30,000 Feet

Chapter 6: The Steel Serpent

The underground rail system—the "Steel Serpent"—was a vacuum-sealed hyper-loop that moved the Council’s elite and their heavy weaponry at six hundred miles per hour. It was the only way into the city’s core without triggering the atmospheric shield.

"The train passes through the sub-glacier tunnel in ten minutes," Val said, checking her chrono. "We have a three-second window to mag-lock onto the roof of the cargo carriage."

Kaelen checked his harness, then Sienna’s. "If the mag-locks fail, we’re paint on the tunnel walls."

Sienna looked at the dark tunnel ahead, her knuckles white as she gripped her hacking deck. "Then make sure they don't fail."

As the roar of the approaching train vibrated through the rock, the rebels moved. They dropped from the ceiling on heavy-duty cables just as the blur of silver steel hissed beneath them. The jerk was violent—a bone-shattering snap that nearly tore Kaelen’s arms from his sockets—but the magnetic clamps held.

They were on.

"We have to get to the engine!" Kaelen shouted over the screaming wind of the vacuum.

They crawled along the roof, the world outside a smear of grey stone and flickering service lights. Just as they reached the hatch of the third carriage, the train’s automated defense system woke up. Two sentry turrets rose from the roof, their red sensors locking onto Kaelen’s heat signature.

"Cover!" Kaelen yelled, shoving Sienna into a narrow gap between the carriages.

He unslung his rail-rifle, firing a burst that sparked against the turret’s armor. It wasn't enough. He had to get closer. Using the momentum of the train’s curve, he swung around the side of the car, hanging over the abyss by a single hand, and jammed a magnetic grenade into the turret’s base.

The explosion was small but precise. The turret slumped, lifeless.

"Now!" He hauled himself back up, gasping for air, and helped Sienna bypass the hatch lock.

Inside, the carriage was filled with rows of "Peacekeeper" androids, currently in sleep mode. They stood like chrome skeletons in the dim light. Sienna didn't go for the doors; she went for the central server rack at the end of the car.

"I can hijack the train’s braking system," she said, her fingers flying across the keys. "But Kaelen, the androids... they’re wired into the same circuit. If I touch the brakes, they’ll wake up."

Kaelen drew his dual blades, the steel humming in the pressurized cabin. He stood between Sienna and the sea of silver machines.

"Wake them up," he said, his eyes fixed on the first chrome head that began to tilt. "I've got you."

As the train began to screech, sparks flying from the rails, the androids' eyes flared a lethal neon blue. Kaelen charged, a whirlwind of steel against the waking machines, protecting the woman he loved while the world screamed around them.