"Captain, it seems that most of the power sources and generators in the facility are directing power towards this central area of the expanded map. That must be the core of whatever operations they're running here." Tala pointed to a diagram on the monitor while Bianca downloaded the computer's data to her watch.
"Then let's set that as our rendezvous point. Team, let's split up. Gather as much intel as you can about this place en route," ordered Chris.
"Roger!" Everyone replied.
"Captain, about that. Rywa and his companions are in the facility as well," said Karl.
"Perfect, they can help us cover more ground," said Chris.
Taking Chris' words as cue, Rywa's voice came through their communicators. "Happy to help, Captain Norland."
With every room he went into, Karl's heart sank. The blood stains on cold metal tables, the scratch marks on the walls, the chew marks on leather bindings all told tales of what took place in this hell.
'It's natural instinct to want to comfort someone in pain. Parents soothe their children, wolves lick their wounded kin. But the animals kept captive here were repeatedly subjected to unnecessary pain.'
Clutching his chest, he took deep breaths to try to calm himself and steady his trembling. Despite each step getting heavier and more painful, Karl kept going until he reached the end of the hall where the old map ended and where the expanded area began. Yet there was nothing but a dead end in front of him.
Karl's brows creased. "That's odd. According to Linlin's map there should be an entrance here."
He turned back to try another way, but turned up at another dead end. He turned back again. And again. And still ended up at the same blocked path.
"Even if Linlin went through pipes or vents, the ends of the hallways seem too abrupt and out of place. Is something wrong with the map, or…?" Karl was hit with a sense of déjà vu. He groaned. "Ugh. Why do I have a feeling there's some illusion mumbo jumbo going on here again…"
"Not quite sure what 'mumbo jumbo' means but you are right about the illusion part."
Karl flinched. "Viernn!"
Viernn ran her lavender-toned fingertips against the wall. "This is more than just a visual trick. It's an alarm system. The array supporting this sends a signal to the one who cast it should anyone cross the illusory wall. Luckily for you, we crossed paths." A crest appeared under her palm and glowed on the wall. With one swift wave of her hand, the wall was gone. "No one is immune to my illusions. And no illusion can fool my eyes."
What greeted them on the other side were hallways so bright it stung Karl's eyes. In contrast to the dimly lit halls and rooms with minimum to no lighting at all, which was probably to keep up the "decommissioned" façade, this side of the facility was fully operational. And there were guards on patrol.
At the sound of footsteps, Karl quickly scanned his map and pulled Viernn into the closest storage room. Viernn touched the wall and uttered a spell as another crest glowed under her palm.
"I've put up another illusion where the fake wall was to avoid raising suspicion. I've taken over the array, so this time, the others should be able to pass right through it."
"Thanks, Viernn." Karl relayed the message to everyone.
Judging by the amount of times he ran into the wall, the size of the array must be massive and the power needed to maintain it no small feat. But for Viernn to have taken over the array just like that, this must have been what Rywa meant when he said this was Viernn's forte.
Karl was once again reminded that the woman standing beside him was no ordinary Zirkan. She was a general.
"Viernn, is this array…" Rywa spoke over the comms.
Viernn shook her head. "It's possible, but I can't say for certain until I see the center."
Karl figured out Rywa's unspoken words and could sense the suspicion in his voice. First, the mages in the ship Admiral Cross' fleet encountered; now, there was the possibility the illusory wall may have been Zirkan magic as well. If Dr. Perez was indeed working with Zirkans in this lab, then this would once again raise the question why Zirka is involved in all this.
As the footsteps drew closer, Karl swiftly took off his projection gem, opened the door and left it at the bottom corner on the other side before the door slid close.
"That's quick thinking. Brilliant!" Viernn commented, amazed.
She shared her communicator monitor with Karl and they both watched to see how many guards were patrolling the hall. When they saw there were only two, they exchanged looks. And smirked.
They pulled the guards in, knocked them out, wore their uniforms and stole their access cards.
"Ava, download access card data and forward to everyone."
"Sweet! Thanks, Karl!" Bianca chirped. "We got ahold of hazmat suits. With this access, Tala and I can now go in and out of most rooms and snoop at the computers."
Tala added "So far we've seen diagrams of what look like animals, but their genetic composition and biochemical descriptions don't match up with any of the wildlife previously recorded to have been brought here in the past. Or any of Earth's wildlife, actually."
"You mean they're aliens?" Karl asked, though he already guessed the answer.
"Unfortunately, that's what I'm thinking."
It took everything Karl had to hold back from cursing under his breath.
They continued to go further in until they reached diverging hallways. The dots on his map showed they were all getting closer to their rendezvous point.
As if voicing his thoughts, Viernn said "It looks like we're almost there."
Karl frowned. "Something's not right."
Viernn grunted in agreement. "I thought so too. It was too easy. This facility is massive, yet other than those two earlier, we've had no encounter with guards. It's as if they're letting us in on purpose."
"This could be a trap. Stay alert," said Chris, echoing the headmaster's earlier sentiments to Karl.
Karl and Viernn agreed to split up to cover both paths. Before going, Viernn took Karl's hand with her right hand and dropped a clear glass marble with a rainbow streak on his upturned palm.
"Take this with you. It's a shield stone. It will create a temporary barrier that can withstand anything and protect those inside it. When you need it, just shatter it to activate its power."
"Thanks, Viernn. Be careful."
"You too."
Viernn went right and Karl went left.
While Karl was investigating the rooms, a sign on one of the doors caught his attention—'Defectives'. He went in and the sight that awaited him on the other side made his knees weak. Creatures he had never seen before were in cramped wire cages. They were visibly shaking, and became even more distressed at the sound of the door sliding open and close.
There were furry little ones, the size of a rabbit with eyes swollen, some already blinded. There were fluffy ones, the size of a small to medium dog, some limping and some unconscious. There were feathery ones with what looked like screws on their heads, tilting their head curiously at this new entrant.
On the farthest cage, there was a pair of identical creatures with cream-coloured fur, one big and one small hugging each other like a mother beaver and her baby. The bigger one was about the size of spirit bears and lay motionless against the wire.
In her seated position, she looked like she was just sleeping. But the cuts all over her body haphazardly stitched and the bloodstains on her light fur told another tale.
Her pup had gnaw marks and raw wounds all over his ankle, which was most likely due to the broken leather binding attached to a chain that he had chewed until he could break free.
He kept bunting on his mother, as if trying to wake her up. Hearing his desperate whimpers, Karl's legs buckled and he fell on his knees.
He shakily raised his hand and aimed his watch, "Ava… Begin medical scan."
"No pulse detected.
No heartbeat.
No breathing.
No brain activity detected.
Patient A is deceased."
He suspected as much. But every phrase that Ava uttered still stung Karl's heart.
"Scanning patient B.
Multiple internal injuries and blood clots detected.
Severe infection on cut on lower right leg.
Severe dehydration.
Patient is under severe distress."
Karl clenched his hands into balls of fists, seeing multiple bruises all over the pup's small body. The metal door slid open but Karl did not move an inch. He didn't care anymore, he was ready to kill whoever hurt these helpless creatures.
"Karl"
Karl hadn't realized how fast his heart was beating and how shallow and jagged his breathing was until the familiar voice calmed him down.
"Rywa…"
Karl's breath got caught in his throat upon seeing the mix of emotions on Rywa's face—anger, shock, and pain. For a mere spectator like Karl, the sight was unbearable. He couldn't imagine how it must have felt for someone who had Rywa's gift, and the flood of emotions from all the animals suffering and confined in this one room.
"I knew I had to come find you as soon as I saw the image from the projection gem. I couldn't bear to leave you on your own while seeing all this." Rywa knelt beside Karl, lacing his hands through the gaps in the wire cage. "These are Zirkan wildlife."
"What?! How did they get here?"
"Rywa," Viernn's voice came over the comms. "It's just as we suspected. The centre of the array has Zirkan runes."
Rywa's grip on the cage tightened when Viernn confirmed his conjecture. "It seems there are Zirkan's behind this whole operation. And these wildlife were most likely smuggled by those same Zirkans into your world."
"So the reason why they have avoided detection from local authorities all this time was because they weren't smuggling humans or local wildlife, but alien life" Chris' voice came through.
"Captain, we need to get them out of here," Karl pleaded.
"Bianca, send Lin their way. Karl, I'll need you and Rywa to do basic triage on who can be saved, and load them up on Lin. Hogan, follow Lin closely and take him back to your fighter. I'll get in touch with Captain Lyle to see if he can send out some of the medic teams for help. Stay with Lin until the medics arrive."
"Roger!" The three replied, then Karl added "Thank you, Captain."
"Lin? That little metallic 'pangolin' from earlier?" Rywa looked doubtful.
"Yep. Once, when we were on a mission on Planet R713, I got a tear on my space suit while we were climbing up narrow, steep rocks. I didn't know until the gas seeped in that it was toxic. I barely made it to the top before I was too weak to move.
Luckily, Bianca has Linlin, he's like our team ambulance. If any of us are injured or unconscious, she can program him to expand and safely take us back to our fighters." Karl held Rywa's shoulder. "Don't worry. Linlin and Hogan will keep them safe until the medics come."
Rywa squeezed Karl's hand and nodded.
Half an hour later, the little mechanical pangolin finally arrived. Karl prompted Lin to expand until he was about the size of a golf cart, big enough to fit the surviving wildlife but small enough to navigate through the corridors. He and Rywa loaded everyone that could be saved, along with the wire cages to keep them separate, and fit the cages in as snugly as they could to avoid toppling over.
The last one they had to load was the hardest. It was heartbreaking for Karl to watch as Rywa melted the lock on the cage to open it and gently pried the little pup still clinging on to his dead mother— whimpering and bunting. And it was just as painful seeing Rywa's expression as he did so.
"This is a baby hele. A full grown hele has a jaw power that can take down even massive ancient trees in a few bites, and is strong enough to carry it. But they're docile tree dwellers—nocturnal predators who keep their prey population at bay and preventing the spread of disease, and whose foraging habits help spread seeds and keep forests thriving.
Mother heles are known for their unique melodious cries that fill the forest during day, as they sing their pup to sleep. However, this pup has not had a wink of sleep since he lost his mother."
Karl gingerly reached out and started petting the hele pup. He then hummed a tune that he had always loved since he was a child. He didn't know what the song was called, nor the lyrics, if it had any, but the melody was very vivid in his mind as if he had memorized it by heart.
He had tried humming it on music recognition apps, but the search always turned up empty. Once, he had tried to casually ask his mother, after his father suggested it may have been a lullaby his mother sang to him as a child. But Mrs. Lyle said she did not know the song.
For a moment, Karl saw Rywa frown and wondered if he was out of tune. But the rise and fall of hele pup's chest went from quick and shallow to slow, steady breathing until he finally conked out.
"Oh, he's asleep," Karl whispered.
"Mm-hm," Rywa uttered softly.
Karl looked up at Rywa and when their eyes met, his heart skipped a beat at the man's warm, gentle gaze. Their eye contact was broken when the door slid open and Hogan came in.
"Lin's escort reporting for duty," he playfully saluted.
Rywa then carefully lay the pup down on the last empty wire cage that they've already loaded then closed Lin's compartment. Karl programmed Lin to take everyone to Hogan's fighter.
"Wait," Karl fished inside his pocket and took out the shield stone then shattered it. A rainbow-coloured orb surrounded Lin and Hogan before it dispersed. "There. That should keep you safe. Now you guys can go."
As he watched Lin and Hogan leave, Karl recalled the sign on the door and dread filled his chest.
Rywa noticed the change in his expression and asked "You look troubled, what's wrong?"
"'Defectives'. The ones we found in here were considered defectives, and ironically, that saved their lives… But then, what happened to those who were not? How many of them are there? Where are they?"
Karl held his left elbow with his right hand, trying to suppress his trembling. But it did not escape Rywa, who reached for his hand.
"Don't worry, we'll find them."