The Assault

14. YOZI



[MISSION DAY 5]

[1240 hours]

[Uluru Secure Facility, New Bzadia]

YOZI WAS ON THE FIRST RUNG OF THE LADDER WHEN THE world turned gray.

Zabet was just ahead of him, Alizza right below him.

He and his squad had been detained by Goezlin and his PGZ goons after the prisoner scumbugz had got away, and they had been questioned like criminals—as if they were somehow involved in whatever Chizna was up to.

What was Chizna up to? Yozi had no idea. There had been a movement on Bzadia that was opposed to the acquisition of Earth as a new home for the Bzadian race. But they were generally peaceable, nonviolent types who were mainly opposed to the bloodshed inherent in an invasion. It was hard to believe that they had suddenly turned militant and infiltrated the army.

It was also possible that there was some kind of power struggle going on within the army. That had happened before. And possibly Uluru and its powerful secrets could be the cause of the problems. But that didn’t quite feel right to him. So the only real possibility that remained was that Chizna and his team were working for the scumbugz. But why?

By the time Goezlin had let them go, they found themselves at the back of a crowd of angry soldiers desperate to get inside the building. The entranceway lay in rubble, blasted by tank shells. The only way in was via two ladders up to the mezzanine floor. That made for slow going.

Yozi had muscled his way to the front of the crowd. Anybody who objected had to argue with Alizza. Nobody did.

He had just put one foot on the ladder when he heard the blast. A second later, the shock wave of broken rock and rubble exploded through the corridor above him. In that second, Alizza saved his life.

Alizza wrenched Yozi off the ladder, throwing him sideways. He dived on top of Yozi as a torrent of dust, rock, and smoke exploded out above them. Chunks of rock crashed down around them. When it finally stopped, Yozi was amazed that he was still alive. He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw across the dust-choked floor was the face of Zabet.

She hadn’t been so lucky.

Alizza pushed himself upward, shaking off dust and rock.

Yozi quickly checked Zabet for signs of life, but it was clear there would be none.

He looked at Alizza, then at the pile of rubble in front of them.

They began to climb.