RESCUE DELTA NINER

Zack knew what he and Team Leader Ramsey must do. They had to get back to the Quadrant Ten rescue hangar and activate the manual override. Perched over the Star Key lock on the hangar platform was the answer to their security until they could communicate with Haiti. The manual override was a small inconspicuous button which, when pushed, killed all the electrical currant to the powerful vacuum generators in that quadrant. Zack reasoned, as he walked past one of the stilled generators, his head cocked toward one of the emergency lights, that the power to the com-link was on line…the power to the vacuum tube was not. Still safe, he thought. Zack listened to Team Leader Ramsey still plying the microphone at his lips for a chance to communicate with something or someone. Nothing…nothing at all! Zack was feeling picked on once again. He was trying valiantly to fight the feeling of imminent doom washing over him.

Zack had taken few steps since the ramifications of power coming up in the vacuum tube had firmly clarified in his swimming brain. His worst fears were realized in a blaze of light. Zack was staggered by the brightness of the lights as they dutifully resumed their job of illuminating the expanse of steelcrete tunnel curving downward in front of him.

Zack and team leader Ramsey were running now. No guarantee that a tram wasn’t already being sent down the tube at them. Zack was having a great deal of difficulty seeing. The lights were much too bright after hours of walking in the dingy glow of the emergency bulbs meager shine. Zack’s heart was pounding, and for the life of him, he couldn’t get enough oxygen to breathe. Team Leader Ramsey’s breathing was loud in Zack’s ears, but not as loud as the big man’s inquiries. Directed at he unresponsive com-link in an ever-increasing crescendo. In no time Team Leader Ramsey was screaming their position into the microphone at his lips. Zack so desperately wanted to scream with him.

Zack’s heart jumped into his throat as he stumbled down the vacuum tube in near blindness. He stared at the floor, every attempt to look up being cut short by his watering eyes, due to the bright glow of the overhead lights.

It was a noise. It was growing steadily louder. Zack stared at the vacuum generators as he passed them. Looking critically for any sign they may have started working. As hard as it was for Zack to adjust his eyes to the intense light and run down the tube as quickly as he could, still he managed to examine each and every speck of dust around all the vacuum generators as he reeled past them. He searched for any movement, anything that might indicate they were coming on line.

All at once the noise Zack had heard turned to a muffled thunder, and as the unseen specter passed below his feet and vanished toward Haiti at his back, the image of the empty tram he and Team Leader Ramsey had been riding in flashed through Zack’s mind. They had been traveling on foot for more than two hours. The awesome machine had covered the same distance in scant seconds.

Zack felt the pain in his left ankle somewhat numbed by the exhaustion now burning at his lungs and torturing every muscle in his body. Each successive step now exacted an incredible toll on him as his limit of stamina was reached. He began to pass over the threshold of lost physical control and willpower. Zack eyed the guide rail. If he were going to cross over the guide rail to get on the same side as the Hangar Ten platform, he would have to do it now. He knew he wouldn’t be able to make it by the time he reached the hangar’s platform. He wondered how he was going to haul himself onto the platform once he got there. He glanced toward the vacuum generators and with a gasp of disbelief; the thought was obliterated from his mind. A small swirl of dust dancing, in an otherwise dead atmosphere. Rotating slowly in front of one of the vacuum generators.

A tram was being sent down the tube at them. They were dead men. Dead Men running!