Part 2

Things came to a head, however, on March 19th 2498.

"I don't know why we have to go on this stupid field trip in the first place," Kathy muttered. "I mean, what do ancient artifacts have to do with being a Guardian?"

"You tell me," Nar said.

"Cheer up, people," Ril said. "At least we're going to a colony world."

"Which means?" Kavi asked.

"Colony worlds mean people, stupid. Maybe this field trip is to show us how people from colony worlds think like."

"Are you sure you're not going into the field of supposition regarding that?" Kathy asked suspiciously.

"I could be, I suppose."

"Ten points to anyone who spots the irony in that," Nick murmured.

"Cut the chatter," Nar advised. "We're here."

Susan looked around, as the group piled out of the bus that brought them there. Karpan was not a small town in any sense of the word. In fact, it looked uncannily like a system.

She said so.

"That's because the humans who live here wanted something different," Ril explained. "They saw the systems that the sprites built, and wanted to do something like that. Thus Karpan was born."

"And here," the tour guide said, "we have the museum. It is, in itself, an artifact of ages past....."

Susan let her mind drift away as she looked around the place. The museum seemed very busy that day. Scores of people walked in or out, or just milled around the place. Susan watched as one man kept checking his watch. Must be waiting for his date, Susan surmised.

"Psst," Kathy nudged her. "You still alive?"

"Duh."

"You looked a bit brain dead just now."

"Again, duh. This whole trip is brain dead."

"Glad we agree on something."

Susan watched idly as the man walked over to another man. The newcomer was dressed in a business suit, as compared to the other man, who was dressed in a jumpsuit. The two of them conferred for a moment, then the jumpsuited man nodded. The man in a business suit then put down his briefcase, and the two of them walked over to the modem terminal next to the museum.

Susan looked back at the guide, shrugging her shoulders to herself. Must be some cloak-and-dagger stuff. Not her problem. She turned back her attention to the guide.

"In addition," the guide was saying, "the resident Anthros were not very fond of these new colonists. They utilized guerrilla strikes to hamper progress on the new city. Things finally came to a head when the main group planted a powerful bomb in the construction headquarters. Needless to say, once the timer in it went off, the whole construction plant went-"

She opened her eyes. She was lying face-down, and she briefly admired the myriad pattern of cracks in the metal of the car she was lying on. Her entire right side ached. Susan smelt smoke, heard screams.

She rolled off the cartop, and landed on the ground. She could see blood on the cartop.

Slowly, painfully, Susan stood up. She glanced at her right arm. It was covered in blood, but there was no visible injury.

A fresh wave of pain made her wince. Figures. The wound was in her side.

Susan looked around. It was a scene from hell. Bodies lay on the ground, unmoving. Others also lay unmoving, but at least they were groaning.

Susan hobbled over to a familiar figure, and kicked it until it moved. It coughed a few times, and groaned.

"Jeez, Susan," Nick said, getting up. "You didn't have to do that."

"It got you up, didn't it?" Susan found a piece of cloth, and used it as a crude bandage. "There. That should do it. You okay?"

"Apart from a few bruises, yeah. Found anybody else?"

"No."

"Well then." Nick adjusted his goggles.

"Doesn't that ever break?" Susan asked.

"Nope."

"Ah."

Nick turned to his left. "There's someone there. Still alive, I mean." He turned back to Susan. "You look bad."

"Being thrown onto a car does that to me."

"No, I mean.... do you know you're losing blood?"

"That makes our getting out of here more important, doesn't it?" Susan walked over to the place Nick pointed to. "Uh oh."

"What 'uh oh'?"

"It's Nar. And he's hurt real bad."

"Very." Susan concentrated on trying to lift the slab of mortar that was pinning Nar to the ground.

"The museum's gone. You do know that, don't you?"

"Obviously. Where else could all this debris come from?"

"The terminal. Apparently the blast took out a good deal of the surrounding area. And below it too."

"What?"

"Didn't you notice? We're underground."

Now that Susan looked more carefully, what she had assumed was daylight was in fact tunnel lights, which somehow were still working. Susan shook back her grogginess, and realized that the blast had been powerful enough to send them into the city's underground tunnel road.

"How about using your keytool?" Nar asked.

"Nar, be serious. I don't know how powerful the blast needs to be to dislodge this, but it's sure to concuss you."

"Don't worry about me. Just do it." Nar tried to look around. "Where's Nick?"

"He's looking for the others." Susan stepped back. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Flash, energy cutter, full power!"

The beam of energy blasted the slab of mortar apart. Nar miraculously rolled out of the way before it blew him apart as well.

Susan ran over to Nar. He was breathing heavily, but appeared to be unhurt.

"Shall we go?" he asked, flashing a quick grin.

"Might as well."

"I'm a little hung up at the moment," he said apologetically.

Susan blinked. Kavi was dangling precariously from a beam, holding on to one end. He was holding a bag of some sort in the other.

"Can't you let go?" Nar called up.

"Nuh-uh."

"Well, why not?"

"Because if I do, I'll probably lose my grip on this thing, then we're all dead."

"What is it?"

"It's a box of candies."

"Kavi....."

"Oh, okay. It's another bomb."

"WHAT?"

"Kavi," Susan called, "just...... hang in there, okay?"

"Yes ma'am! Hanging in there, ma'am!"

The medic skidded to a halt right in front of the gaping hole that was in the middle of the street. Of course, he didn't notice that. What he did notice were the injured people, and the vision of command giving out orders.

"You," Kathy pointed at the medic, "take care of these people. Now! Move!"

The medic complied, giving out orders of his own to his assistants.

Kathy sagged against the nearest person, who happened to be Crysta.

"You okay?" Crysta asked concernedly.

"Yeah." Kathy looked around. "So who's here?"

Crysta shook her head. "Only you, me, my brother and Sarah are still up here. Peter took a hit on the head. He's in the medical van now. Sarah's helping the rescue workers somewhere."

Kathy looked at the group of rescue workers frantically trying to clear the debris. "Damn."

"Why's that?"

"It's-" A tap on her shoulder made Kathy whirl around. She found herself face-to-face with a living legend.

"How're the rescue efforts going?" Prime Jennings asked.

Crysta shrugged helplessly. "Our friends are in there," was all she could say.

Kathy looked at the Guardians coming to help the rescue workers. "There's a small problem," she said.

"What's that?"

"I talked to the rescue workers. The tunnel's extremely unstable. It could go at any moment."

Prime Jennings said nothing, but his mouth set in a thin line.

Susan pointed up. Nick followed her finger.

"Oh," was all he said.

"Nice of you to join us," Kavi called down.

Nick adjusted his goggles. "The bomb's Daltex-8. Once detonated, it incinerates anything within a three-meter radius."

"Including me."

"Not if you throw it away fast enough."

"Nick, be serious. I've been hanging here for who knows how long. There's no way I can throw anything away that fast."

"Why can't you just let go of the bomb?" Ril asked.

"The detonation switch is in the strap. If I let go, the thing goes boom."

"How about dropping down?" Nar suggested.

"No good," Nick said. "Daltex-8 also detonates on violent impact. We can't take that risk."

"How DID you get that thing?" Susan asked.

"I was just picking it up to find out what it was. I saw some guy putting it on the floor, and he looked like he was making a drop. The moment I picked it up, I found myself hanging here. Get the picture?"

Susan turned to Nick. "Is there any way of disarming the bomb?"

"You could try cutting the cord that connects the detonator to the explosive," Nick said dubiously. "But the only way to do that is to cut the strap, in which case the bomb will fall."

"So let it fall," Nar said. "We'll all be out of its range anyway."

"Here's another solution," came a voice. The group all turned to face the newcomer.

"Sarah!" Ril exclaimed.

"We just wait for the others to arrive," Sarah said, pointing up. A modified Data crane was lowering several ropes down. "I came down the same way." She pointed to the bomb. "Better not let that go. You'd collapse the whole tunnel."

Susan felt a sudden wave of dizziness. She collapsed against Nick, who reached out to steady her.

"What's wrong, Susan?"

"I.... feel a bit dizzy."

"You're losing a lot of blood. I think you'd best get out of here as soon as possible."

Susan was about to agree when she heard something. She quickly turned to Sarah. "Tell me, are we the only ones left here?"

Sarah nodded. "We evacuated everybody else."

"Well, I think you missed one." Susan ran off as quickly as she could.

Nick shouted, "Susan! Wait!" when the tunnel suddenly started shaking. "What the-?!"

"The tunnel's collapsing!" Sarah shouted over the rumbling. "It's gonna go any moment now!" The first of the ropes was just reaching the bottom. "All of you, get out now!"

Finally, she found the source of the sound. A three year-old boy, trapped in a car. He was rolled up in a fetal position. Susan guessed that he must have been overlooked in the rescue effort.

The boy in the car didn't move a muscle as she called to him. He only responded when she banged on the car window.

"Open the window!" Susan mouthed.

The boy looked at her blankly, with an expression Susan knew all too well. The expression of somebody who knew that he would die, no matter what.

Susan gritted her teeth, vaguely aware that the bandage she had put on had come off a long time ago. She looked around for a loose piece of debris.

"Susan's still in there!" Sarah shouted back.

"Oh, no."

Kavi carefully handed the bomb to a nearby Guardian, who took it away to be disarmed. "Okay, who's with me?"

"What?" Nar asked confusedly.

"I'm asking for volunteers. I'm going back in."

"Are you crazy? The whole tunnel's gonna go!"

Kavi looked at the others calmly. "I suppose I am crazy. So, who's with me?"

At least, she tried to. The car door was stuck.

Susan tried not to panic. "Listen," she said in a calm tone of voice, "I'm going to try to get you out. You have to do what I say, okay?"

The boy nodded.

"Good. Now move away from the door. As far as you can."

The boy complied, scrambling to the far end.

Susan stepped back. "Flash, cutter!"

The beam of energy cut through the door, and Susan carefully cut the door away. She reached in, and picked up the boy, who crawled into her arms. "I'm scared," he whispered to her.

"Everything's okay now. I've got you. You're going to see your mommy soon."

A sudden creak of metal made her look up. Now she noticed the other car which was perched precariously on top of the first car.

I had to say it, Susan thought wryly. There was no way she could stop that car from falling on her and the boy.

The car gave another creak, then started falling slowly. Susan shut her eyes and waited for death.

Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded. Susan gasped as bits of metal rained down on her.

After it was over, she looked up again. Kavi was standing there, with a smoking keytool in his hands.

"Miss me?" he said, grinning widely.

Susan grinned back at him. "Your timing is impeccable, Kavi."

Kavi was about to reply, when a sudden rumbling came up. "Uh oh," he said. "The tunnel's collapsing."

Susan stared at him blankly for a moment, then it registered. "Get the boy out of here," she told him, thrusting the boy into his arms.

"But-"

"Just go!"

The rumbling increased in intensity as Kavi ran to the rope which dangled down from above. He turned back to her. "Susan...."

"GO!"

The rope went up, lifting Kavi and the boy with it. Susan watched them ascend, then sat down on the ground and waited.

"She had to stay behind," Kavi said shortly.

"But-"

"No time to explain! Someone get another Data crane here!" He handed the boy to another Guardian. "This one's out of fuel!"

Prime Jennings shook his head. "They're all gone for refueling."

"So soon?"

"They didn't start with a full tank in the first place."

Kavi swore. "Now what?"

"Now we use this," came a voice from above.

They all looked up. Crysta shouted in confusion, "Peter?!"

Peter grinned down at them. "I told the medics I had to go. Who's still down there?"

"Susan! And the tunnel's gonna collapse!"

Peter lowered the rope. "Let's hope this reaches her in time."

She stood up, waiting for the rope to reach her.

Suddenly, the rumbling increased, and bits of tunnel began falling down. Susan looked around in alarm. The tunnel was collapsing at a rapid rate.

The rope was nearly in her reach. She just needed a few more seconds.

The crunch of several cars being crushed under a block of mortar reminded her that she didn't have a few more seconds.

Susan took stock of the situation. She was feeling very weak from her loss of blood, and she wasn't sure she could jump towards the rope.

What the heck, she thought, and jumped anyway, just as the tunnel collapsed totally.

The cloud of dust rising from the tunnel obscured everybody's vision. Everyone coughed, trying to clear the dust and smoke from their eyes.

When the dust finally settled, all of them looked in disbelief as.....

Susan hung from the rope, which swayed wildly. When she was above stable ground, Susan let go, and dropped right in front of the group.

She was coughing, and looked very weak. She looked up at Prime Jennings. "Everybody... safe?"

Prime Jennings nodded. "Yes, Susan. Thanks to you."

Susan smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear." With that, she fainted dead away.