Chapter Thirteen ~ The Slow Blow Up Begins

 All the guest quarters were located on one level. There were a lot more people than expected milling around the hallways looking for their rooms. Ethan and Kyle found their room first and stuck their head in to check it out. It looked like any ordinary hotel room in neutral colors with beds, a nightstand, dresser and a small bathroom that was behind the entrance door. There was a large window on the far side of the room but the shades were drawn so neither could see what was on the other side. They closed the door and hurried down the hall to catch up with everyone else.  Sylvia and Pat had a room at the end of the hall.  Lucas, Joe, and George were next door and Carolyn and Jilly were next door to that. They all gathered into the last room for one final chance to go over the plans.

Lucas and Joe (with Jilly helping) would be rerouting one of the cooling pipes in two different locations, then they would each place the homemade explosive that they each had in their backpacks, in predetermined spots.  Sylvia and Pat would also be rerouting two sets of cooling pipes then making their way to the holding area to rescue any of the affected that were there.

Ethan and Kyle were going to be shutting down internal communications then join Sylvia and Pat in helping the affected escape.

Carolyn would head back to the hangar bay with George and make sure that a transport big enough to carry everyone was ready to get out of there at a moment's notice.

They each had walkie talkies set to the same frequency with earbuds so they could keep in contact.

"Last thing I want to say," Carolyn said "is keep your head down but your eyes open. If you act like you belong wherever you are, most people aren't going to pay you much mind. If someone looks at you, smile. Don't look guilty. If this works out like we want it to, we quite possibly will be saving thousands if not millions of lives."

She put her arm straight out with palm flat and each person, in turn, laid their hand on top. "Here's to all the luck we're going to need." They lowered them in unison and then lifted them up into the air quickly and separated. "Godspeed ladies and gentlemen! Let's roll!"
Each group left the room, one at a time, at different intervals and headed towards their assignment.

Ethan and Kyle had the farthest to go. Almost across the entire station towards main engineering. They walked quickly referring to the map that was given to them. It didn't show any areas that would normally be off-limits but since they had studied the schematics of the entire ship before they got here, they knew where things were beyond what the map showed.
They took an elevator filled with military people chatting away about mundane things like their favorite cheese when making sandwiches or how the lady who was running the office back at whatever base they were from had been rude to them when they were trying to get extra supplies for their office.
 When they arrived at their floor and got out, Ethan noted "Anything that happens to these people they deserve. I can't believe that they act like nothing is happening to their fellow humans."
"It's how it's always been," Kyle said "The privileged only care about themselves. If it's not affecting their own life then it's not for them to worry about."
They wound their way down the hall until they arrived at the corridor that had the room with the access panels they were after. After checking that no one was watching them, they turned left and started counting the doors until they found the one that had access to the communications conduits.
Kyle tried the door and it was locked. Ethan had already begun digging around in his pack looking for a tool. He pulled out a screwdriver and jammed it into lock and twisted it until it popped and the door swung open. They ducked inside, closed the door and stared at each other for a full minute before starting to breathe again.
"Do you think we're safe?" Ethan asked
"No one is banging on the door asking us what we're doing in here so for now I think we're OK."
The room wasn't large, maybe the size of a small bedroom but it was packed with large industrial grade cases filled with  pipes and wires and covered with metal mesh. Each case had a locked door.
Kyle grabbed a screwdriver and tried it on one of the metal doors but it wouldn't budge.  He dug around in his bag until he found some small bolt cutters which neatly clipped the edges of the metal from around the lock so the door swung open and left the lock mechanism behind.
"Good thinking" Ethan said "now I need to figure out which one of these wires is most likely the one we need to cut."
"Why don't you just cut them all?"
"Because I don't want to cut something that may supply the necessary information to keep oxygen going in this tin can and have us all suffocate."
"Yeah, I can see how that might be a problem you might want to avoid. How can you tell which wire is which?"
"The schematics had a chart showing which color wire controlled which system. I'm looking for the blue wires, but there are two different colors of blue but I don't remember there being any distinction on the plans I was studying."
"Maybe there is no difference. Maybe they ran out of one color blue and the other color was all they had to finish the job."
Ethan raised an eyebrow at Kyle. "I think you're pushing it with that theory but it's certainly a possibility. I can't imagine we're the only beings in the universe that can't get a job done without some glitch."
Ethan ran his hands up and down the wires, moving them back and forth until he felt like he had an idea of which wire was which.
He found his wire cutters, took a deep breath and said "Well here goes nothing" and clipped one blue wire, then another, then finally a third.
"That should do it if I was reading the diagrams correctly.  Grab your gear and let's get out of here."
They cracked open the door, Ethan peered out both directions and when he didn't see anybody they both practically tumbled out of the room, closed the door behind them and hurried (without looking like they were hurrying) down the hall and towards their next task.
                                  ****
On the other side of the station, Lucas, Joe and Jilly were making their way towards the first set of cooling pipes. They decided to stay together instead of breaking up so Joe didn't have to be by himself. They strolled down the hallway chatting with each other and smiling at anyone who they passed. They turned off the main thoroughfare and kept going another three hallways down then turned again and finally reached the room with their target. Ethan had tried to make sure he sent the groups to out of the way areas so it would be less likely they would be noticed.
Joe tried the door and as expected it was locked. He used the same screwdriver trick Ethan had used and they slipped inside. Lucas went straight to one of the panels on the wall and lifted it off and set it on the floor.
He stared at the pipes until Jilly came over. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"
"I'm trying to figure out which pipe is which," he said.
Jilly came over and shoved at his shoulder, "Here let me do it."
She reached into the opening and started to pull at one of the pipes.
"WOAH!" Luke grabbed her hand. "Are you trying to blow this whole place up with us still in it? You have no idea what you're doing!"
"I do too!" I looked at the plans and figured out which one was which because I knew you were going to forget."
"I didn't forget, I'm just trying to be careful so I don't do it wrong. Now go stand over there and let me figure this out and when I need your help I will actually ask you." He gave her a shove and she stuck out her tongue as flopped down on the ground against the wall.
Joe came over and watched as Luke ran his hands along each length of pipe until he decided on one of them and carefully turned what he assumed was a damper and pulled the top of the flexible pipe off  and twisted it away. Then he turned the damper on the pipe next to it, removed its top and twisted it towards the first one and reattached it firmly. He pulled the other pipe around, fiddled with it until it too was reattached to the opposite location and then slowly reopened the dampers.
"Is that all there is to it?" Joe asked.
"As far as we can tell" Luke said. "I'm going to do this to a few more pipes in here then we can move onto another room."
"If you'd let me help you we could get it done faster" Jilly pointed out from the corner.
"OR, we could screw everything up and die."
"OR it could take so long that we get caught and sent to an alien jail to be tortured until we tell them everything we know. And since we know nothing they'll eventually kill us. But it's your choice. So whatever."
"I don't think they care about everything we know since they are the ones who flew a billion miles across the galaxy and we've only sent ourselves to the moon which is probably the equivalent of them going down the hall to use the bathroom. Now just hush long enough for me to get this done."
Jilly rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she slumped back against the wall.
Lucas went about rearranging 2 more sets of pipes as Joe stood with his ear against the door listening to make sure no one was coming.
Lucas closed the metal door on the last cage and gathered up his stuff.
"OK, let's head to the next room".
Jilly stood up and followed the two guys out of the room grumpily. "Why am I even along if I don't get to do anything?".
"You ARE doing something. You're complaining and making it harder for me to get this stuff done."
"Yeah but that's not what I WANT to do. I WANT to help".
"We'll see if there's something you can do in the next room," Lucas said. "Now hush and pretend you're an adult who actually belongs here."
Jilly rolled her eyes and then pulled her hat down and tramped along behind the two of them trying to look as discreet as possible.
                                        ****
Meanwhile Sylvia and Pat were working their way through their first room of cooling pipes. Sylvia kept her ear to the door while Pat rearranged the pipes in the way she had been instructed. She got it done in record time and was ready to go as soon as she put tools back in her bag.
Sylvia stuck her head out the door and looked both ways. No one in either direction so both ladies slipped into the hallway and started chatting as they casually walked towards the main thoroughfare. Two military men passed and smiled and they nodded back at them and kept going.
"Is your heart beating as out of control as mine is?" Sylvia whispered.
"I didn't think my heart could beat this fast."
"Do you know where we are going now? I know Ethan wrote it down but do you have to look?"
Pat reached into her pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that Ethan had given her showing her a precisely drawn map of how to get from the pipe room to the area where they were keeping the affected. She stopped and counted the corridors and looked up and down the hall. "We should turn right at the 4th junction and keep going straight all the way until that hallway ends, turn left and it will be up on the right through some double doors from there."
Sylvia sighed deeply. "OK, let's keep moving or I may change my mind and go hide in my room."
"I'm right there with ya sister!"
They silently counted off junctions, made the appropriate turns and slowed down when they approached the double doors that were closed ahead of them.
"Now what?" Pat asked. "Do we wait outside or go in?"
"Ethan and Kyle should be here soon, so I guess we should wait."
"I don't know what to do while we're standing here. In the old days I'd take out my phone and look at pictures of Felix. We don't have that option now."
"We can just pretend we're having a really good conversation about what vacation we're going to take when this is all over and done with. Maybe Disney World. It certainly will be less crowded." Sylvia grimaced. "Oh my god how awful is that? I take it back."
Just as Pat was going to console her, Ethan and Kyle rounded the corner. They forced a smile trying to look relaxed, but ended up looking more sick to their stomach than anything else.
"How's it going?" Kyle asked casually.
"Oh it's going. So far everything is going to plan. We thought it best not to go inside until you both got here."
Ethan craned his neck looking down both directions in the hallway. "Well we better get in there while no one is looking."
He put his hand on the door handle. "Are we ready for this?"
Everyone nodded, though no one really felt like they meant it.
Ethan pulled the door open and they ducked inside and pulled it closed behind them.
They all looked around. Nothing but empty cages as far as they could see. They started walking, bunched up together peering up and down each aisle they came too.
Nothing but silence.
"Where are they?" Sylvia asked.
"I have no idea. According to Lucas this place was filled to the rafters with the affected." Kyle said.
"Maybe they sold everybody." Pat suggested.
"Maybe they're done and they're going to leave." Ethan didn't really think that but he was hopeful.
They were all straining to hear something when suddenly Sylvia asked "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Kyle said. "I didn't hear anything."
"Wait, wait.... yes! I can hear people talking, but it sounds far away." Pat increased her pace, with her head cocked to one side listening. Then she started jogging. "Over there, it sounds like it's in the far corner."
Everyone hurried after her until the whole group was almost running. The wove up and down aisles following the distant voices. When they got to the completely opposite end of the room they saw cages with people still inside of them. They stopped abruptly and looked around to make sure there was no one near them. Then they crept up to the cages slowly and found about a dozen and half affected wandering around a single large cell. They were all old or disabled in some way.
"This is like the animal shelter back home," Pat said sadly. "All the young and healthy ones get adopted and everybody else gets left behind."
Sylvia started counting. "Looks like there are 15 or 16 of them. That may make getting them out of here easier."
"Except for the fact that none of them look like they can move very fast," Kyle pointed out.
"Hopefully once everyone on the station starts getting distracted by lack of communication and the overheating we can herd them out of here without much trouble," Ethan said.
"I'll go keep watch at the door," Pat said. "Keep your walkies on so we can monitor what's going on and know when to make our move." She headed  down the aisle in search of the door while fiddling with her own walkie to make sure it was turned on and working.
"Now what do we do?" Sylvia asked.
"I guess we just wait." Kyle answered. He sighed deeply and leaned back against the wall.
                                      ****
Two decks and a number of hallways away, Joe, Lucas and Jilly made their way into their second cooling tube room. Joe stood watch at the door and Lucas laid out his tools and started opening the cages. Jilly hovered over him impatiently.
"I can help you know,"
"Yes you keep telling me that"
"So why won't you let me? Why did I even come along?"
"Because you wouldn't stop making a fuss and it was the only way to shut you up."
"Hey!  PLEASE let me help. I've been watching you and I know I can do this. It will make it go faster. Come on Lucas!"
Lucas looked up at her and sighed deeply.
"Fine. If you screw up and the station explodes with us aboard, I will never forgive you. Remember that."
He pulled open the door he was working on and got off the floor and handed her the wrench. As she reached for it, he pulled it back. "ONLY do exactly what I have been doing. Do NOT touch anything else or improvise. Got it?
"I got it already! Just give me that and let me show you I can do it."
He extended the tool and she grabbed it from him and sat down on the floor and began loosening the bolts.
Lucas stared at her for a moment and decided he didn't have time to worry and started in on another metal door across the room.
Jilly worked the wrench back and forth until she got the first bolt loosened then started on the second which proved to be more of a problem. She tried it one direction and then another and the bolt would not budge an inch. She looked over her shoulder at Lucas to make sure he didn't notice she was having trouble. He was quietly working on his pipes and not paying attention to her. Joe had his ear up to the door, also not looking in her direction.
She shoved the wrench to the side to try another angle and stood up slightly to put all her weight into it. As she was leaning on the tool, it slipped off the bolt and slammed into the pipe immediately below the one she was working on and put a hole right through it. Hot water immediately started spewing out of the opening and hitting the electric panel that was next to it. Sparks were flying everywhere.
Lucas spun around with a look of horror on his face. "OH MY GOD! What did you do?"
He ran over and tried to put his hand over the water but it was coming out too fast and was too hot. Sparks continued to pop off the electrical grid and then it started smoking.
Joe came running over, checked where the pipe was broken and back tracked it to a valve that was almost too high for him to reach and grabbed the handle and pulled hard. The handle grudgingly turned and the water came to an abrupt stop.
Jilly was standing and staring, tears trickling down her cheeks. "OH MY GOD, oh my god, I'm so sorry. The wrench slipped out of my hand and went right through the bottom pipe. But it stopped now so it will be alright, right?"
At that moment a siren went off, intermittently blaring and a red light near the ceiling started flashing.
Lucas was scooping up his tools and shoveling them in the bag. "I don't think 'alright' is the word I would use right now. Get your stuff we gotta get outta here."
Jilly was frozen in place. Lucas shoved her in the arm and snapped her out of it. "Come on girl, we gotta get out of here before we get caught." She found the wrench she had dropped, threw it into her backpack and headed for the door.
"NO!" Joe barked and grabbed her. "Use the side door. If you go out that one you risk running into whoever is going to be coming to find out what is going on." He pushed Lucas and Jilly towards the door that led to another maintenance room. "You both go that way, I'll stay here and pretend I don't know what's going on. HURRY! I hear people in the hallway."
They headed for the other door and slipped out. Joe ran to the broken pipe and pretended to be fiddling with it when the front door burst open and several guards rushed inside.
"Help me" he said, putting on his best panicked face and shoving on the handle. "The sirens went off just as I was walking by, a large man ran out of the room and I saw the water spewing everywhere. I think I got it stopped but it looks like all the water shorted out the electrical panel. It's still steaming."
One of the guards helped him pull even harder on the handle. The other one asked "Who was the man? Where did he go?"
"I have no idea who he was. But he was very tall, with dark hair and a mustache. I don't remember what he was wearing because I was so focused on the water. But he ran down the hall towards the cafeteria."
The second guard reached down and grabbed his radio. "Command this is Green Leader, We have a possible Code 7 on Deck 5. Over."
The radio crackled but there was no response.
"Command this is Green Leader. Do you copy?"
More crackling.
"Damn it. There's something wrong with my radio. Bruce, try yours."
Bruce let go of the handle he was still hanging onto and stared at it for a moment making sure it wasn't going to turn itself back on again then tried his own radio.
"Command this is Green 3, do you copy?"
His radio crackled as well with no response.
 "What the hell is going on?"
Green Leader, whose uniform identified him as Sergeant Perez, was starting to look concerned. "I think we better get back to Command."
"I'll come with you" Joe said "Maybe I can help you identify whoever did this."
"Alright, if there is someone trying to sabotage this place we gotta figure it out before they do some actual damage."
All  three headed out the door with Joe smiling and feeling like the damage had already gotten started.
                                   ****
Lucas and Jilly power walked down the hallway away from the commotion behind them. Jilly was staring at the floor mumbling how sorry she was under her breath.
"Don't worry about it," Lucas said. "We're OK right now and we need to continue forward with the plan. We've got to get our bomb placed and get back to the hangar bay."
"Alright" she said through sniffles.  She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. "Do you know where we have to go now?"
"Yes. It's on the next level down."
As they turned into the hallway that would take them to the elevators, three guards ran past them and he heard them say something about terrorists.
"They know," Jilly said in a panicked voice
"Yes, of course they know now. But they were going to know soon anyway so this just means we have to hurry faster."
"How do you hurry faster?'
"Stop asking questions and just keep walking and pretending like you don't know anything."
"I don't have to pretend."
They reached the elevator and Lucas shoved the call button repeatedly until it arrived and they jumped inside and jammed the button for the next floor down.
Lucas rocked back and forth and held his backpack with the small bomb still inside tightly against his chest. He hoped that Joe was OK and was able to place his bomb as they had planned.
When the door slid open they leaned out and looked both ways to make sure no one was waiting to arrest them. The coast was clear so they turned right and headed to where Lucas knew they had to go.
On the way they passed a number of personnel who were standing and yelling into their walkies or banging them with their hands. It was apparent Ethan and Kyle had successfully disabled the communication systems. Lucas hoped Sylvia and Pat were having the same luck.
They finally reached the correct corridor. There was no one around and Lucas hoped they wouldn't look out of place being the only ones who were in this area. He grabbed Jilly by the arm and pulled her close to him.
"If anyone asks us what we are doing we are going to say we are lost and looking for the rec room. There is one on this level but on the other side. Let me do the talking and just keep your head down in case someone notices how young you are."
"OK" she said, still sniffling.
Lucas stopped and looked at her then gave her a brief hug. "It's OK," he said. " It's all going to be OK. Don't be upset, we're going to get this done"
"Thank you," she said, lifting the edge of her shirt up to her nose to wipe it.
Lucas wrinkled his brow, but didn't say anything. He grabbed her arm and pulled her with him down the hall.
He counted off the doors and opened the fifth one on the right and pulled her inside behind him. He immediately knelt down and zipped open the backpack and carefully slid the small explosive device out. He stared at it for a moment then began connecting wires from one side to the other.
Jilly stood against the wall biting her lip. Knowing she better not say anything.
Once Lucas was satisfied he had gotten everything into place he straightened up and crossed the room to where he slid the device under a large machine.
"OK," he said. "I've set the timer for the predetermined time and when it goes off it hopefully will disable this section of the cooling system."
He took a deep breath, flipped a small switch and the front of the bomb lit up and began counting down.
He grabbed Jilly's arm and yanked her out the door, checking both directions before hustling away from the room, head down and his heart pounding double time in his chest.
                                       ****
When Joe and Sargent Perez arrived in Command it was already in chaos. A number of people were frantically trying to figure out what was wrong with the communications and several others were looking through manuals they had pulled out from drawers looking for information on how they were going to fix the cooling system that had already started to overheat.
Perez went from person to person to person compiling as much information as he could. No one seemed to know anything more than he did. One of the Majors came over to Joe and asked him about what he saw.
"It was a very tall man," Joe said, "He had a dark mustache but a hat pulled down over the rest of his face so I didn't see him clearly and I was more focused on getting into the room and stopping the damage that had been done."
The major pulled a picture out of a file folder he had been carrying.
"Did the man look like him?"
Joe stared at the grainy picture and realized it was Lucas.
"Oh no," he stammered.  "That definitely wasn't him. No, the guy I saw had a mustache. Who is that?"
"That's the guy who broke out of a group of merchandise on the way to a sale and caused a whole hullabaloo, then with the help of one of our pilots, hit a captain in the head and stole a ship. I'm sure he must have something to do with this."
Joe pursed his lips. "Why would someone come back up here if they got away?"
"Oh who knows? '' the major said "but the two things have to be related. I'm trying to send out this picture to all the security offices so they can be on the lookout, but I can't get in touch with anyone anywhere."
The major shook his head, his brow furrowed together. "I don't know how bad the damage is. We didn't get training in what to do if there was an emergency. I'm hoping the Ursue are on top of this."
"Do you think it might be wise to call for an evacuation?" Joe suggested.
The major looked troubled. "I don't want to cause a panic. And unless I can find out what is happening I can't make an educated decision. None of the communications are working. I have to assume this is somehow connected to that broken pipe."
"I'll head over towards the engineering department." Joe offered. "I'll try to get a handle on what's going on and then let you know either by coming back myself or sending someone."
"Alright," the Major said. "I'm going to hand carry this picture to the other offices so at least we might have an idea of who to look out for."
Joe headed out the door knowing they had to hurry even faster, before someone spotted Lucas and arrested him. He was hoping that everyone was so distracted by what was going on that no one would be actively searching for him. "Or notice me slipping this bomb strategically into one of the unoccupied control areas." he whispered to himself.
Guards and personnel were everywhere. Some looked more panicked than others. He slid the map out of his pocket and tried to figure out exactly where he had to go. Then he checked his watch to make sure he still had time to complete his assignment and get back to the launch bay. The detour to the command center ate up precious time so he picked up the pace. At least he wouldn't look out of place rushing down the hall.
He made it to where he was supposed to be quickly. It was an area filled with conduits and control panels. If they were correct, the bomb going off here would start a cascade of failures that they would be unable to get a handle on and then hopefully begin evacuation of the station.
He looked around, probably looking more guilty than he should have before ducking behind a wall of computer screens and unzipping his backpack. He stared at the bomb, took a deep breath and connected the wires like he had been shown, set the timer for the predetermined time, flipped a switch and the countdown started.
"No turning back now," he whispered to himself. He shoved the device under one of the computers, stood up and walked away feeling like his head was going to explode from the stress.
                                       ****
Back at the holding area, it was obvious that something was going on outside. There were people yelling and a siren was going off.
Ethan cracked open the front door and saw people rushing around.
He made his way back to the group."It looks like the plan is in motion. I think we better go now."
Pat unhooked the latch on the cage of the leftover affected.
"Is everyone hungry? It's time to eat!"
The group all nodded and smiled and began to pile out of the cage. Before anyone could stop them they were half way down the corridor and building speed.
Ethan and Kyle caught up to them and tried to create a wall to slow them down but the group just kept going and both brothers ended up being flattened to the wall and spinning in circles as the entire bunch hurried forward in anticipation of lunch.
Pat reached into her pocket and grabbed a whistle that she had attached to her key ring and blew it as hard as she could. Every one of the group came to a dead stop and swung around to look at her.
"Attention people!" She  practically shouted "You will not get anything to eat unless you slow down, get in line and follow us. Do you understand?"
Everyone began nodding slowly and rearranging themselves into a line.
"Can we go eat now?" one of them asked.
Sylvia stood, mouth slightly agape, stunned at the result.
Ethan and Kyle peeled themselves off of the wall and brushed off their shirts. "I don't know how that worked but who cares as long as it did." Ethan said.
Pat moved  to the front of the line. "Very good! All of you! Now let's keep in a nice straight line and we can go get everyone a juicy hamburger! Or if you are a vegetarian we can give you a big bowl of veggies and put some salad sauce on it."
Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Salad Sauce?"
"It's what my mother used to call it. She thought it would make eating lettuce more appealing."
"Did it work?"
"Oddly yes."
Pat lifted up her arm and pointed forward. "Put your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you and let's go!"
The entire line fell in behind her matching her steps exactly. They looked like a giant conga line without the whole kicking off to the side part.
Sylvia and the boys each took up a position on the outside of the line and when they reached the door Pat pushed it open slowly and stuck her head out. The first person behind her ran straight into her, knocking her forward onto the floor which created a chain reaction until there was a pile of affected laying on top of her and the rest of them standing and staring at them.
"Are we still going to eat?" one of them asked.
Ethan and Kyle began pulling everyone up.
There were only a handful of people in the hallway and none of them even glanced in their direction.
"Let's get the Hell out of here," Sylvia whispered loudly.
Pat clapped her hands together, blew on the whistle lightly and instructed everyone to get back in line.
The group somehow reformed a line and started to follow Pat down the hall.
"I don't know how you're doing that" Kyle said "But keep it up."
"I used to teach Kindergarten, I figured if it worked for 5 year olds it might work for them."
They set out down the hall, keeping a quick pace and hoping no one was going to ask them what they were doing.
"If we keep going down this hallway I think we can go straight back to the hangar bay" Ethan said.
 "The sooner we can get this group corralled into a ship the better" Sylvia said.
"You got that right. All I want to do is get out of this horrible place and put my feet on solid ground."
                                    ****
Joe was moving quickly away from where he planted the bomb. He hoped no one was going to head back into that area because the plan was to scare people into an evacuation, not kill anyone. He hustled down the hall trying to look nonchalant and concerned at the same time. He wasn't entirely sure he remembered where the hangar bay was but he figured if he just kept going he would run into it eventually. Frantic people were everywhere, and there were suddenly a lot more guards with guns. The plan was definitely in motion.
In the distance he saw a large opening that looked very much like the one he was looking for. As he got closer he could see ships and breathed a sigh of relief that at least he made it back to where he was supposed to.  He stopped when he got to the entrance and looked for any of the others. The bay was so large that he couldn't see everything from the doorway so he headed towards the center aisle being careful to stay close to one of the ships so as not to bring attention to himself. He thought he remembered where they had parked so, staying in the shadows he moved from ship to ship until he finally caught a glimpse of their shuttle. Looking to make sure no one was watching him he hurried across the open area and up the stairs and knocked on the door.
Carolyn had seen him coming so she opened the door almost immediately and he ducked inside.
"What's going on? Where's Lucas and Jilly?"
"Well it's going," he said. "I got separated from Lucas after there was a snafu redoing the heating pipes. When I left them I think they were heading off to plant their bomb. I got mine where it was supposed to be and got here without too much fuss. The plan is most definitely in motion. Communications are down and people are starting to get agitated."
"Have you heard from any of the others?"
"Pat radioed to tell us they only found a small number of affected but they broke them out of the cages and have them moving in this direction."
"OK, hopefully they can get here quickly and they don't run into any trouble. The command center has a picture of Lucas from that last time he was up here and they think he has something to do with all of this."
"Oh lord, they probably know about me too."
"They only had Lucas' picture of him running down the hallway. Must have been from a security camera. As long as he gets back here we can load everyone on board and get the hell out of here."
"Hey look!" George called out "here comes the group."
Looking out the side window, they could see Sylvia and Pat followed by a long line of the affected, flanked on each side by Ethan and Kyle. They were hustling along like a slightly drunk snake, moving from side to side then correcting itself every time it drifted too far off course.
Carolyn hurried to the door, opened it and began waving to attract their attention, fake whispering "Over here, THIS WAY".
When the group spotted them, Sylvia hurried forward until she got to the bottom of the stairs. "This way," she said, "Lunch is up here."
The group began moving more quickly and practically knocked her over trying to get up the stairs. Ethan and Kyle stopped at the bottom, looking around. As soon as the group made it to the top of the stairs they scooted up after them and into the ship where Carolyn hurriedly closed and locked the door behind them.
Pat was filing each of them into their own seat and assuring them that food was on the way if they would sit quietly for a little bit longer.
"That's it?" Carolyn asked "That's all of them? The ship can hold thousands of affected. Are you sure you didn't miss any?"
"We couldn't search every inch of the holding area but these were the only ones we heard." Ethan said.
"I overheard some of the higher ups talking about how they had simply sent most of the people that were here out on one of the recent bulk transports. So the station would be empty for these weekend meetings." Joe said
"Bulk transports?" Sylvia asked
"Yes, apparently that's how they are moving so many people out so quickly. They have ships that hold literally thousands of people and most of them that they bring up on the small transports, like the kind Carolyn flew, go directly to a holding area on the other side of this ship and they get loaded directly onto large bulk freighters for transports to other stations. Only a small number stay for "local shoppers" to browse through."
"I'm really sorry I know that," Sylvia said.
"You and me both" Joe said. "I can't even fathom how many people have been taken. And when I start to try and imagine the number I have to stop myself so I don't vomit or faint."
"Hey, look!" George called out "I see Lucas and Jilly. They are hiding behind that ship, right by the far entrance"
Everyone hurried to the front window to look out.
"There!" Pat said, "I see them."
Lucas and Jilly had made it through the hallways and found their way back to the hangar bay without much problem, despite the fact Jilly had been sniffling and apologizing the entire way. Lucas had pulled her with him and ducked behind one of the smaller transport ships before they crossed the open expanse to their ship.
"OK," Lucas said, "It looks like the coast is clear. You stick right with me and make a beeline for the ship. You got it?"
"Yes," Jilly said "I'll do just as you say."
Lucas took one final look back and forth and grabbed her by the hand and started towards the transport.
George opened the door and stepped out onto the top of the stairs. He was watching them running towards them when all of sudden, out of nowhere two uniformed guards appeared and headed straight towards them.
"You!" they shouted, pointing guns in their direction, "STOP!"
Lucas skidded to a stop but kept hold of Jilly's arm and swung her forward, away from him and let go and sent her flying forward as he put his arms up.
"Run Jilly, keep running!"
The guards were on top of him in a second and Jilly turned around yelling "NOOOOOO!"
One guard held him down while the other struggled to put handcuffs on him.
George made it down the stairs and reached Jilly just before she tried to run back towards Lucas. George scooped her up and ran for the stairs.
Jilly was kicking and flailing, begging him to put her down and go help her brother.
"I've got to get you to safety" George told her while dodging her swinging arms and legs.
He got her up the stairs where Sylvia was holding the door open. As soon as they were inside, she slammed the door and locked it.
Carolyn was already in the cockpit fumbling with the autopilot key and yelling for everyone to sit down and hold on.
Jilly was banging on the door screaming while George was trying to get her into a seat. Joe tried to calm her down. "I'll go back, I'll help him, but Jilly, you've got to sit down because if we don't get out of here now we're all going to be caught. There's nothing you can do. I'll help him I promise."
"This is all my fault" she sobbed "If I hadn't broken that pipe they wouldn't have come after us. OH my god, he's going to die and it's all my fault."
"This is NOT your fault. They have a picture of him from when he was up here last time. There was nothing you could have done about that. Now sit down and I will do everything I can to fix this." He went to the door then called to Carolyn "Get this group out of here. I'll do everything I can but you've got to get everyone to safety."
"I'm working on it" Carolyn said, "But hurry because we've got less than a minute before this ship is taking off."
Joe looked at George. "Take care of her," He said, nodding at Jilly.
"I will" George said as he was putting her into a seat and buckling her up.
"All of you take care of each other" Joe said, and he opened the door and rushed out slamming it behind him.