Odd’s sake, do you mean you’ve never suspected a thing? Do they teach you nothing in school these days?”

“But… But how could I be female?”

“You were born female. The Glukkons missed you when they were checking for females, and then somehow you escaped the sterilisation process.”

This was too much. “You mean I’m fertile?”

“Hurry up, you two!” Dr. Angrak made no attempt to keep his impatience from his voice. “Do you want us all to be killed?”

Slightly dazed, Tillyn staggered forward. They continued in silence for a while, until Gormanul tensed slightly, and gripped Tillyn’s shoulder. “What’s wrong, Gorm,” she asked, “Have you heard something?”

Dr. Angrak turned. “Why have we –”

He never completed that sentence, and the sound of machine gun fire drowned out any replies. Angrak spun as bullets chopped his body, then fell to the ground. The others saw a Vykker and two sligs briefly, before the firing resumed. They dived down a side corridor to their right, but not before a bullet drove itself into Tillyn’s upper right arm. She let out a cry, and Gormanul lifted her in his arms and ran, closely followed by Orim and Zak.

Out of breath, Zak panted. “If we can… If we take a left soon, we should… be able to reach the Flyer Hangar.”

Nodding, Gormanul twisted to the left, pulling Orim and Zak with him, as a hail of bullets flew down the corridor behind them. The click of slig feet behind them spurred them on. They took another left and a right, so that their pursuers didn’t get a clear shot at their backs, and Zak pointed to a large set of doors ahead. He put on an extra spurt of speed, and typed in a code on the external lock. The doors swung open as they heard their pursuers turn the corner behind them, and bullets began to ricochet from the walls around them.

Leading the way, Zak ran through the doors and dived to the left. The others followed, to see Zak fiercely typing into the internal lock. The doors just managed to swing shut before the guards reached it. A light above them flashed, saying: ‘Sealed’. They could hear their pursuers banging on the door outside, but Tillyn breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to look around.

There was only one flyer in the Hanger, a small three-person one. Its rounded oblong shape looked slightly menacing in the dim light. Through the main windscreen, they could see that the inside was dark. Zak held up a small square of card. “This’ll let you use the flyer. It has an autopilot, don’t worry.”

Tillyn turned. “ ‘Us’? What about you? Aren’t you coming?”

Zak shook his head sadly. “There’s only room for three, or the Flyer won’t take off. You’re the one we need to get away, and you’ll need him to protect you and the mudokon can guide you to the native territories.”

“But… They’ll torture you and kill you.”

“No they won’t.” Quickly but calmly, Zak drew a small pistol from a pocket, and held it to his head.

“No!”

Tillyn tried to grab it from him, but he squeezed the trigger before her hands (one of which was weak as a result of the bullet wedged in it) could stop him. The weapon produced only a small noise, and there was very little blood, but Zak’s eyes curled up into his head, and his body slumped to the floor. Tillyn caught it, but its weight caused her bullet-wound to hurt, and she dropped the body to the floor. She stood for a few seconds looking at the still corpse. The hangar was silent except for the muffled bangs from the other side of the door.

A hand lay on her shoulder. She looked up into the sympathetic eyes of Gormanul. They stood, looking into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, then Gorm gently but firmly led her to the flyer, where Orim had already inserted the security card.

The instrument panel was brightly lit up, and a computerised voice asked them if it could help them.

“Errm… Close the hatch,” Orim said, “And, err, start the engines?”

The Hatchway closed, and they felt the jerk of startup, followed by the hum of the engines. Orim glanced at Tillyn, his eyes asking for help.

“Take us out?” she suggested.

They were shocked by the sudden movement, but became accustomed to it. As they flew towards the Hangar doors, they began to open. The difference in pressure sucked many of the objects from the hangar out into the air, including Zak’s body, which began to fall down towards the dusty ground. Before it hit, though, they were too far away to see clearly.