6.13  ·  Gut Feelings

As Kasyr had been preparing Sherri for medically unnecessary surgery, John had centred on Sam, who was leading Tim through the corridors of the military base with a determined focus.

“Boy am I glad you’re here,” he gushed, as he walked beside them, unseen. “Sherri’s in big trouble. Please hurry.”

He glanced around, looking frantically for a force field he could use to make his presence known.

Dammit. Nothing.

Sam stopped at a hatch on the wall, and pulled it open.

“This should be the lighting for this floor,” he explained to Tim, as he inspected the wires. “We’ll need an element of surprise, so could you pull out these six wires when I give the signal?”

He ran a finger over the wires.

“Okay,” said Tim, voice wavering. He stepped to the panel, grasping the wires, and Sam strode down the hall towards the room where Sherri was being held.

As he walked, he started to slow, and put a hand on the wall.

John grimaced as he realised that the aura nullification was affecting him, too.

The aura of Quinn began to shift, as Sam clutched his head, and John began to see flickers of his own face.

“Sam… please keep going,” John pleaded. “She’s about to have her skull cut open.”

Sam looked back to Tim, who was gawking at the strange warping of his appearance, and gave a thumbs up. Tim, despite his obvious shock, went ahead and yanked out the wires, and the hall went dark.

“John,” Sam muttered, “I’ll get to her in time, I promise.”

Wow, almost like he was answering me.

He set his jaw, straightened, and marched into the nullification field, right as Kasyr opened the door. She watched the Quinn aura flicker away to reveal Sam, and her jaw dropped.

“Sorry ’bout this,” he said in a high-pitched voice, before slugging her in the face, and kneeing her in the stomach. As she keeled over, he landed an elbow on her back, which made her drop to the floor.

John returned to Sherri, inspecting her head: shaved, and slathered in a yellow antiseptic solution, but intact.

“Oh, thank god she didn’t make any incisions yet.”

He dropped to the floor to meet her eye. “Told you they were coming.”

Sam crossed to the aura disruption device, and slammed his foot into it, shutting it down, and restoring his aura to that of Quinn.

“What was that?”

“That was the machine that was messing with your aura,” Sam said, kneeling to get a look at Sherri. “Wasn’t a nice feeling, huh?”

“How’d you get him to help?” Sherri asked, and John grinned back as Tim began releasing her from the slab.

“Brace yourself,” Sam instructed, before Sherri flopped to the floor. For a brief moment, her face was inside John’s head, and he pulled away, laughing.

Sherri crawled out from under the slab, and knelt. “I never expected to see you guys again. How did you even find me?”

John looked at Sam, and then at Sherri.

I’ve never seen this phenomenon before. The shorting of the aura that will allow them to recognise one another.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see what happens.”

As Sam took her hand, he watched an electric crackle pass over the pair, and their forms wavered for a moment before resolving into their true shapes.

Fascinating.

After some reunions, Sam hurried to the door, before pausing, and looking John in the eye.

He sees me?

“Thanks for pointing us in the right direction.”

John wasn’t sure how to respond, as Sam explained to Sherri that the aura shorting had exposed John to him.

I’ll figure that one out later, he decided, and headed out into the corridor to witness Sherri ending her tormentor’s life.

“Boy, I’d hate to be one of these Kromaggs. Only one lady around, and she’s a psycho? No wonder they’re all angry.”

John’s heart skipped a beat as he turned to see Al standing in the middle of the corridor.

“Al…” John said, unable to suppress a smile. “I didn’t expect to be able to see you.”

Sherri whipped her head around to John, jaw slack. “You see Al?!”

“Don’t ask me, I’m as surprised as you,” he replied. “But welcome to the party. Let’s lead these three upstairs.”

“Upstairs?”

Tim scratched his head. “I think I’m missin’ some key parts of this,” he said in confusion.

“Yeah,” Sam cut in, “this isn’t just a rescue. We still have a job to finish, right?”

“Right,” agreed John, standing with his fellow hologram and eyeing his colourful handlink.

“Clear to the end of the hall up that-away,” Al said, pointing with his cigar. He glanced up at John. “Shall we?”

John nodded, and the pair tapped on their respective handlinks, centring themselves at the door at the end of the corridor. Al stuck his head through the door for a moment, before returning.

“Clear in there.”

Casually, he sucked on his cigar as John gawked at him, still processing everything that was happening.

“I see you leaned into the ‘Gay Willy Wonka’ business. Nice hat. Very… ah, dapper.”

John flushed. “How do you even know about that?”

Only my Al should be aware of that. Right?

Al smirked. “Hate to tell you, but everybody knows about that now.” He tapped the ash from his cigar. “You told us one helluva story.”

“I told you?” John’s mind raced.

“It only gets weirder,” Al said, and gestured as the three non-holograms approached. “Come on, the coast is clear.”

Sam reached for the door with his stolen keycard, but stiffened, hesitating a moment. “Are you sure?”

Al squinted at him a moment, before sticking his head into the door again. He emerged with wide eyes.

“Good instincts, Sam,” he said, bewildered. “Couple of goons coming up the stairs from below.”

John glanced at Sam, who looked almost as surprised.

“Instincts, huh?” Sherri said, eyeing Sam. “Well, come on, then.”

She looked at John. “Distraction?”

John smiled, and exchanged a look with Al. He leaned over, and grabbed for the keytar he’d put aside. As he made contact, it became visible to the others, and he slung it over is chest.

“Distraction.”

Sherri leaned toward him. “Can I make a request?”

John suppressed laughter as she whispered it into his ear.

“You just want to see me squirm, don’t you?” he said, heat rising in his face. “In front of Sam and Al? Really?”

Sherri nodded vigorously. “You wouldn’t say ‘no’ to a girl who just lost her depth perception, would you?”

Giving a resigned look, John adjusted his bow tie nervously, and stepped through the wall.

“What’re we doing?” asked a puzzled Al, as he followed John into the stairwell.

“Feel free to join in if you know this one,” said John, grinning as he started playing the keytar. He was certain his face was red as a tomato. “You go downstairs, I’ll go up, and we can split their attention.”

Al nodded, and tapped his handlink, blinking to a landing below, as the Kromaggs began ascending the staircase between the holograms. John followed suit with his free hand, popping to the top of the stairs that ascended from their floor. As the Kromaggs reached the landing, John began singing.

“Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you…”

He heard Al’s belly laugh from below. John snorted.

Yeah, laugh it up, Al.

“That is how I know you go on…”

The Kromaggs, who looked like some kind of maintenance crew, had been reaching for the door that would have brought them face-to-face with the escapees, but the song made them look back.

“Far across the distance, and spaces between us, you have come to show you go on.”

One Kromagg leaned against the banister, glancing towards Al, while the other tilted his head, looking up towards John.

As he launched into the chorus, the door burst open, and the two leapers launched towards each Kromagg.

“Near, far, wherever you are…”

Sherri kicked the Kromagg who was looking down the stairs, leaving him tumbling down, landing with a thud against the wall by Al’s feet. He was out cold.

“I believe that the heart does go on…”

Sam put the other guy into a headlock from behind, and spun him around to face Sherri as she aimed the blaster at him.

“Once more, you open the door…”

“You guys don’t look like soldiers,” she said, noting the tool belt and jumpsuit he wore. “Come to fix the lights?”

“And you’re here in my heart and…”

He looked visibly terrified as he glared at the old, apparently blind, lady who’d just sent his partner on a trip.

“We don’t have beef with these guys,” she said to Sam.

“My heart will go on and on.”

“But do they got beef with us?” asked Tim, eyes on the maintenance guy at the landing below.

John turned off the keytar. “Don’t forget what happened the last time you tried to reason with a guy,” he called out.

Sherri frowned, and stepped toward the petrified worker. “Listen, I’ve killed too many of you guys already. Will you just pretend you didn’t see us? Just pretend your buddy there tripped, and you gotta go get him patched up. You might not wanna see what awaits you in the hall on the other side of that door, if you catch my drift.”

The maintenance worker nodded. “O… okay. N-never saw you.”

“Sherri…” John warned, blinking to her side. “Maybe you should at least tie him up or something. We’ve been burned before, and not just by Kromaggs.”

He shot a look towards Tim, who was obliviously looking down the stairs, scratching his head.

Al appeared next to Sam. “Haven’t seen a one of these baboons keep their word.”

“Nor have I,” John agreed, and said to Sherri: “Al agrees with me.”

Sherri turned to Sam, who was looking intensely at the worker. “Do you agree with John?”

Sam was silent for a tense moment, before letting go of the Kromagg.

“Go,” he said.

Wow, maybe he and I don’t think as alike as I thought.

The worker hurried down the stairs, and tended to his partner, as a pensive-looking Sam turned toward the stairs leading up.

“He won’t tell,” he said, before hurrying upward.

“How do you know that?” John called up to him. Sam reached the upper landing, and glanced back with an oddly calm expression.

“I just… know.” He gestured to the next flight of stairs. “Come on, is this an escape or a coffee break? Move it!”