Chapter 19p3 – Backup

The elevator hummed happily as it descended towards floor 101. Tic paced across the tight space. “How can we pull this off?”

“Relax and react,” advised Haglyn.

“They’ll blast us the moment the doors open!”

“They only open partway.”

“True, but—” Tic smacked his forehead. “Oh, of course. We’ve already done it once before…”

“What?”

“We get off a floor early and go through the stairs.”

“Oh. Well, yeah. I just assumed.”

“Smart aleck.” Tic hit the Floor 102 button. The elevator arrived at its first destination and dinged open. Tic and Haglyn bustled out, blasters at the ready, but the hall was empty. The rich carpets deadened the sounds of their movement.

A door to the left led them to the staircase. They ducked inside and made their way cautiously down one floor. Tic placed his ear to the heavy door. He heard nothing, then the elevator dinged and there was an explosion of blaster fire. He prepared to flank the defenders while they were distracted, but before he could open the door he heard a different sound, an unexpected, bone-chilling, and yet very encouraging noise.

It was a chorus of primal howls. The yetis had arrived.

“Hear that, Hagga? Backup!” Tic threw the door open and levelled his blaster. The lobby of Dispatch had been consumed by chaos. Fur and lasers were flying everywhere, making it difficult to pick out targets.

Tic and Haglyn looked for the distinctive white tuxedos of the Liberati and squeezed off shots where they could, trying to avoid their yeti allies, who seemed to be everywhere at once. Tic saw Eilk break through at the forefront of the battle, swinging his paws like scythes. He roared deafeningly, gathered himself to pounce on a fleeing Liberati—

—and ate a mouthful of laser fire.

About Tim Sevenhuysen

Tim Sevenhuysen writes sci-fi and other genre fiction. He is a microfiction expert, having written over 600 fifty-word stories. He is also a noncertifiable lunatic.

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