Page 54 of Heart’s Prisoner

Lana,

Thank you again for all you have done. I'm sorry it had to end like this. Know that I will give you any referral you need in the future. Despite all your efforts, you did a great job and I have no regrets in bringing you in. I will be off base for a week or two but as I said before do not hesitate to contact me.

As you might already know, the heads of level twelve are planning to do an autopsy on Asset X. I give you permission to view the autopsy if you so desire and be given any recorded data on the procedure and their findings.

Good luck to you and see you soon.

Officer Jacob Hartin

Lana signed off and sat back in her chair. She wanted to cry again but she fought back the tears. Xerus had been right all along. They would dissect him and likely cut him to pieces to study his body and internal organs. The thought of it made her sick for some reason even though she had seen autopsies many times before. She looked back at all her efforts to pack and sighed.

If you knew what was good for you, you would leave this place entirely. Leave and never come back.

Xerus' voice echoed in her head, dull and distant. It was like he wanted her to leave. But the funny thing was the biggest threat that she knew of was gone.

***

Lana decided not to take the ship that morning. Though something in her screamed she should go, another part of her fought to stay. As much as it might pain her, she wanted to be there for the autopsy which was said to take place tomorrow afternoon. After that, she told herself she would leave for good. She had most of her things packed up and ready to go and would leave on the next available ship, which departed usually every couple of days. She had called her aunt and was told she was more than welcome to stay for as long as she liked. The best plan Lana could think of was to stay at her aunt's place while looking into other possible research bases across the known map. There was said to be a base way off on the outer regions of the governed territory that was researching deep-sea creatures said to be intelligent enough to communicate. Since she had so much knowledge already on water-based creatures, she figured it was a solid chance. She also planned to take another trip back to the Gyda's territory, to see how things had progressed there.

Because in the back of her mind she thought that maybe, just maybe, she could find out more about Xerus' people. The Gyda never mentioned other races they knew of but maybe they would know of something if she dug far enough. And if they didn't know then maybe the deep-sea creatures of T19 would.

Now there wasn't much more to do but wait. Lana forced herself from her room and went up to the city sector. She thought about calling Nicole to join her one last time at one of the restaurants but quickly chose against it, figuring she was likely too busy with matters Lana couldn't know about. She didn't bother to try to get a hold of Cole again either. Even to say goodbye. She walked around the sector and hung around, even had a drink at one of the bars, and bought a small trinket at one of the shops for her aunt.

When the digital sky above began to darken, Lana figured it was time she returned to her room and readied herself for tomorrow, even if the thought of it made her stomach twist.

Back in her room she dropped her aunt's gift on the bed and headed straight for the shower. As soon as the water was heated perfectly, she unclothed and stepped inside. She took a lot longer to wash up than usual, just letting the hot water pour down her back.

After about forty minutes, Lana went to press the button to turn off the water when the lights flickered and went from the usual bluish-white to a dull orange. With a confused frown, she turned off the water and, as the noise of the stream was cut off, a muffled beep could be heard outside the bathroom.

Lana stepped out and, as she dried off and wrapped a towel around her, she listened as the low beep continued, followed by the sound of someone speaking over an intercom. The sounds were coming from outside her unit.

As she moved back into her main room she saw a flashing white light flickering from her computer. She turned it on and the screen flashed to a bright red. As Lana read the message on the screen her eyes widened and her heart dropped. Flinging off her towel, she dashed for her bag of clothes and put on the first set she found: a pair of panties and a sports bra followed by gray coveralls with the Lazris star on the left breast. She slipped them on and fumbled with the buttons then snatched her phone off the computer desk and shoved it into one of the side pockets along with her keycard. As she went to the door, she paused for a mere second, hoping to god that it was all just a mistake, or maybe just a drill. She opened her door and the noise which had been muffled before now blasted out at her, making her ears ring. The low beep was now a siren that whooped down the hall which was now a dim tunnel bathed in an orangish glow from the emergency lights overhead.

The siren quieted momentarily and a calm inhuman female voice rang out over it.

"Base lockdown procedures in place. All personnel must return to their units or make their way to the nearest secure saferooms on designated levels... The base is in full lockdown, all civilian and military personnel must go to units or saferooms. Security to take the planned protocol measures."

The siren started again. Lana took one step out into the hall and a large blast shook the base.

Chapter Eighteen

Lana nearly fell to the ground as the earth trembled under her. She shot her hands out to catch the wall and keep her balance. The lights flickered and another set of bells rang as the security system went down. The door locks to each room went from blue to red indicating they were no longer in working order. So much for staying in her room.

A few others came tumbling out of their rooms, some in uniform others in sleepwear.

"What the hell?" one shouted. They all looked around in terror. A mirror image of what Lana was also feeling.

One man, still in uniform, calmly went to the door lock and examined it. "We aren't secure here, we have to go."

The others shouted and argued while Lana backed herself to the wall looking down each direction of the passageway. The elevators were still running from what she could tell, which was a good sign, but the blast which had happened from below could happen again and stop them altogether.

Lana's mind raced as she came to one bad assumption after another. The one that hit her the hardest was that she was absolutely certain whatever had caused the lockdown and the blast had something to do with level twelve.

"Come on everyone we have to go," said the man.

"Where?" asked another.

"Down to level ten," said the man.

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