Chapter Seven
Jack’s
watch told him that it was ten o’clock in the morning, but it was still set to Voltronia time so that mean it was closer to noon on Parcifi. He got up,
his head aching and his eyes scratchy when he blinked. His flightsuit was
wrinkled and he wanted a shower, but he sat for a few minutes, trying to get
himself together. Beyond the curtains
that were the walls of his and Bethie’s room, he
could hear the others moving around, trying unsuccessfully to be quiet. Bethie was oblivious to it, fast asleep.
Almost
immediately, he was hit with a sense of urgency that had an accompanying
anger. The events of the past day caught
up with him in that moment and his gray eyes flashed. They were safe, in this cavern, while their
people were dying somewhere else on the planet.
Perhaps even his own parents. The
underground bases may have served Arus in the past,
but the Lotorians were a new breed of enemy. Frustration churned in his gut and the muscles
in his neck stood out as his heart began to beat faster. Needing to move, he pulled out his boots from
underneath the bed and shoved his feet in.
“Good
morning,” Bethie said, not opening her eyes.
“More
like good afternoon.”
At
that, her eyes flew open.
“We
need to get an alarm clock,” she said, shoving her feet into her boots.
She
yanked the curtains open and stomped to the women’s bathroom. Jack ran a hand through his hair and went to
the men’s. He greeted the various good
mornings he received with a grunt and disappeared inside the bathroom.
“He’s
not a morning person,” Olivia said to Ethan.
“That
doesn’t surprise me.”
He
emerged looking a little more human but there was a troubled set to his mouth
that hinted at the gathering storm cloud above his head. Everyone else was sitting at the table, food
or Lion plans in front of them, but he didn’t sit.
“Are
you hungry?” Olivia asked her cousin carefully.
“No,”
he answered. “Have you checked out the
tunnels at all?”
“A
little,” Olivia answered. “They just go on for miles.”
Jack
dug into his utility pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. “See you all later.”
“Wait,
I’m coming,” Bethie said, standing.
“Didn’t
really want company today,” he said over his shoulder.
His
tone stopped her dead in her tracks but he could feel the heat of her glare on
the back of his head.
Ignoring
her, he went deeper into the tunnels, breaking out into a sweat as he began to
run. He ran from his thoughts, from the
suffocating worry that made his chest tighten, and the growing claustrophobia
that being underground could bring. He
wanted to jump into the Black Lion, blast his way into Castle Control and get
Keith and Allura out. His next stop
would be the underground base and his father, who was waiting for a signal from
his son to move.
Jack
didn’t know how far he went or how long he ran, but when he made his way back
to the cavern, he was drenched in sweat.
“Good
workout?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah,”
he said.
He
pushed past Ethan who was coming out of the bathroom and jumped into the
shower, letting the cold water sluice over his body. He ducked his head underneath the water,
letting it wash over his face. When he
came out, he looked like he was back to his old self, but in fact he was just
able to put a lid on his own troubles in order to deal with their more
immediate concerns. It was what Bethie
had been trying to do the day before, but had failed—if there was one thing Jack
was good at, it was procrastinating.
Matt
and Hunk were at the table, various plans spread out around them while Bethie
sat, trying to keep up with what they were talking about. Ethan and Jordan were at the Blue Lion as
Ethan knew enough rudimentary mechanics to tighten a few loose screws and what
he didn’t know, Jordan provided. Olivia
sat near them, the tray of tools in her lap.
Jack opted to join the group at the table and they eyed him warily.
“Feeling
better?” Bethie asked, annoyed.
“Like
sunshine. Anything new?” he asked,
almost pleasant.
“I
want to go up and try to get a signal,” Bethie informed him. “I really think we should set up some kind of
antenna up there because we can’t just stay down here, blind and deaf to all that’s
going on in the same planet.”
“I’m
telling you, they’ll find us easily if we do that,” Matt argued. “We’re in the middle of nowhere and any
signal that gets captured out here is easily spotted.”
“What
if we retract and detract it?” Jack asked.
“Will that work?”
“We’d
have to drill through some pretty thick rock,” Hunk said. “And create some kind of tunnel so that the
sand doesn’t collapse around the antenna…but yeah, we could do that.”
“We
can’t just stay down here twiddling our thumbs,” Jack said. “We have to know what’s going on up there…at
least with my dad’s crew. Matty, could you get started on it?”
“Yeah,
sure.”
Matt
looked over at his father and Hunk straightened, head tilted to one side as he
thought.
“Look
through the bin, Matty,” he said. “I’ve got a couple cords that you can use,
but you might have to fuse a couple together because I don’t have one single
one that’ll be long enough.”
“What
about the tunnel for the sand?”
“I
can’t say I’ve got anything right now…”
“When
you use enough heat, you can turn the sand into glass,” Olivia suggested.
Matt
looked over to Yellow Lion. “It’s too
much to risk taking the Lion out right now…but I could use the lasers to cut
through the rock and sand from down here.”
“Do
it,” Jack said.
Pulling
on his helmet, Matt hopped into the Yellow’s cockpit. He slid the key in and watched the control
panel slowly come to life. Running his
sensors, he tried to get a good reading on how many layers were above them, but
the numbers that showed up were far from accurate because of the magnetic
rocks.
“Do
you have a topographic map of this area, Dad?” he asked.
Down
below, Hunk went to his workbench and dug through the pile of papers he had
stacked underneath it. He pulled out a
colorful map, laying it out on top of everything else on the table. Olivia went to stand next to him as Bethie
stared at the map helplessly.
“It’s
colorful…” she said.
“That
spot seems pretty stable,” Olivia said, pointing a finger.
Ethan
and Jack looked over her shoulder.
“It’s
been a while since I’ve had to look at anything like that,” Ethan said, rubbing
a hand on the back of his neck.
“Well,
she’s right,” Hunk said. “The rock is a
little thicker here so when the sands shift, they won’t rattle it too badly.”
“How
about above? Will we be able to get a
good signal there?” Jack asked.
“No
reason not to,” Matt answered. “There’s
nothing above ground for miles around.”
“While
he’s digging, how about we make an access tunnel to the surface?” Bethie
suggested.
“We
have one,” Jordan said, referring to the tunnel that got them to the caverns to
begin with. “We just need to blow open
the seal that Bethie made and we’ve got a tunnel.”
“We
need a more direct route,” Jack said.
“And a smaller tunnel, at that.”
“I
think we’d have to do that by hand or else we’ll risk a little too much shaking
up with two high-powered laserbeams drilling on the
same rockface.
Not to mention the fact that transforming the sand will need a more
hands-on approach with the larger tunnel,” Hunk said. “I’ve got picks and laser cutters.”
“Where
can we start cutting?” Jack asked.
“Liv was right about this,” Hunk answered he studied the
position that Olivia had pointed out and circled it with a finger. “Matty, configure
your lasers to these coordinates. Ethan,
Liv, and Jordan can start digging a couple meters to
the left of Matt.
“The
Blue Lion will make a pretty good ladder for that,” Bethie said.
The
trio went to gather what they needed and the Yellow pointed a laser at the
ceiling above and began to cut. After
putting on protective goggles, Ethan climbed on top of the Blue Lion with
Jordan close at his heels. Jordan turned
to offer Olivia a hand but Ethan moved around her and grasped Olivia’s already
outstretched hand. Jordan’s eyebrows
rose to nearly her hairline, but she kept her mouth shut at Olivia’s suddenly
red face. Shaking her head ruefully, she
picked up a laser cutter.
“Are
these stronger than our blasters?” she asked, raising her voice to be heard.
“About
the same but they give you more control over the beam,” Hunk answered
“How’s
right here?” she asked, pointing above her head.
“That’s
fine.”
Working
through the night, they finished early the next morning. Exhausted and muscles aching, they sat on the
floor underneath the Blue Lion. Olivia
kneaded Jack’s back as he struggled to keep his eyes awake. Bethie rested against Ethan’s shoulder as he
massaged his hands, as Matt laid on his back, staring up at the hole they had
made. Jordan was the only one on her
feet, but she was leaning against the Blue’s metal leg.
“That
storm is coming,” Hunk said. “You need
to go up there and get all this done.”
“Should
I even ask for volunteers?” Jack asked.
Silence
was his response.
“Jordan,
Ethan, you’re with me.”
Matt
sat up and looked at his father.
“You’ve
got the antenna, Dad?” he asked.
Hunk
held up the long thin piece of metal that would be their key to the rest of
civilization. Matt took it almost
reverently and he took it back up to the Yellow which would be acting as the
conduit.
“All
you need is in there. Make it quick.”
Hunk said, handing Jack a bag.
“Jordan,
bring the camo.
I’ve got the ladder,” Ethan said.
Fixing
metal claws to their hands and feet, Jack, Jordan, and Ethan nimbly leapt up
into the hole they had just finished cutting.
Bracing her back against the rock behind her and holding her legs out to
put her body into an L-position, Jordan led the way with Jack directly below
her and Ethan bringing up the rear. The
Prince was having some trouble because of the heavy rolled up ladder he carried
on his front. With a speed that both men
envied, Jordan scurried up the tunnel, having always had a talent for
climbing.
“Be
careful,” Olivia called after them.
“Liv, I wasn’t planning on being anything else,” Jack
retorted.
“Come
on, Boys,” Jordan called. “You’re going
too slow.”
“She’s
like a monkey,” Ethan groused.
“You
wish you had some of this monkey blood in your veins,” she said. “Must be Dad’s blood.”
It
took them twenty minutes to make it to the surface and they were immediately
hit with the humidity of the afternoon.
Ethan wiped at his face, squinting against the brightness of the
sun. He stretched his tight shoulders
and was grateful they would be able to use the ladder to climb back down. The wind was already picking up and swirling
sand around them and belatedly, Jack realized they should have kept their
goggles on when he got an eye full of sand.
“You
two take care of the ladder and I’ll do this antenna thing,” Jack said,
blinking rapidly. “Are you ready, Uncle
Hunk?”
“It’s
coming, Jack.”
Ethan
drilled two deep holes into the side of the tunnel and slid the support pegs
into them. Each peg ended with a loop
and he clamped the make-shift ladder that Hunk had put together with sturdy
steel cables and pipes. Jordan was busy
hammering onto the opening the thin metal covering on which that Hunk had glued
a fine layer of sand. The antenna came
up through the smaller hole and Jack grasped it, quickly fixing a u-shaped
support to hold it against the rock wall.
Finishing with the covering, Jordan went to his side and installed a
smaller one on the antenna’s tunnel, with a notch for the antenna to go
through. The wind was beginning to howl
and they straightened, Jack putting a hand on her arm when a strong gust pushed
her sideways. Ethan held the tunnel
cover open for them and he waved them in.
“You
better have made sure that ladder isn’t going anywhere,” Jordan said to him.
“Give
me some credit, Jordan,” he said, following them down.
“Nice
view from down here,” Jack said lazily.
“Shut
up,” they said in unison.
