Spliced

“That’s an ‘N’ right?” Zephyr asked once after Amanda sent her whistle back up to them.

Wolf nodded. “How’d you know?”

“Figured ‘N’ would be shorter, ‘Y’s not a common letter. Am I right? Is it shorter?”

Wolf nodded. “Yeah.”

“So she doesn’t want us to jump?” Zephyr confirmed.

Wolf nodded. “That’s right.”

“But she survived?”

“She probably doesn’t think Tanya can make the jump. It probably means it’s just straight into water.”

“How many metres do you think?”

“More than 15, hell even 15 metres is enough to cause injury.”

“I read a book on cliff divers, they can go up to almost 50 metres. You just gotta hit the water straight, legs together, slight banana shape.”

“There’s a hell of a difference between reading about it and doing it.” Wolf replied. “And do you think she could do it in that state?” he nodded at Tanya, who appeared to have dozed off. She lay slumped against the wall, head lolling to one side. “You just wanna leave her here?”

Zephyr sighed. “So what do we do then?”

Wolf stared intently down into the darkness of the Splice hole. “We wait.”

“For how long?”

Wolf shrugged. He turned to look at Zephyr. “You might as well get some sleep. I’ll keep watch. If shit goes to hell, and those mimics turn up we can always jump then.”

Zephyr nodded then after a moment’s pause added, “Not sure I can sleep.”

“Fine, you keep watch. Wake me if anything changes or if you hear a whistle.”

“I think that would be considered a change,” Zephyr observed.

Wolf ignored him, shifted into Wolf form and curled up on the floor. Moments later he was softly snoring.

“Cat?”

Cat jerked awake to see Amanda kneeling down in front of her waiting to see what she had found out.

As Cat opened her mouth to talk she was overcome by a wave of dizzying nausea. She turned to her side and vomited onto the floor.

Someone lifted her hair and held it away from her face, probably Amanda.

“You alright?” Amanda asked after Cat had finished depositing her lunch onto the cold stone.

Cat wiped her mouth and then glanced up at Amanda.

Amanda was studying her intently but she seemed to relax a little once Cat met her eyes.

“You find anything?” Amanda asked.

Cat nodded. Once she’d taken a moment to get her bearings back she filled them in on what she’d seen.

“Could they be other people trapped in this place like us?” Amanda asked.

“Possibly,” Cat agreed. “They seemed very out of it though. If they’re trapped like us, I doubt they’ll last much longer.”

“And you didn’t see anyone else?”

“No, but then if they’re not asleep they’re going to be very hard to find."

Amanda nodded. “Could you get a rough location on them? The woman and the child?”

Cat shook her head then changed it to a rolling nod. She pointed towards the pool. “That general direction, maybe 100 metres, but that doesn’t mean there’s a direct path to them.”

Amanda nodded and thought about it for a bit.

The others were quiet until Sirius spoke. “There’s some stairs that go around the inside of hole and up a little way. Looked like a hallway on the other side, but I couldn’t be sure. It was pretty dark.”

Amanda smiled and stood up. She rubbed her hands together. “That’s not a problem. Shall we check it out?”

Indi nodded with a hesitant glance down at Falco, unsure what they were going to do about him. She tried not to think about it but worry tugged at the back of her mind.

“You alright?” Amanda asked Cat with a glance in her direction.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” she waved one hand at her head. “Just a light concussion.”

“Take it easy,” Amanda told her.

Indi gave Cat a worried look but didn’t say anything about it. Instead she turned her attention back to her partner. “What are we going to do about Falco?” she asked.

Just as she’d spoken, another voice yelled out to them from across the Splice hole. “Hey you! Who goes there?”

Sirius turned to see the dark figure of a man standing across the Splice hole, one level up. He’d emerged from the hallway Sirius had just mentioned and on his shoulder he had slung the unmistakable silhouette of an assault rifle.

The man stepped further forward and slightly more into what little light there was. He raised his rifle slightly. “Who are you? What are you doing down here?”

Sirius took a hesitant step back. “We’re trying to find the way out. We got a little lost. We’re supposed to be doing a job.”

The man leaned forward trying to get a better visual then stood upright and raised his weapon. “You’re not supposed to be alive.”

He fired one round. It his Sirius in the right shoulder. The man shifted the rifle slightly to his own right and raised it. Then he erupted into flames. His screams rang out for only a second before his body fell to the floor, now a charred corpse.

Sirius clutched at his shoulder and turned to see Amanda standing slightly behind him with her fist raised and an angry expression on her face.

“Man we really could have used you when we ran into the soldiers earlier,” Cat said as she stepped up behind the two of them.

Amanda didn’t say anything. Setting people alight was not her favourite pastime, even when absolutely necessary. She turned to Sirius and grabbed his arm to move it so she could check his wound. He grabbed her wrist gently.

“It’s fine,” he told her. “The jacket absorbed most of it.”

Sirius had not a scratch on him. The jacket didn’t even have a hole. The bullet had simply been deflected off it.

Sirius had had the jacket a long time, well before he’d met Amanda. It had probably been enchanted by a magic wielder known as an Infuser. Infusers could copy magic from a person and embed it in an object, like putting telekinesis into a stick so the user could use it to move other objects which were a short distance away. While infusers themselves weren’t uncommon, the kind of ability it would have taken to make this jacket was. Most Infuser magic only lasted a few hours at most. Good infusers could make something last longer, months, maybe even a couple of years but they charged an arm and a leg. Sirius’s jacket had lasted decades and it was completely bullet proof as well as fireproof, much to Amanda’s fondness. What its limits were, Sirius wasn’t sure. He hoped to never find out, and as he had received the coat from the previous captain of the ship along with his ship, when he had died, Sirius had no idea who the Infuser was that had originally enchanted it.

He pulled Amanda into a tight hug. She ran her fingers over the part where the bullet had bounced off as if making sure it hadn’t hit him.

“Well he came from somewhere.” Amanda said.

Sirius met her eyes. “Time to go and check it out?”

She nodded.

“What about Falco?” Cat asked.

“You guys wait here. Sirius and I will go and check it out.”

“Like hell.” Cat replied.

“You have a concussion, Falco has . . .”

“Broken ribs, probably.” Sirius filled in for her.

Amanda continued. “Indi looks exhausted, and Kass . . .” she glanced at Kass “Can keep anything back long enough for us to get back here if you guys get into trouble.”

Kass looked unsure.

“What if you get into trouble?” Cat asked.

“Then I’ll light them on fire.” Amanda said. Her lips curled up in a smile as if it were child’s play but her eyes remained deadly serious.

Cat was too tired to argue so she just gave a nod.

“We won’t go far,” Amanda added, then satisfied that everyone else was fine with the plan, she turned back to Sirius. “Ready?”

He nodded.

“Wait . . .” Kass started “I don’t know... I don’t know if I can . . .”

Indi interrupted her. “It’s fine, I think I can still shield a little, as long as I rest between and don’t have to hold it up for too long.” She gave Amanda a reassuring smile.

Amanda gave her a nod in reply. Kass’s shoulders and expression seemed to relax a little, although her hands still remained balled in little fists and she ran her thumbs back and forth over her fingers nervously. Even so, she nodded and sat back down on the floor to wait.

Indi gave Amanda a genuine but tired smile. “We’ll be fine. Don’t be gone too long.”

Amanda nodded. “Don’t overdo it. Yell if you need us.”

Indi returned her nod and sat down between Cat and Kass.

“How’s your stomach?” Indi asked Cat once Amanda and Sirius were out of the corridor.

“It’s fine,” Cat replied in a voice that suggested she didn’t want to talk about it.

Indi got the message and instead of pursuing it further she moved to sit next to where Falco lay. “How are you doing?” she asked him as she rubbed his shoulder.

“Mmm,” he murmured. He shifted a little bit then grimaced grabbed his sides. “It hurts to move but I think I’m getting used to it.”

Indi nodded. “We’ll get out of here soon.” She kept one hand resting gently on his shoulder for comfort.

Falco gave her a strained smile and a small nod before closing his eyes again.

Amanda and Sirius made their way around the Splice hole. The floor of the stairs they climbed formed a grating so they could see right through down to the dark pool at the bottom of the hole. They stepped quietly and tried to keep an ear out for any more soldiers. Amanda kept a small flame burning so they could see their way once they reached the other hallway. They didn’t have to travel too far inside before they found much more than they had expected.

“Is that . . ?” Amanda wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating.

“An elevator.” Sirius finished

“You think it goes up?”

“Let’s hope.” Amanda took a step forward to touch the button.

“Wait” Sirius said. “What if it lets them know we’re here?”

“They already know we’re here.”

“Yeah but I mean at this elevator. Maybe we should get the others first?”

“What if the enemy is waiting at the top?”

“We can still deal with them. Better to risk it with all of us together first I think.”

Amanda raised her eyebrows at him.

Sirius, understanding her message replied “Yes I know you could probably deal with any opposition just fine but we also don’t want the others getting cut off.”

Amanda nodded. “Okay, let’s go get them.”

“Listen, about before, earlier . . . with Kass and the . . .”

Amanda held up a hand to silence him then grabbed his hand between her two and squeezed gently. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“You’re back!” Indi smiled with unconstrained glee once they returned.

“That was fast,” Kass observed, her voice shook slightly, unable to keep the worry out.

“What’d you find?” Cat asked in a down to business tone.

Amanda grinned. “An elevator.”

Indi’s eyes widened and for a moment she seemed to have uncharacteristically lost her voice, but only for a moment. “Really? Does it go to the top?”

“Didn’t check yet,” Amanda replied. “Hopefully.”

Cat’s face fell. “You didn’t check. How do you know it’s not just a trap?”

“We didn’t want to risk letting them know where we were.” Sirius explained.

“Like they haven’t been tracking us this entire time.” Cat replied dejectedly.

“I’m not so sure they are still” Indi replied. “I mean we’ve found each other all again.”

“Yeah, well maybe they’re toying with us.”

“Well we’ve nothing else to do,” Kass replied.

“You’d rather sit here?” Amanda asked Cat.

Cat sighed, shook her head and got to her feet. Then she nodded questioningly down at Falco.

“I’ll carry him” Sirius stepped between them and knelt down next to Falco. “Sorry mate, this might hurt a bit.” He pushed his hands under Falco’s back and beneath his knees and lifted him up. Not a problem for Sirius. With his super strength it was like lifting a small child or a puppy. For Falco it was much worse. He winced as Sirius lifted him up but fell quiet again once Sirius held him steady.

They all trouped across the stairs. Cat was glad once they were off the metal stairs. There had been no railing and even though the stairs were a regular width she didn’t like the proximity to the giant pool of blood or the holes in the grating. She’d done enough swimming today to last a lifetime.

They quickly reached the elevator. For awhile no one moved. Then Indi, who had always had the least patience of anyone reached out and pushed the button. The doors opened. Indi stepped inside and peered around the door. She stood half in the door way and smiled at them. “It looks like it goes all the way up.”

Before the others could pile aboard, some sounds could be heard further down the hallway.

“That sounds like voices,” Sirius remarked.

Amanda nodded. “And a lot of them.” She took a step towards the sounds.

“Wrong way Amanda,” Cat remarked. “We wanna go up remember.”

Amanda shook her head. “You guys go up. I want to know what’s going on in this place.”

“Are you insane?” Cat asked.

Indi opened her mouth as if to object as well.

“Look, I’ll be fine, I can deal with anything, but the rest of you should get upstairs, get Falco out of here, and rescue Wolf and the others. Use my rope.”

“Being a little arrogant aren’t you?” Cat asked. “You don’t know what they’ve got down there.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sirius told Amanda as he shifted Falco to a standing position and handed him off to Cat.

“Hey!” Cat objected but she grabbed Falco under the shoulder and helped him stand. He winced but didn’t object.

“I promise, I’ll be fine,” Amanda told them.

“I’m coming back down once I get them up,” Cat told her.

Amanda didn’t reply. Cat got Falco in the elevator with the help of Indi.

“Get going before they get here,” Sirius told them. He turned to Kass who still stood outside the elevator.

She shook her head. “I’m coming with you guys.”

Amanda nodded.

“I’ll be back,” Cat repeated as she pushed the button in the elevator.

“Promise you’ll be careful,” Indi shouted just before the doors closed.

Amanda nodded.

The elevator was not a gentle ride. Falco grunted with every bump.

“We’re almost there,” Indi reassured him. “Where do we go when we get to the top?” she asked Cat.

“Amanda’s room. We leave Falco there, we grab the rope . . .”

“And some food” Indi added. Food would give her more energy to shield.

Cat nodded. “And weapons. If we can find your computer you think you could get into their system and find a map of this place. Maybe even mess with their systems a little.”

Indi nodded. “Sure, no problem.”

“You get food. I’ll get the weapons. We’ll leave the computer for now. We’ll meet in the hallway, then walk with Falco to the top of the Splice hole. Hopefully with some food, once we get Tanya up, she should be able to do some more healing. Maybe”

Indi nodded.

The doors opened.

“Ready?” Cat asked and braced herself in case there were people waiting for them. They were lucky. The whole place was empty.

“We’re already on the Splice Hole top floor,” Indi observed once they’d gotten out and found their bearings.

“Right, let’s leave Falco up here then.”

“Leave him here?” Indi didn’t sound convinced.

Cat nodded. “No point carrying him all the way down and back up.”

“What if someone finds him?”

“Well you can wait here with him if you want but it’d be faster with two of us.”

“I think we walked past a kitchen that way,” Indi pointed.

“Alright, I’ll go get the rope and weapons. I’ll meet you back here.”

Indi nodded.

Cat peered over the edge of railing and whistled. She didn’t send Morse code or anything like that. She just gave one loud long whistle. Moments later a face peered back up at her from about 20 metres down. Wolf! She gave him a wave and then held up five fingers. He nodded and gave a thumbs up. She headed for the floor the living quarters were on.

She was surprised not to run into anyone as she went. The whole place was deserted. Where had everybody gone? Something pretty weird sure was going on here.

She made it to Amanda and Sirius’s room and found their suitcase. She opened it up and rifled through it. She snorted at the bottle of wine. Not likely anyone was going to get a chance to drink that now but it was typical of Amanda to bring it. The rope was right at the bottom. Thank god they hadn’t taken that. It was still too short though. Cat pulled the bedspread off the bed. That should add some length. She grabbed a few sheets just in case. She’d have to come back for weapons; this was almost too much to carry as it was.

She returned to the top floor to find a pile of fruit, a jug of milk, and a bag of bread, but no sign of Indi.

“Where’s Indi?’ Cat asked Falco.

“She went to go see if she could get into the computers,” he replied. He was looking a little better although obviously still in pain.

Cat dumped the sheets and ropes on the floor. “Right.” She peered over the edge again and whistled. This time she could see both Wolf and Zephyr as they stuck their faces out. She tied the rope to the railing and threw it over the edge. It was several metres too short. She pulled it back up and tied one of the thick bedspreads to it. Hopefully that would hold. Hopefully she had the knot right. She looked down and gave them the thumbs up.

Wolf and Zephyr looked anxiously at each other.

“You first,” Zephyr offered.

Wolf sighed. At least he knew how to fall properly, and if he shifted he’d actually increase his odds of surviving the landing, or at least his wind resistance.

He grabbed the sheet and swung out. He twisted the lower portion around his leg, which would also help stop a fall assuming the whole thing didn’t come apart. He pulled himself up, hand over hand until he reached the top. It took a few minutes but eventually he pulled himself over the edge with no trouble.

“Hey Cat. Good to see you again.”

“Likewise,” she replied.

“Where’s everyone else?”

Cat sighed. “Indi’s up here somewhere doing computer stuff. The others are down below . . . “

“Is Falco alright?” Wolf asked with a frown.

“He’s got broken ribs from the fall. Hoping Tanya can heal them.”

“Mmm.” Wolf looked out over the edge and saw Zephyr about to start climbing. “Zeph, hold up.”

Zephyr stopped and looked up with wide eyes.

Wolf turned to Cat. “I don’t think Tanya can climb this.”

“We’ll tie her in then” Cat replied.

Wolf nodded and yelled back down to Zephyr. “Hey Zeph, we’re going to add some more rope onto the end. Can you tie Tanya in and then we’ll pull her up?”

Zephyr nodded and gave the thumbs up. Cat and Wolf pulled the rope and sheets back up and started tying a sling in the end. Then Cat watched as Wolf rigged some kind of pulley system.

As he was doing that Indi retuned carrying what looked like more food. “Hi Wolf!”

“Hey Indi,” Wolf replied with a smile.

“I thought you were going to go do some computer stuff?” Cat asked.

“I was,” Indi replied. “But I got distracted. I got some more food instead.” She dropped an array of cheeses and some packets of crackers on the floor. Cat suddenly realised how hungry she was. She reached for a cracker.

“Hold up,” Wolf told her. “Let’s get these guys up first.”

“I’m starved,” Cat complained.

“We’ll eat once they’re up.”

Cat nodded glumly and they both lowered the rope back down.

“We’re might need your help Indi.”

Indi got into place. “You aren’t going to do it in Wolf form?” she asked Wolf.

Wolf nodded. “I am. Just gimme a sec.” A moment later he had the rope in his mouth. Cat and Indi also held part of it.

“Shout when you’re ready.” Cat yelled down at Zephyr.

Zephyr took awhile to help Tanya get into the swing at the end of the rope. Once she was ready he yelled back up and they began pulling. Wolf did most of the work with Cat putting a decent amount of effort in and Indi doing her small part. Eventually the managed to get Tanya to the top.

“Got it?” Cat asked.

Wolf gave a growl which Cat took for a yes and she let go of the rope and grabbed a hold of Tanya’s hand instead. She helped her over the railing.

“Phew, I’m glad that’s over” Tanya commented once she was safely over.

Wolf shifted back into a man and dropped the rope back over the edge. “You can climb up now” he yelled down to Zephyr.

“You’re not gonna pull me?” Zephyr joked.

Wolf laughed and shook his head.

Zephyr gave him a smile and the thumbs up and began his ascent.

“I got some food.” Indi said as she handed Tanya an apple.

“Oh my god, you darling, thank you,” Tanya replied taking it gratefully. She took a large bite and savoured it. “Mmm, best food I’ve ever had.”

Indi grinned, in between mouthfuls of cheese and cracker.

Cat had a similar smile on her face as she too filled up on the food.

“Hey, leave some for the rest of us,” Wolf said.

“First in first served,” Cat teased.

“This is so good,” Indi mumbled. “Want some?” she handed a cracker to Falco. Falco reached for it and winced so Indi commenced mouth feeding him instead.

He smiled and muttered a happy, “Thanks.”

Eventually Zephyr pulled himself over the edge.

“What’s all this? Are you guys having a party without me?”

“Mmm, come join us,” Cat told him.

“Gladly, where are the others?”

“Investigating,” Cat rolled her eyes. “Amanda wanted to see what was going on.” she pushed herself up. “Right, I’m going to get some weapons, back in a sec.”

As Cat left, Indi turned to Tanya. “Think you can heal Falco’s ribs? I know it’s a lot to ask.”

Tanya nodded. “I can give it a go. I should be able to do the worst of it. This food’s helped a lot. I still need to heal my own but I can move better than he can so I’ll help him first.”

“Thank you.”

Tanya placed her hands on Falco and focused. A moment later Falco seemed to be breathing easier. Suddenly Tanya dropped her hands and almost fell forward.

“Whoa, careful,” Falco grabbed her shoulder to stop her then winced. “Ugh still hurts, but that’s much better than it felt before. That’ll be enough, thanks.” he told her.

Tanya nodded and she sat upright and took a deep breath. “Sorry I can’t do more. I’m afraid if I do I’ll pass out.”

“That’s fine.” Falco replied. “Make sure you look after yourself too.”

They waited patiently for Cat to return while Indi filled them in on what had happened at the bottom of the Splice hole.

Cat broke her way into the weapons room and grabbed a few guns. Then she decided to check more of the place out. She found no one until she reached the open door to a room they hadn’t yet visited.

She poked her head carefully around the door and saw a chair with some screens. She crept up slowly behind them but it proved to be pointless for as she reached the chair and peered over to have a look she found the occupant already dead. He appeared to have been shot in the head. She poked him with the weapon just to make sure then turned her attention to the screens.

Many of them displayed images of rooms that looked familiar. Others were of stone hallways. One in particular caught her attention. It was of a large room with two stone slabs in the centre. Cat recognised the people on them. It was the Mary and her daughter Lily, the people whose dreams Cat had entered into. Around the room stood a dozen soldiers, dressed like the man who had shot at Sirius downstairs, and like him they all carried weapons. Cat watched as another man, dressed much nicer than the soldiers entered and walked up to the people on the slabs. He seemed to be checking on them. He took the woman’s pulse then spoke to a dark-haired woman who had entered with him. He must have asked her something because she shook her head. He didn’t appear happy with the answer. He paced a few times up and down by the slabs then checked on the girl. Some more pacing then he seemed to be yelling at the woman. Suddenly the girl on the slab sat upright. At the same time someone grabbed Cat’s ankle.

Cat gave them a swift kick.

A small yelp came from underneath the desk, and then a groan.

Cat took a step back and pointed a gun at them. “Come out with your hands up or I’ll shoot you.”

“Please . . . don’t hurt me.” a female voice choked.

“Come out then.”

A dark haired woman, covered in blood, crawled on her belly, out from underneath the desk. Her frizzy black hair was a mess, smeared across her face in a mix of blood and sweat. She wore bright red glasses which sat lopsided on her face. “Please don’t hurt me. I didn’t do anything. I was just watching. The splice, it went wrong, it did things, changed them, it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. We didn’t move them all...” she whimpered not making any sense.

Cat lowered her weapon slightly but didn’t drop it completely. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I, I’m . . . “

As she was stuttering Cat took a glance at the camera and realised it was the same woman. The one down in the other room who had entered with the man. This woman looked exactly like her except for the colour of the glasses. The woman on the screen had turquoise glasses.

The woman with the red glasses reached a hand up as if asking for help but before Cat could do anything the woman dropped her hand and passed out on the floor.

Suddenly the screens flicked off. It was then that Cat realised they weren’t screens at all but mirrors. Cat knelt down next to the woman and pressed two fingers to her neck. No pulse. The woman was dead. Cat pulled her out from under the desk and flipped her onto her back. Her front was riddled with bullet wounds. Cat backed slowly out of the room and went to regroup with the others. She found them exactly where she left them.

“Right you five,” Cat told them “You need to get out of here.”

They got to their feet ready to move.

“What are you going to do?” Wolf asked.

“I’m going to get the others. Just get to the top and wait for us there.”

Indi nodded.

Cat handed Wolf and Zephyr some guns. “Just in case.” then she stalked off towards the elevator they had come up in.

The five of them headed towards the exit. It turned out getting out was much easier than getting in. They got all the way to the last elevator and piled in, all except Indi who stopped right outside the elevator.

“What are you waiting for?” Falco asked.

“They might need me,” Indi replied. “I’ll see you at the top.” she hit the close door button and stepped back. The others were too slow. The doors closed quickly separating them from Indi and sending them to the surface level. Indi followed Cat, hoping she’d made the right choice.

Once upstairs Falco cursed. “We have to go back down.”

“We need a fingerprint,” Wolf reminded him.

“I can do it.” Tanya offered. “It should work for my finger, if you want to go back down.”

Wolf and Falco looked at each other.

“I’ll go,” Wolf volunteered. “You’re injured and we don’t need everyone back in there.”

Falco shook his head. “Who put you in charge?”

“Amanda did. When she’s not here I’m in charge.”

“No way, I’m coming with you.” Falco started to move towards the elevator but a sharp pain in his ribs made him double over.

“You’re in no state to,” Wolf observed.

Falco growled but he knew it was true. “Just bring her back safe.”

Wolf nodded. “Tanya?”

Tanya and Wolf got into the elevator. She rode it all the way down and then watched Wolf get off.

“Make sure they stay up there.” Wolf told her.

She nodded and pushed the button to head back up.