Master of Shadows, Chapter 11: In The Lion’s Den

When the debris from the Raptor finally stopped raining down from the sky Jack stood to his feet and looked around. What he saw was enormously disheartening. All of his hopes of escape had been pinned on the Raptor and that vessel had been completely destroyed. There was nothing left but an endless black desert, a gray sky, and thousands of small bits of shrapnel.

Lily stood up and put her arm around her husband. “So what do we do now?”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, dear. At this point I am all out of ideas. All of our food and water was on that ship, and you can see what’s left of it. There’s no point in staying out here in the desert but at the same time the city hasn’t exactly been welcoming us with open arms. I think we’re just out of luck.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have left all of our supplies on board,” Lily said thoughtfully. “Now that I think about it I guess we did put all of our eggs in one basket. It just never occurred to me that someone might want to attack a starship that had already been ruined beyond repair.”

“That’s probably one of the first things they teach you in Starlight Academy,” Jack quipped. “But it’s too late now, and honestly I don’t ever see us being in this situation again. Things like this rarely happen to people who mind their own business. The fact is, we’re out of supplies – and on top of that we’re out of weapons too. My rifle was in the ship when it exploded.”

“I’ve still got my laser pistol, though,” Lily said. She patted the holster that was strapped to her waist. “So that’s something!”

Jack managed a weak smile. “If only we could eat photons for breakfast we’d be home free!”

Lily kissed her husband. “So what do we do now?”

“Well -” Jack began. A moment later the couple was enveloped in white light. They felt a vague sensation of being transported somewhere. When the light cleared they found themselves in a large room with blue metal walls. The room was filled with bits of machinery and crates of supplies. Standing directly in front of them, however, was a tall, blond girl with amber eyes. She was wearing a red Starman uniform.

Jack looked around, startled. “What just happened?”

“I am so sorry!” the Starman said. “I really am. When I fired that missile I had no idea that you and your wife were on board. I am so glad you got out of there before it hit. I feel terrible about it. You could have been killed!”

Lily looked at the Starman in surprise. “Are you Alice Montaine?”

The girl nodded. “I’m afraid so. I have a bad feeling the two of you don’t think very highly of me right now. I know I haven’t treated you very well, but I honestly never meant for any of this to happen. Things just kind of spiraled out of control.”

“Where are we?” Jack asked.

“You’re in a maze of twisty passages that are deep beneath the planet’s surface,” Alice explained. “This particular room is about a mile underground. The only way down here is by transporter, and even then it isn’t easy. When I saw the two of you run out of the Raptor I realized I had just destroyed all of your supplies and almost killed you in the bargain. So I immediately transported both of you down here. It was the least I could do.”

Lily turned to her husband. “How could she see us from way down here?”

“She’s got Starman equipment,” Jack whispered. “She can probably do all kinds of magical things.”

“Oh,” Lily replied.

Jack spoke up. “So why exactly did you fire on the Raptor?”

“Did you repair the ship?” Alice asked.

Jack nodded. “I sure did. Spent all afternoon doing it, too, just to watch all of my work go up in flames. Literally.”

Alice winced. “I’m sorry. You see, the Raptor has self-healing capabilities. I thought maybe the ship had repaired itself and was about to contact the authorities. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Rachel explained that to us,” Jack said. “She kind of filled us in on what’s been going on.”

“Ah,” Alice said. She paused. “Rachel probably isn’t too happy with me right now. I can imagine what she told you.”

“I doubt she cares very much anymore!” Lily replied tartly. “You just blew her up. There’s nothing of her left.”

“She was just a machine,” Alice said dismissively. “That’s all. She became a hindrance to the mission and so she had to go. But you do realize I had no choice, right? I didn’t want to destroy my own starship but what else could I do?”

“What about not destroy it?” Jack asked. “I hear that has been known to work wonders.”

Alice glanced at the equipment that was scattered around the room. She then looked back at Jack. “Do you have any idea what I’m trying to do down here or how important all of this is?”

“Why don’t you tell us?” Jack replied. “I’ve got all day.”

“Look. There is something evil in that chamber down the hall. I have got to destroy it before it gets loose. Someone out there is trying to free it, and I just don’t have the time to mind my manners and be civilized about this. There just isn’t time! When Caedmon Starlight wouldn’t loan me Tharsos I had to steal the Third Treasure. There is nothing else that could possibly crack the protective barrier.”

Lily gasped. “You wanted to borrow Tharsos?”

“Exactly,” Alice said. “That is exactly what he said. Nobody understands! Mankind hasn’t been attacked for so long that they’ve forgotten all about security. We think everything is going to be fine and dandy just because it’s always been fine and dandy. We can’t imagine that somewhere out there somebody is trying to kill us all. Since nobody was willing to take the threat seriously I had to do what was necessary. I had to save you people from yourselves.”

“You tried to kill us!” Jack exclaimed. “Twice, in fact!”

Alice shook her head. “You don’t understand. I had no choice! I really thought the wormhole barrier would go down when Eagle City lost power and allow me to transport the Treasure out of the museum. I didn’t plan on involving any innocent bystanders! When the shield didn’t fail, though, I had to get some help and that’s where you came in. And when you wouldn’t cooperate I had to twist your arm. I didn’t like doing it but I didn’t have a lot of time.”

“You took my wife hostage!” Jack screamed.

“But I didn’t hurt her. I just had Rachel put her in stasis. My plan was to return her to you after I finished my work here on Lemura. I was going to keep my word but you didn’t give me a chance! Then when you showed up I had to put you in stasis as well. I didn’t mean you any harm.”

“Do you know how many times we almost died?” Jack shouted. “Thanks to you we were on that starship of yours when you tried to blow it to pieces. We would have died right then and there if it hadn’t been for that escape pod.”

“I couldn’t help it! It wasn’t my fault. Rachel was about to contact the authorities and put an end to the mission. I had to stop her! I wanted to save you but in the heat of battle there was no way I could transport you off the ship. It was just a bad situation.”

Jack started to reply but his wife silenced him. “So what happens now?” she asked.

“I’ve got to finish the mission,” Alice said. “I came here to destroy that chamber and that is exactly what I am going to do. If they want to arrest me for it afterward then so be it, but I’m not going to stand idly by and watch the planet I love destroy itself. The reason I transported you two down here is so I could apologize for what’s been going on and give you some supplies.”

Lily nodded. “We appreciate it. You did kind of destroy everything we had.”

“I know,” Alice said. “And after all this is over I promise I will take you both home. But for now I’ve got to get back to work. I’ve transported a few crates of supplies to a building in the city above. It has everything you need to survive for another week. By then I’ll be done and will pick you up and head home.”

“You have a ship?” Jack replied, surprised.

“Of course. The last time I was here I left a shuttlecraft behind. It has a wormhole drive and can easily get all three of us back to Ahmanya.”

“Wait a minute,” Lily interrupted. “You want to beam us back into the city?”

Alice smiled. “I know in the past it’s given you some trouble, but with its power supply destroyed I don’t think it will try anything else. It’s not a bad place to be, really.”

“Ok,” Jack said slowly. “But -”

Alice pressed a small button on the arm of her suit. Immediately Jack and Lily were encased in white light. They felt a strange sense of motion. When the light dissipated they found themselves on the ground floor of a small building on the outskirts of the city. In one corner of the room were a few crates.

Jack froze, and then shook his head. “Wow. Well, that was interesting.”

“I don’t trust her,” Lily said flatly. “I just don’t like this at all.”

“In her defense, she did just give us supplies. She could have left us in the desert to starve. But I know what you mean. She does seem a little unhinged.”

“What really bothered me is that she kept saying she didn’t have a choice! Everything that happened wasn’t her fault. That doesn’t give me a good feeling about the future. What if she just ‘doesn’t have a choice’ but to leave us here? What if she decides we are interfering with the mission? After all, we’re the only ones that know she stole the Third Treasure! She could always blame the whole thing on us.”

Jack’s blood ran cold. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Maybe she hasn’t thought of it yet either. But what happens when she does? Do you really trust someone who tried to kill us twice?”

Jack sighed. “One thing at a time. Let’s see what’s in these crates she gave us. We can then go from there.”

The couple began prying the tops off of the six crates that were in the building. After the crates were open they made a complete inventory of everything they contained. A half-hour later they had their answer.

“I see food, and water, and more food, and more water,” Jack announced. “And that’s about it. No soap, no climbing gear, no weapons, no lawn ornaments – not even a change of clothing.”

“And no way to call for help,” Lily finished. “We won’t starve, but she’s pretty much forcing us to sit tight and let her finish her work.”

“Yup,” Jack replied.

“Rachel seemed pretty convinced we shouldn’t let her do that. She seemed to think that destroying the planet was a bad idea.”

“True. But honey, what are we going to do about it? Offhand I don’t see how we can use salted pork and kidney beans to bring Alice Montaine to her knees. At the moment she seems to have the upper hand. I think we’re just going to have to wait and see if anything develops. Maybe this city will come back to life and do something we can use to our advantage.”

Since it was almost nightfall Lily went ahead and fixed ham sandwiches for dinner. As Alice had not provided a portable stove they were forced to eat them cold. “I don’t see any more pancakes in our future,” Lily replied, sighing.

“Or another good night’s sleep,” Jack pointed out. “We have no bed, no sheets, and no sleeping bag. Just the nice, hard ground to keep us company.”

“I wish we could call for room service,” Lily grumbled.

Jack laughed. A few hours later the couple drifted off to sleep. Neither of them slept well on the hard steel floor, however, and both awoke early the next day.

The day proved to be uneventful. Lily was not too keen on doing any more exploring and Jack agreed that it was probably best to just stay put. A thorough search of the building revealed that it was a simple, small one-story structure in fairly good repair. The building was located on the extreme outskirts of the city. To the north of the building was the rest of the town and to the south was nothing but unending desert.

The day dragged on. With nothing to occupy their time each hour seemed like an eternity. After lunch Lily had finally had enough. “We have got to find something to do, Jack! I don’t care what it is but I just can’t sit here any longer. I’m going to go crazy!”

“I hear you, dear. But what do you have in mind? I’m all out of suggestions.”

Lily sighed. “I don’t know. I wish I could think of something.”

An hour later, just before sunset, the couple heard a noise in the distance. Jack and Lily both rushed outside to see what it was. The noise gradually grew louder and they soon realized that a small spacecraft was approaching the city from the west. After a minute the ship had come close enough for them to see it high overhead.

“Do you think that’s Alice?” Lily asked.

“Could be, I guess. But what would she be doing? I wasn’t expecting her for a few more days.”

As they stared up in the sky they noticed that the ship had started losing altitude. At the same time it changed its flight path and appeared to be heading in their direction.

“I think it’s going to land right next to us!” Jack exclaimed.

“Wonderful! All we have to do is attack Alice, grab the ship, and leave. She won’t know what hit her.”

“That easy, huh? Do you know how to pilot a spaceship?”

Lily looked at her husband. “You mean you don’t?”

“Of course not! I repair transporters for a living. I don’t know the first thing about flying! Do you know how expensive flying lessons are?”

The conversation was cut short when the ship came in for a landing. As Jack had predicted, the vessel came to a stop about a hundred feet away from them. The ship was a very small craft that was obviously intended to transport just one person. Given the size of its engines, however, Jack had no doubt that it was capable of wormhole travel. As shuttles go, that’s definitely a top-of-the-line model, he thought.

In the side of the craft a door opened and a person in a red Starman uniform stepped out. To their surprise, however, it was not Alice Montaine. Instead it was a tall, elderly gentleman with thinning white hair.

The man approached them, smiling. He extended his hand. “Hello there! It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Joe Taylor.”