[Lord Stanley]

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“So here’s the plan,” Oner said.

Abe leaned against the cell wall, watching him out of the corner of his eye. It was not his way to listen to schemes invented and to be carried out by foolish Sligs like Oner, but in this place of darkness and despair, he had one ear aimed toward the SKRUT.

Oner and the other two Sligs stood around the back wall. The SKRUT tapped a hairline crack in the wall, and in his left hand he held a small knife he had managed to conceal in his forearm armor, only accessible by tapping just a particular section. If nothing else, SKRUT armor was the most compact known to Sligs.

“This wall plate here has just a tiny crack in it,” the SKRUT said. “But that’s all I need.”

“That knife is nothing but a toy,” Abe snorted.

Oner looked offended; Abe took pleasure in his outraged expression. “This is the most prime knife you can find anywhere on Oddworld.”

“Let’s see it,” Abe said, and closed his eyes.

He heard Oner practically fume with anger, but the SKRUT returned his attention back to the wall immediately. “Now once I activate it…”

Abe looked back at the Sligs, in time to see Oner flip a small switch built in the pocketknife’s handle. Immediately the blade glowed with orange energy, energy that seemed to flicker and dance in the gloom of the cell. From five feet away, Abe could feel small heat waves coming from the weapon.

“Smokeless fire,” Crak whispered.

Cloud chuckled. “Genius.”

“I know. Invented it myself.” With a smirk, Oner slipped the blade of the knife into the crack in the wall and stabbed it deep into something—

“FIRE ALERT! FIRE ALERT!”

All of the prisoners whirled to face something that seemed to blast out from all around them. There were no speakers visible, but the voice was loud, coming from ceiling, walls, and floor all at once.

“Maybe the guards will come and evacuate us, if there’s a fire,” Cloud said.

As the alarm continued to blare, Abe realized what it was. “You fool!” he snapped at Oner. “You should’ve known there would be heat sensors built into the wall!”

Oner grunted. “Yeah.”

Abe sat down on the floor, settled into his meditative stance, and waited for the guards to arrive.

* * *