Seven
Bea finally deemed it was safe for them to stop when they were a good twenty minute's hard run away from the building, just into the edge of the scrubland, by a bird portal. Moonlight fell from a cloudless sky and picked out the stark landscape - there wouldn’t be many places to hide if they ever needed to, and even less places to avoid the scalding midday sun come daytime. She’d just have to make sure they didn’t have to stay here any longer than necessary.
"You can wait for me here," she told them, calmly.
One of the original team beckoned to her, took her just off to one side. "What are you going to do, Bea?" he asked, worriedly. “You’ve got your up-to-something look on again…”
"I have to get that Egg," she replied, quietly. "I just… don't know how, yet. Wait here for as long as you can - if you see me heading back it'll probably be with a pack of guards at my tail, so get the portal open as quick as you can and we'll be able to get it to safety." She smiled, reassuringly. “I’m sure everything will be fine, Jen. Just keep an eye on the youngsters,” and with that, she was gone.
Jen watched her run back the way they’d just come, and shook his head, sadly. He suspected this would be the last time he saw her alive…
Bea found Jas on his usual patrol route early next morning.
He greeted her with; “I’ve been thinkin’, Bea… aw, c’mon, don’ pull faces, I’m serious…” he pouted, and sniffed.
She smiled. “Sorry Jas. Go on.”
He wrinkled his snout up, sniffily, but went on. “I was thinkin’… p’raps we ought ter try an’ nick me some company.”
“I-… what?”
Well, if I'm goin' ter help yer…” he sighed, and his lean shoulder slumped. “I'll want a bit o' company o' my own kind in my exile.”
She smiled, sadly. “I’m sorry, Jas.”
“Aw, don’ be. I offered. If I didn’ want ter help I’d’ve made excuses not ter,” he looked down the corridor. “ Xek’ll be along soon… you better pretend ter be cleanin’ again… don’ want yer getting hurt…”
So when the slig on transport duty mooched past, Jas was lounging against the rail of the balcony, smoking and watching the activity below, and Bea was busily scrubbing the floor, almost out of sight in the shadows.
“Hey!” Jas called, sharply, as Xek trotted past. “Wait a mo’!”
The slig paused, and looked at him. "Somethin' the matter, Boss?"
Jas gave the trolley a cursory look, stomping his cigarette out. "Naw. Vykkers' want an egg."
"That big 'un there came from Vykkers'," the other supplied, helpfully, pointing out the large, nearly spherical green-grey egg.
That was a stroke of luck, Jas mused. "Right. That'll be the one they're after, then," he turned to where Bea was lurking in the shadows, trying to look busy. "Hey, you!"
She looked up, as though startled, and gestured to herself, as if to say “who, me?”
"Yeah, you, the scrawny one scrubbin' the floor. C'mere," Jas beckoned.
She padded over, shoulders hunched, trying to look small.
Jas picked up the large egg and handed it to her. "Tha's goin' ter Vykkers. Take it up ter Management, they'll send it on. Don' drop it, or I'll drop yer. Out o' a window. Got that?"
She nodded, fervently.
"Good. Now skedaddle."
She ducked her head and fled.
Jas caught up with her a few minutes later, once he’d sent the other slig back on his way.
"Why this one, Jas?" She asked, examining the egg that sat in her lap.
He shrugged. "Looks interestin'. Want to see what it hatches into.”
She nodded, cradling it in her arms to keep it warm. “So…” she looked up at him. “Have we made any progress…?”
He shrugged. "Not really. But… I was thinkin', while yer was gone," he said, softly. "I ain't too bad wi' 'lectronics - mebbe I can fiddle the lock, get it ter open the door fer me. 'Sides, I can do a pretty good impression o' a glukk…"
"Sounds very risky - what if you're caught?" she demurred.
"Yer got a better idea?"
"No," she admitted. "So… what's worrying you?"
Jas laughed, faintly. "Not much gets past yer, eh, Bea?" he replied, softly. "Naw, I… guess I'd… rather you'd never come here."
"Well…” she looked a little startled to hear that. “Why?"
"I… well, yer given me a dilemma. Do I help yer and betray all the lads here? Or do I stop yer?" he shrugged. "So what der I do?"
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Jas. I… suppose I’m thinking of you more as one of us than what you really are, and that you’ll …”
“What’s that meant ter mean…?
She laughed. “Oh, it wasn’t an insult. Just that… well, if you were a mudokon you’d hardly be finding it easy to fit in, here. My poor old brain doesn’t want to think you’ve got friends here; that you’ll want to escape at all costs…” she smiled, wryly. “Sorry, Jas…”
He shrugged, managed a taut smile. “Well… mebbe yer better get some sleep. I ain’t on the door until this afternoon.”
“You-… you aren’t?” her shoulders drooped.
“Uh-uh. Why - you need this done soon…?”
“Yes. I left the rest of the team outside the complex - about twenty minutes away. And there’s not much shelter out there; some are quite young, I don’t want them getting sunburnt…”
Jas sighed exaggeratedly. “I’ll see what I can do…” He said, tiredly, gazing down the long corridor. Who was on the door, at the moment? Oh, yes - it was Drek - and Jark would be taking over in an hour, so he’d better make his mind up soon… He’d far rather ask his calmer pack-mate for help than the sometimes psychotic Jark…
“Be back soon,” he said, smartly, and was gone before Bea could ask what he meant.
She watched him trot off down the corridor, and wondered what he was planning…
"Uh… Drek…?"
The older slig looked up at Jas' approach. "Wassup, Shortie?"
"Uhm…" Jas looked tense; he kept glancing over his shoulder and he was rubbing at his hands. "I'm, uhm… trying ter figure out how ter tell yer this…"
Drek raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Aw, frack, I hate this… I should never have agreed ter do this…"
Jas was sweating, Drek noticed, and shivering slightly as well. "Here," he flicked him a cigarette. "Calm yer nerves a bit."
Jas nodded, accepting it gratefully. "Maybe," he agreed, leaning back against the wall and lighting the cigarette with a shaking hand.
After a minute or so he'd composed his thoughts. "Listen, Drek… I… maybe haven't been… entirely open wi' you guys…"
"Naw, really?" Drek asked, in a voice laden with sarcasm, and then added, with a grin; "What deep, dark secret have yer been hidin', then?"
Jas gazed at his feet. "Yer know Narik pissed me off by beatin' a mud half ter death yesterday?"
Drek nodded, silently.
"Yeah, well… that was, uhm… she was my foster mum," Jas looked up at his friend.
Drek just stood silent, at first, as though digesting what he'd been told. "No wonder yer were so mad," he said, at length.
Jas sniffed, and took another pull on his cigarette.
"So… why you so shaky at the mo'?"
Jas closed his eyes. "She’s goin' ter try ter nick the queen egg. There, I've said it. An' she's asked me ter help. And now I don' know what the frack I'm goin' ter do. Do I help 'er an' betray all you lot, or do I stop 'er an' have someone end up shootin' her…?"
Drek sighed. "Well, one thing's fer sure - yer shouldn't have tol' me. Yer knew about this last night, right? Which is why you were actin' like a slog were tryin' ter chew yer arm off?"
"Yeah," Jas laughed, faintly. "Mebbe I'm kinda hopin' yer goin' ter arrest me. That way it takes the decision outter my hands."
For a long, long moment the two sligs were silent.
Then:
"Mebbe, if yer quick, I won' see anythin'."
Jas jerked his head up. "What?"
"But I can only give yer a coupla minutes," Drek went on, staring at the far wall. Then turned, and gave him a wan grin. "Yer like ter make our lives difficult, don't yer, Spider?"
“Yer… yer mean you’ll…?
“Yeah, I mean I’ll,” he laughed. “I’ll go get a coffee,” he said, with a grin. “But remember - yer got five minutes, an’ that’s tops.”
Jas managed a faint smile. “Thanks. An’… tell the lads… I’m sorry…”
Drek gave a joking salute, then turned and trotted away.
Jas watched his pack-mate lope off down the corridor, then looked quickly up and down the passage and smartly yanked the cover off the VoiceLock…
After three minutes of fiddling with the circuitry inside, Jas straightened himself up, cleared his throat, and barked, in as good an impression of a glukkon as he could manage, "Hey!"
When the VoiceLock replied, "What?!" he nearly fell out of his pants. Before he could chicken out, he yelled back; "Do it!"
Shocked, he actually did fall over this time, when the door crashed open. Picking himself up, he saw Bea leaning out of her hiding place and giving him a thumbs-up. He gave her a grin in reply, and nipped inside with nervy, birdlike movements.
There, in the nest on the table surrounded with monitors, was the precious egg. He crept up to it, checking for heat sensors or security cameras… Looking over the lip of the table and into the nest, he spotted what he was hoping there wouldn't be - a pressure sensor, just under the egg.
Damn. That complicated things. Presumably if he were to simply pick up the egg the monitors would realise something was wrong as it wasn't there, and shut the door, sounding the alarm. Damn! How was he to get out and get the egg out at the same time…?
He looked at his gun, thoughtfully. It was heavy - heavier than the egg, but it would give the pressure sensor something to worry about…
Ah, to hell with it. It was now or never, and if he didn't do something soon someone would see him, anyway.
So he jammed his gun under the egg, snatched up the oversized globe and bounded out of the doorway just milliseconds before the sensors realised the weight was wrong and crashed the slamdoor closed, alarms sounding everywhere.
"Bea!" he howled, clutching it in his arms. "Dammit, where are yer!?!"
The ancient mudokon darted out of her hiding place and beckoned, urgently. "This way!" she hissed.
He sprinted over, and chased after her down the corridors…
The racket of klaxons had brought the guards running, though. Bea almost collided with one of them; her heart almost stopped in fear. He was literally a wall of muscle, quite easily the most massive guard she’d ever seen in her life…
“Come on, Bea…!” Jas honked, racing past.
“Yer ain’t meant ter ‘ave that, Jask…” the guard rumbled, turning his head, ponderously.
“I know!” Jas replied over his shoulder, sprinting on down the corridor. “Stall ‘em fer us, willyer, Hak?”
Hak shook his head, tiredly. “Yer wi’ him?” he asked Bea, jerking a thumb at the rapidly departing figure.
Bea gulped and nodded, hopefully.
“Well, get a move on, then,” the guard said, and grinned. “I can’t not-see-yer fer much longer…”
She managed a wan smile, and bolted.
The second they were out of the Hatcheries, Bea took the lead. The sun was climbing, and it was getting hotter - she only hoped they hadn’t given up, thinking she was dead, and gone already…
Jas was running behind Bea as fast as his legs would carry him, panting, clutching the egg firmly in his arms and holding it to his chest with his tentacles.
"How much further?" he wheezed, painfully. He was out of breath, and out of condition, and knew it, at that moment in time solemnly promising his lungs that he'd never touch a cigarette ever again as long as he lived…
"Not much," she replied, hearing his breath as an agonising rasp in his throat by now. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, expecting the worst, but was in some ways pleased to see a look somewhat akin to grim determination on his pinched face. Then she looked further back, over his shoulder. "But they're catching up, Jas…!" she panted, seeing the group in the distance growing marginally larger. "You have to keep going…"
By now they could both hear the head slig, yelling at his pack-mates. “’Cause orders were to catch ‘em alive, dumbass, that’s why yer can't shoot ‘em! ‘Sides, yer might damage the egg! Management wants the Mud, and Skillya’s got somethin’ special prepared fer the little slug…!"
Jas shut his eyes with a faint whine - so Lenk was after him… "How much further…?"
"Just a little further, Jas. You're doing well, just a little further," Bea replied, her own wiry old body tiring swiftly. But she could see the group of mudokons ahead of her, where she'd told them to stay, all chanting together and opening the portal to take them to safety… her heart leaped. They were going to do it…! They were going to do it!!
Jas didn’t even stop as he reached the little group; he gave a triumphant yell and leapt for his life, clutching the precious egg firmly, and vanished through the shining portal. The youngest mudokon followed, and then the next youngest vaulted through after him…
Bea insisted she go last, as she was oldest and felt she was on her way out, any way. She ensured all the younger mudokons had gone, each carrying their precious cargo, and all the eggs were safe, and was just preparing to jump when…
"Stop 'er!" Lenk bellowed, furiously, waving his gun.
She smiled and waved, brazenly, gathering herself to leap.
The Big Bro slig scowled and raised his weapon "Ah, screw the orders," he snapped and put half a dozen bullets in the ancient mudokon's back just as she jumped.
Bea choked in an agonised gasp and literally fell through the portal, tumbling bleeding down the shallow grassy slope and coming to rest on her side at the bottom, still and silent, barely breathing. The portal snapped shut behind her, just in time.
"Bea…?" Jas galloped over, breathlessly, collapsed beside her. "Bea?" he asked, gingerly touched her shoulder. Getting no response, he looked over his shoulder, and yelled for help.
Tam appeared at his elbow, crouched next to Bea's fallen body. "She's hurt…"
"I can see that!" Jas stamped his feet, frustratedly, and howled louder.
The four nearest sprinted over, with a bundle of fabric and two long poles. Jas watched as they turned the bundle into a neat stretcher, then carefully settled the old lady onto it, and ran to find a healer…
Jas went over to one of the others, his heart in his mouth. He tapped him on the arm, startling him.
"What is it, Jas?" The mudokon asked, realising who it was.
"She'll be all right, won' she?" the little slig asked, urgently, looking in the direction they'd carried Bea.
The mudokon nodded and smiled, but it looked strained.
Jas' shoulders drooped. "Liar," he said, faintly, then turned, and trudged despondently away.
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