Chapter 144

Chapter One Hundred Forty-Four

All around Connor, things were coming apart.

Selen was bleeding out.

Elise was suffocating and her flesh was rotting.

Mosiah had been fried by the dark energy protecting the pendant crafted from the K’luuta technology.

Most troubling of all, the holographic displays around the reliquaries were a troubling blur of failure signals, punctuated by the dimming of the artifacts’ star-like brilliance and the tremors rocking the prison’s foundation.

Heat insinuated itself into the cold underground air, carrying with it the signature rot of the imprisoned alien.

Connor had failed.

A green holographic glow flashed in his blurry vision. What might have been one of the reptile aliens bowed. “Human species representatives…thank you.”

“Thank you?” Connor glanced around. Had something gone right, and he’d missed it? He sheathed his swords. “Your prison’s collapsing.”

“The prison has served its purpose. Years remain for it to serve its purpose.”

“Are you aware? Can you hear me? Can you sense what’s happening?”

The holographic alien froze.

Had the prison’s computer system already failed?

No. The alien moved again. “Systems have been compromised. Defenses have been damaged. The prison remains.”

“Your prison is coming apart!”

Connor couldn’t waste time arguing with a deranged simulation of…whatever.

Selen was bleeding out, and when the alien prisoner—Dabichikal—had converted her clothes into the insect armor, it had apparently taken her medical kit, too.

But Elise still had hers, and she didn’t need the coagulant spray that could save Selen’s life.

Connor crawled over to the archaeologist and felt around for the medical kit.

It was open: Mosiah had been inside it.

Right then, it hit Connor: he couldn’t see the various injectors.

He could sense things: shapes, auras, power, even the details of alien monsters. That was the work of the amulet Toshiko had given him.

Reading the small label of an injector? Impossible.

Something clasped his wrist and he heard a gasped word.

Connor leaned closer. “Elise?” She was alive, breathing—and he thought she was nodding.

“What…?” It was a dry croak, but he understood.

“I need the coagulant spray. It’s just like one of these auto-injectors, so I can’t tell it apart, and without it—”

A shape was pressed into his hand. “Selen.”

“Yeah. I have to try to save her.”

Elise gasped something again, then nodded once more.

Connor crawled back to Selen. He didn’t need to know exactly where the severed arteries were. The spray would clog everything up for a while. Finding the wounds themselves was easy enough.

He sprayed over those wounds, and he thought the bleeding abated.

Lem could save her. They just needed to get her to the ship. Fast.

“Human species representatives…”

Connor waved the K’luuta alien off. “It’s just me. Singular. My team is fighting for its life.”

“There is dismay in your tone.”

“You can sense that? Good. Because I am dismayed. I botched everything.”

“The prison remains.”

The alien’s words were almost lost in another deep, reverberating crack.

“No.” Connor snatched up Selen’s pendant. “We came here to return your relics to you, and instead we brought this…infiltration device into your defenses. I…” His voice cracked.

The monster was going to be free, and it was going to renew its quest to destroy every living thing.

Oh, except for humans.

They were apparently going to take care of annihilation themselves.

Why not? Hadn’t they headed down that road several times before?

Connor crawled back to Elise. “I know you’re struggling just to survive. I’ll get you out of here—I swear. But can you bandage Selen up? We can’t move her like that.”

“Yes.” The archaeologist could barely manage that dry croak.

“And…I need an injector for Mosiah. He was electrocuted. I guess.”

Elise squeezed Connor’s arm, then pressed another injector into his hand. “Adrenaline.”

He crawled back to Mosiah and stabbed the injector into the old man’s thigh.

A deep breath rasped out.

That was as good as Connor could do.

“Human species representatives…”

Connor whipped around. “I told you, I’m your only resource now. Me. One.”

“The systems fight against the intrusion.”

“Great. If I was someone as skilled as my girlfriend, I’d help you.”

“Toshiko.”

“Yes, Toshiko—” Connor froze. “Wait. You know Toshiko?”

“Our species has expired, but it has not gone without a struggle. Only through extensive planning and resource allocation allowed us to create this prison. Its continuation until another species is ready is a necessity.”

“Another species is—” Connor groaned. “You want humans to build a prison?”

“The prison has served its purpose. Years remain for it to serve its purpose.”

“It’s failing.”

“It is the infiltration that has failed.” The holographic form waved to the daises.

On two of the raised platforms, the green lights were fading.

The dimming of the brilliant stars had stopped.

Connor blinked. Was he imagining that? Were his eyes failing? “How?”

“Planning and resources. Human representative Toshiko. When the central control device was taken from the prison, long-established plans were put into action.”

The amulet? Connor held that up. “This? You got this to Toshiko?”

“Human representative Toshiko discovered its existence. Resourcefulness led to acquisition and understanding. The prisoner is not alone in planning.”

“So what do I do now?”

“Leave that. It rewrites what has been undone by the prisoner’s pawns.”

Connor pulled the necklace off and set it beside the corrupted central control device.

Elise patted his shoulder. “Bandaged.”

He nodded, then he helped her up. “The car. We have to get you three out of here.”

She leaned against him for a moment. “I can make it.”

Her breathing sounded desperate, but he had to believe her. “Leave everything here.”

Connor bent down next to Mosiah. “I’ll get you to—”

“No. I’ve gone far enough, I’m afraid.” The old man coughed wetly.

“There’s a car that can get us—”

“Not me. My part’s been played, and there’s no medicine to save—” He coughed again. His aura was weak and fading fast.

But he didn’t sound sad. He’d found his redemption.

That left Selen. Could she find hers?

Connor lifted her up, careful when his hands found bandages instead of flesh.

He turned to the hologram. “This is it?”

The thing glowed brighter for a moment. “Human representatives must begin the struggle. A new prison must be constructed. The time for humans approaches. All life must be protected.”

Another pang of hopelessness stabbed through Connor’s chest.

Putting the fate of all life in humanity’s hands seemed reckless, yet that was what had just happened.

He could only hope his people were up to the task.