The Hidden Treasure of Darfor

  ***

  Around fifteen minutes later, the craft was hovering above a barren, lifeless stretch of desert about twenty kilometres away from where Patrick was being kept prisoner.

  ‘Well?’ prompted Saleek, wishing that Zeeree would hurry up a bit.

  He was a quick thinker and an even quicker doer, some might say he was impulsive and that was probably true at times but he would rather take action and live with the consequences than sit around and plan things for days on end. As such, his plans were usually simple and straight to the point (although he did usually have a plan B as insurance as well) and the lyan was desperate to get this particular one underway.

  ‘I’m afraid my scans are still somewhat inconclusive,’ admitted Zeeree, looking ever so slightly embarrassed as her face popped up in the bottom-right corner of the main view screen.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Ellu curiously.

  With Zeeree’s face still in the corner, the screen flickered and changed to a view of computer generated blueprints of a structure set into a large sand dune, complete with a vast network of tunnels and rooms underground.

  ‘As you can see,’ said the AI as the blueprints became three dimensional and began to rotate on the screen, ‘this is where I am picking up the human life-signs, as shown by the glowing white dots on the map. However, this structure is a veritable labyrinth of passageways, tunnels and rooms. It will be difficult for you to navigate this maze safely and, once they know we are here, time will be of the essence. I doubt you will have long to find Patrick and make your escape.’

  ‘And who are “they”, exactly?’ asked Saleek, his face a mask of concentration as he studied the screen intently.

  The glowing white dots, of which there were five, vanished and were replaced by forty red dots, scattered throughout the whole structure.

  ‘I am picking up approximately forty non-human life-signs in and around the structure. I can’t be certain but there appears to be at least a dozen different species here, perhaps more. The material in the support structures and the rock below the surface are making it impossible to be sure. There may be fewer than forty hostile people down there. On the other hand....there could be more than forty,’ said Zeeree, looking a tiny bit nervous as she revealed this information.

  If Saleek was getting nervous too, he was remarkably good at hiding it – he didn’t move a single muscle as Zeeree said this.

  ‘Those aren’t great odds, Saleek. You and Kracht against forty people, maybe more?’ said Ellu, looking concerned from her station.

  ‘I’ve faced worse than this before,’ said Saleek casually. ‘So has Kracht. We’re both still here so we must be doing something right.’

  ‘I only hope you aren’t pushing your luck on this one.’

  ‘Well, we’ll find out when it’s all over, won’t we?’ said Saleek confidently.

  Ellu let out a small, humourless laugh. ‘Very comforting,’ she replied, returning her attention to the read-outs in front of her.

  ‘OK, let’s do this,’ said Saleek as he stood up from the pilot’s chair. ‘Ellu, you know the plan. Zeeree, do you remember what I told you to do?’

  ‘Of course I remember. I am incapable of forgetting anything,’ said Zeeree very matter-of-factly.

  The lyan sucked in a large amount of air and let it out rather explosively, as if trying to prepare himself for what was about to happen.

  ‘OK, this is it. Warm up the engines and get ready. When I give the signal, we start the rescue!’