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Abruptly there came an almighty explosion, followed by a massive crash and the rumble of a spacecraft lifting into the atmosphere.
Debris flew all around them. Selene fell to her knees and covered her helmet-free head.
Rocks crashed around her, and she cried out when one partially large boulder fell heavily against her thigh. Her suit took most of the impact’s brunt, but she still felt the thump of pain and air knocked out of her chest.
Moments later, she was enveloped by a larger body. Kainan. Protecting her yet again.
After some time, the shower of rubble died down.
Selene coughed at the still-swirling dust while Kainan slowly lifted himself from her. She staggered to her feet with his help.
Before them, where the neighbour’s palatial home had stood minutes ago, was a large crater.
‘Rina?’ Selene called out urgently, looking for her friend through the dust-filled air.
‘Here,’ came a reply. ‘I’m OK.’
Rina emerged from the gritty atmosphere, covered in fine soil. She joined Kainan and Selene, who stood over the gaping crater in the ground. Grass, mud, stone bricks and what looked like supporting beams kept crashing into the gaping hole in intervals.
Behind them, the security guards who’d rushed to help also gawked at the large fissure.
Rina brushed residue from her suit. ‘Fokk! Was that was I thought it was?’
Kainan whipped off his helmet coated in dust. ‘Naam. That was a spacecraft.’
Selene couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. ‘Hidden in what looks like an underground hangar under the neighbour’s house.’
‘Mirage, can you track where that bogey went to?’ Kainan said.
The AI responded promptly, her dulcet tones drifting from his wrist comm. ‘I had eyes on the property when the spaceship crashed through and flew off. I caught it on-screen and tracked it as far as I could.Khosi, it was a Technocracy rattler. An augmented one because it moved extremely fast. Quicker than they normally do. I suspect it has a xentium core. That, mixed with crat tech, means it could be swift.’
Kainan groaned. ‘Where is it now?’
‘It went into FTL the moment it touched orbit. A mere 18.5 seconds after it launched. I don’t have eyes on it now.’
‘Fokk!’ Kainan roared, flinging his helmet to the ground. ‘I missed it entirely. I searched Massimo’s home but didn’t think to look at the entire neighbourhood. I should have brought him straight to the central slammer -.’
Rina interjected, shaking her head. ‘That wouldn’t have been a good idea, given we’re still trying to weed out the One Dunia’s loyalists. They’ve infiltrated every government sector, and I bet you there are some rotten eggs in the local prison system.’
‘Still,’ said Kainan. ‘I should have done better.
Selene interrupted his furious jag. ‘Don’t be hard on yourself. Massimo’s been working on his subterfuge for years. That doorway materialised before us, probably with the help of The Technocracy’s mechanisation. Maybe that’s the same reason why you couldn’t penetrate it. The corridor seemed well shielded, and the hangar has probably been here since he built the house, also well hidden. You wouldn’t have known.’
‘I should have known,’ he raged. ‘I didn’t think.’
Kainan’s sapphire gold eyes met hers, and he looked away angrily.
Selene glanced back at the mansion, where Massimo’s trio of betrayers stood on the mangled balcony. A guard stood over each of them, their arms tightly holding onto the prisoners’ shackled chains. ‘The best thing we can do right now is to ensure those three get to Gineliv III. And that they get interrogated to find out if they know where Massimo is going. Marko comes to mind as being the best bet for probing for more intel.’
‘I’ll get onto it,’ Rina promised.
‘But first, we have to tell the Council about Massimo’s escape,’ Selene said. ‘I believe that after all, we’ve gone through, they’ll be more forgiving than we think.’
Kainan snorted quietly. ‘You think so? We just lost the most important asset of this war.’
‘I beg to differ,’ Rina said with a twinkle in her eye. ‘I know we did not because she’s right here - beside you.’
Kainan paused, giving Selene a long look. ‘That she is.’
