Chains of Freedom (30 page)

"I don't see any light," Alexi said. He was totally ignored.

RJ took Poley and pulled him off a few feet to talk. This did not pass Alexi's eyes unnoticed. He whispered in David's ear.

"Why is she always asking him questions?"

David shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose because he's her brother, and she trusts his judgment," David said with a shrug. "She does ask him some pretty weird shit, though."

"And what's even weirder, is that he always seems to know the answers."

RJ and Poley walked back. RJ took a handful of rocks and threw them on the steps. Lasers flared immediately and the rocks were blown to bits. RJ drew her laser and fired four shots seemingly at the building. There was a loud hiss of fire at each shot, and David realized that she had shot out the weapons. She threw in another fist full of rocks; this time with no results.

"Poley, go and open the door."

Poley nodded and moved forward.

"Now that's a little strange, don't you think?" Alexi asked.

David just shrugged in mild annoyance.

"RJ just sent her brother to open the door. Odd, because she can't be sure that all of the lasers are deactivated. You'd expect her to send me."

"I would never send a hamster to do a man's work." RJ had no trouble hearing him, and she had no time for his shit. She was not unconcerned about the metal man.

"Well?" she asked Poley when he had been at the door longer than she thought he should be.

"It is too simple," he said.

RJ nodded and walked up the steps to join him at the door. "Well, Tin Pants?"

He pointed at the doorknob and she nodded. "Can you detect anything?"

"No."

"Oh, I hate this. You know what Father always said . . . ."

"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is," Poley finished. As always happy that he could answer her question.

"Exactly." She put her hand on the knob. "Cross your fingers."

"We learned many strange things from our father," the robot said as if it were a revelation.

RJ nodded and turned the knob.

#

In the depths of the ancient prison, a man stared at three blank screens.

"What's happened, Marge?"

All around him, machinery hummed and lights flashed. The noise and the lights didn't actually have anything to do with the operation of the massive computer which lined every wall of the room the man was sitting in, but he thought it added something to the feel of things.

"They're using a sonic wavelength to distort the picture." The voice was obviously a man trying to sound like a woman, and it issued from the computer's speakers.

"Funny. They didn't look the sonic-wavelength-emitting type." The man laughed and spun in his chair. "Anything else?"

"Specific meaning?" the computer oozed.

"Stupid machine," he mumbled. "Are you getting any reading from the weapon system?"

"Lasers at the front entrance were activated, no human tissue was scorched. Suggest infiltrators threw something into the field to check it."

"Hum." The man stroked his chin.

"What, Master?"

"Just hum. Can't a man hum around here without getting the third degree?" He calmed and smiled. "So. I wonder what she's up to now?"

"Suggest that, seeing the sophistication of our weapon system, the infiltrators have left."

"Suggest you are an idiot!" the man screamed at the computer. "If they have gone, why are the cameras still not functioning?" He rubbed his hands in anticipation. "No, she's coming on. I can feel it. It's all rather exciting."

The antiquity of the exterior of the structure did not match the sleek modern brightness of the interior.

"OK, I've seen enough, let's go," Levits said. "We could always come back another time, RJ."

"Quiet, idiot!" RJ hissed. Then she mumbled. "Idiots! I am surrounded, completely engulfed in idiots."

In the bowels of the computer complex, sirens wailed."Weapons deactivated! Door open! Infiltrators inside! Door open! Unauthorized entry at main door!" the computer squealed in a shrill voice.

The man jumped to his feet and clapped his hands in glee. "They got in! Any audio on them, Marge?"

For answer, Levits' voice came in over the loudspeaker.

The man flopped down heavily in his chair.

"RJ." He said the name almost reverently. "So, I wonder if that could be
our
RJ, Marge. Only one way to be sure."

"How's that, Master?" the computer asked.

"You are such a disappointment to me at times, Marge. We simply leave the security system as is. The real RJ will have no trouble getting through it."

"And if she can't?"

"Then we will have enjoyed a pleasant diversion for a time, and we'll have a nasty mess to clean up." He winced. "Turn off that bloody siren."

"We have to keep moving," RJ said. "But we're going to have to move with caution." She put Mickey on her shoulder.

"I detect an audio system," Poley whispered to her.

"Scramble it," she ordered.

"Done."

They were in a long, dimly lit hallway. There were no doors on either side as far as the eye could see, and RJ's worst fears were realized.

"We are in their security system," she announced.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"This isn't a logical entrance. In other words, this is the security system," she said impatiently.

David had that
I don't get it
look on his face which she was beginning to find increasingly irritating.

"It's a trap, probably a series of them."

David nodded.

They started down the hall three abreast, weapons pulled. When they reached a corner, they went around it with care. On the floor before them for some twenty feet, the floor changed. Where it had been solid white, it was now a checkerboard of black and white tiles. RJ threw out her arm, and David crashed into it. She looked at the floor, then the ceiling. At ceiling level, she saw protrusions. Glancing back at the floor, she asked, "Poley, can you detect any difference between the tiles?"

"Some are black, and some are white," he stated proudly.

"
I
can see
that
." She took a deep breath, obviously restraining her annoyance. "Can you see any
other
differences? Are some of the tiles thicker than the others?"

Poley scanned the floor. "The black tiles are thicker."

"OK," RJ sighed. "See those gas jets?" She pointed. "I think stepping on the wrong tiles activates them. We have no idea what kind of gas that is. Now, I'm thinking that the black tiles' being thicker means that they are the triggering device. Of course, I could be wrong. So, I suggest that Poley walk over first and that we stand back at a good distance."

"I suggest that we all go back to Alsterase before you get us killed," Alexi said. "Who ever we're dealing with is our technological superior. The farther we go, the more devious and dangerous their traps will become."

"Perhaps I should stay here in case we are attacked from the rear," Levits chimed in.

"Oh, good idea," Whitey said, with sincerity.

"On second thought, maybe we shouldn't break the group up," Levits said, nervously realizing that there actually
might
be an attack from the rear.

"We go on, all of us," RJ said authoritatively.

"Oh, the Great Leader has spoken," Alexi said sarcastically. "Where do you lead us, RJ? Do you know? To our deaths, I think."

RJ just smiled smugly. "If you want to be leader, Alexi, go across the tiles first. If you want to leave, then by all means, do so. But who will follow you? You forget yourself, Alexi. The Reliance may do a lot of things, but they don't overlook leadership qualities. In your former life, you were a third-class soldier; I was an Elite Major. To lead, you have to put your neck out. Go ahead. Take the walk, Alexi. I say walk on the white tiles, but what the hell do I know? Be your own man! Go ahead, chose for yourself and take the walk."

They all moved a good distance back. Alexi walked up to the edge of the tiles. He could see the gas jets, but he couldn't see any difference in the tiles. RJ said walk on the white ones. He started to take the step and broke out in a cold sweat. She thought she was infallible but he didn't. She could be wrong or she could be doing this on purpose to get rid of him. He stepped back away from the tiles, wiped the sweat from his face and turned towards the group. "Why should I go? I want to go
back
. Remember?"

RJ smiled broadly. She moved forward and Poley grabbed her shoulder. "I should go," he said.

"I trust you, Tin Pants." She patted his face and ran across the white tiles. The others followed.

David moved up beside RJ. "You hit him where he lives," he whispered, smiling, "but is there really any purpose for us being here?"

"Someone has worked very hard at making it damn near impossible to get in here. Therefore, whatever is here must be worth having."

David nodded. That made sense.

"Besides, we're not in any real danger as long as we stay sharp."

"Huh?" David was lost again.

"If the owners wanted us dead, we would be dead."

David gave her that confused look again.

"A weapons system such as this indicates a great technology. Great technology indicates great intelligence. Obviously, these weapons are being computer controlled, but would a wise man build such a system without a manual over ride?"

"So, if he knew we were in, he could have emptied the gas canisters into the hall, and we would have walked right into it." David made a face. "I still don't get it."

"Only
some
of the tiles activated the gas. If you have manual override, none of these traps would hamper your coming and going. So why not have
all
the tiles activate the gas jets?"

"It's like some sort of maze. A test!" David said.

"Exactly," RJ said. "And if we keep our wits about us, we'll pass the test and win the prize."

"Master, the infiltrators have passed the gas trap," The computer informed in its mock-female voice.

The man swiveled in his chair. "They're still scrambling audio and visual?"

"Yes, I am tracing them through their body heat."

"Well, they certainly are a persistent lot." He smiled. "I hope they make it. I have been so wanting to meet these rebels."

The pit spread out before them, blocking their way. It covered the whole width of the hall for twenty feet. Five feet below them they could see a lake of bubbling acid.

"So, what now?" David asked.

"They haven't beaten us yet," she said. "There has to be a door or a bridge. Remember, they have to get past it somehow."

Nearly fifteen minutes later, Whitey found a loose section of wall. He moved it aside to reveal a door. It was securely locked, but the mechanism was simple.

"I can do that!" Mickey informed them.

RJ put him down, and three minutes later the door was open. The hallway they entered was no different than the one they had been walking in—which was not at all comforting.

"Master," the computer chimed. "RJ has found the secret passage around the acid trap."

"Marge, you called her RJ. Why did you do that?" he asked.

"You said that if she could get through the traps, she must be RJ. She is getting through the traps."

The hall narrowed and shortened, then it started to descend.

"I don't like this," David said. They now had to go single file, and even then it was tight for Whitey.

"We must be getting close to wherever we're going," Whitey said lightly. "This keeps attackers from attacking in force. I've seen this sort of thing before."

RJ stopped for a second and looked at the air vent considering. It was small; too small for her. She pulled the grill off and stood close enough to feel the air being sucked into the vent. "Poley." He joined her. "What do you make of this?"

"It's probably pulling cool air into the computer complex."

"They probably won't be scanning the air ducts. Maybe we could use it to get to the main computer room undetected."

"In case you haven't noticed, none of us can fit into that air duct," Alexi said dryly.

"As you obviously haven't noticed,
one
of us can."