Invert Equation

[Ethan Neufeld 0]

They’d been staring at each other from the moment the Andorian had taken sentry near the door, but the contest of wills was one-sided: Ethan weighing his options, looking for another opening, while the Andorian’s cloudy gaze was empty, robotic. He stood like a statue, his weapon trained on their captive, his position revealing nothing.

 

The Andorian didn’t stir as Ethan shifted his focus to the doorway where movement appeared on the camera feeds in the room across the excavated corridor. Hundreds of dully colored dots, drones, converged on the street above. His jaw tightened as he recognized the distinctly humanoid figures that moved across another monitor and stacked up near a building. Another variable had invited itself to the equation.

 

A muffled exchange came from the other room and, predictably, Gabriel stalked through the door a few seconds later followed by the girl. Gabriel narrowly eyed Ethan, but he was beyond accusing Ethan of deception. That Ethan had been sincere on his expendability was irrelevant. They both knew exactly what this new development meant. The only question was how they would deal with this new variable, and Ethan had doubts the outcome would be favorable.

 

“Bring Mr. Neufeld,” was all Gabriel said before he sharply turned and proceeded down the corridor. From an unseen location, three modified drones floated by in pursuit. But the girl remained with her Andorian counterpart, holding her chin high as she looked down on Ethan from the doorway. He noticed her neck and lower jaw, discoloring into a visible bruise.

 

“Stand up,” the Andorian ordered.

 

Ethan didn’t immediately react except to return his focus to the Andorian, but the sentry didn’t repeat the demand. Ethan was smart enough to know they weren’t fooling around and there were consequences for non-compliance. Cringing briefly, he pulled his feet back, shifted his weight and began to rise from the floor. Unsteady at best, his blood pressure plummeted into a hazy darkness and his heart beat raced as he braced against the wall to keep his balance. Neither of his captors moved to help him, apparently not eager to risk getting too close after the scuffle that had injured the girl and killed their Klingon friend.

 

He could imagine how he must look: a wake of dried blood from the wound to his abdomen and down his right leg; a torn, bloodied sleeve and grazed right arm; a gash to his left flank and more blood down his side; and wounds all gummed up with a disturbing tarry substance. Pale and sweating heavily, the side of his face was red from repeated falls.

 

It took a good minute or two before Ethan was steady enough to move. He was getting slower, weaker with time, losing bits of awareness here and there. A persistent migraine made it difficult to think. Spasms and aches from multiple phaser stuns plagued his back and neck, but another agonizing pain was gradually building in his neck, marginally alleviated only by leaning his head back. After painful, uncontrollable bouts of coughing and vomiting, he was dangerously dehydrated. At one point he’d suffered piercing chills and was certain he had a significant fever. Few words described how he felt beyond ‘like hell.’

 

Willpower was the cache that kept him going, but no amount of willpower could forestall the inevitable. His body was shutting down; the physical reserves would run out and not all the resolve in the world could stop it. Mind-over-body wouldn’t win this time, but he kept pushing where exertion was likely to speed up his end.

 

Ethan pushed away from the wall. The girl left the room first, while the Andorian moved aside to maintain his distance and allow Ethan to pass through the door ahead of him. With ten meter intervals between them, they moved down the corridor.

 

They’d blindsided him. He should have taken a page out of CQ combatives. Focusing on an attack from his 12, he should have watched his six and hadn’t been prepared for what they’d thrown at him. They’d gotten to Kelin and turned him, but despite racking his memory to the best of his dwindling concentration, Ethan couldn’t pinpoint how. He had to find a way to strike back where it’d hurt.

 

Ethan abruptly stopped. The Andorian did the same, still keeping his distance.

 

“Keep moving.”

 

He angled in the corridor between his captors, eyes on the Andorian. “You going to shoot me if I don’t?”

 

“Yes,” the Andorian answered definitively; “You will go where we tell you to go. Whether you will travel consciously or unconsciously is your choice.”

 

The hint of a smile showed as Ethan turned, continuing down the corridor. So much for provoking the Andorian into getting too close, and the girl ahead of him was out of reach so long as the guy behind him was armed.

 

Reaching their intended destination didn’t take long. He recognized the corridor through which he and Kelin had entered as they neared the junction that formed the entrance to the Motoroils’ cave. They joined Gabriel and his modified drone escorts inside, and Ethan immediately spotted his missing weapons and gear. Surprisingly, they’d simply pushed it into a far corner of the cave when they’d captured him earlier. Even the Comp-U was still in place. If Ethan had managed to escape, it would have been easy to find that cave and blow it. His captors were making no effort to hide the layout of their underground stronghold. That they also weren’t hiding his weapons didn’t bode well in Ethan’s mind, but what they were doing there, and how it related to the group of humanoids he’d seen on their camera feeds, remained to be explained.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Ethan Neufeld