Alice pushed through the penultimate door before the elevator, eager to be free of the damnable tunnels. Her clothes were soaked from forging through the waist-deep water, but the end was finally in sight.

The pumps had so far run smoothly and on schedule. Hopefully that meant Blackmountain reinforcements were too occupied with the remnants of the bot army to bother Robert.

Alice and Weizza closed the door behind them and the water settled back to glassy stillness. Alice waited for the sound of the pumps to start back up, but all was eerily quiet. Too many minutes seemed to pass.

"You don't think–"

Brrrrrmmm. Alice's worries were drowned out by the whir of the pump apparatus. She breathed a sigh of relief and sloshed down the tunnel.

One segment to go, then they'd reach the elevator. After that they'd have to fight the rest of the way to the surface. Alice had just her knife and three shots left in the pistol. She already missed her armor.

"How much power do you have left?" Alice asked.

"Enough," Weizza evaded. It couldn't be much.

Alice opened the final passage. She shut the door behind them, then picked up the phone to call Robert. Might as well get a status update while she waited for the water to clear.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. The pumps started back up, but still Robert didn't answer. Maybe the water had shorted the wiring? But then how would it ring? Something didn't add up.

Weizza cocked her head at Alice, but said nothing. Alice put down the receiver and started down the passageway with a renewed sense of foreboding.

Finally the last of the water was gone and Alice and Weizza were able to open the door to the elevator room. The cage was still where they'd left it. Alice looked up the miles of dark shaft, said a small prayer, and pushed the button to take them up.

The cage began its slow, rattling ascent. Lights were spaced sparsely up the walls of the shaft, creating small pools of light against the oppressive darkness.

Weizza's armor cast a shifting arachnoid shadow each time they passed one of the luminous domes. Alice preferred the dark.

Halfway through the ascent Alice heard a few sporadic pops from above.

"Weizza, did you–"

"Shh," Weizza interrupted, miming silence.

The sound came again, closer. Alice looked up through the mile of shaft above them. A shadow flicked down across the lights above, almost as if–

"WHAM!" The elevator jerked violently as the falling object slammed into the top of the cage. Something wet splashed on Alice's shoe.

Weizza directed a beam of light from her armor, revealing the shape of a solider. Blackmountain. Thoroughly dead, though still bleeding heavily. Alice inched back from the dripping blood.

There were no further sounds from above.

"Stay behind me," Weizza hissed. "There may be more of them."

Alice nodded at the logic and shuffled behind Weizza in the cage. They rode the rest of the way up in tense silence, trying to ignore the corpse above them.

Finally the elevator clattered to a stop at the top of the shaft. Alice hazarded a peek from behind Weizza, but saw only the wall.

"I hear breathing," Weizza whispered. "There is someone waiting in the hall. Be ready."

Weizza aimed her rifle out and did a slow pivot around the corner, training her gun as she maneuvered. At once she relaxed and let her barrel drop.

"Marcos."

Alice came out from hiding. An exhausted Marcos stood at attention down the hall. His armor was long gone, his clothes were torn, and there was a blood-soaked bandage on his torso.

"You're hurt!" Alice exclaimed. She ran to meet him, ready to wrap him in a hug. She thought the better of it and stopped a few paces away, staring at his wound.

"You should see the other guy," Marcos whispered. "Not so loud though, might still be more of them around.

"So what happened down there? Do we have Petbe?"

Alice frowned. "No, no one has it. Lynch's brain trust locked everyone out on accident. Petbe is just another space rock now."

Marcos shrugged. "Sounds alright to me."

"What happened to you anyway? That wound looks serious."

"The soldiers came from behind. I took out most of them, but then my armor gave out. Had to fall back and got pinned down in a side-tunnel.

"One of those clowns made a lucky shot after my armor went kaput. It's just a flesh wound. Bleeds like hell though."

"And Robert?"

"What about him? Haven't seen him since we split up. He must be okay though right? Got you guys through the tunnels."

"He's not answering the phone," Alice explained. "I'm worried he might be hurt."

"We should proceed to the surface before more reinforcements arrive," said Weizza.

"Robert just risked his life for us. He may be hurt and alone. We're not going to leave him." Alice glared up at Weizza defiantly.

"Or he may be dead and surrounded by Blackmountain troops," answered Weizza. "It is an unnecessary risk. If he is alive, he will make his own way out."

"Alice is right Weizza," said Marcos, "we can't abandon him now. Not after all he's done. Come on."

Weizza pursed her lips, but bowed her head slightly in assent.

The three winded their way back to the pump room, Weizza in the lead, Marcos guarding the rear.

They reached the branch again, and found the door to the pump room shut and locked. Marcos banged on it.

"Open up Robert, it's us."

There was no response.

"His armor is inside," said Weizza. "I have re-established my comm link. But the vital signs are absent."

Alice gasped.

"You misunderstand. He has done something to the suit," Weizza continued. "It seems to be running a program of his devising. Impressive. It also appears he is no longer in the armor."

"Say again?" Marcos asked.

"He abandoned the armor and programmed it to run the pump controls in his absence."

"Hmm," Marcos considered. "He probably tried to repeat my ambush trick. Which didn't work, by the way. Let's check the other path."

Marcos led the way to the branching path. "Robert, it's us. We're coming in. Don't shoot."

A squad of slain troops lay just inside the darkness. It looked like they'd tripped an explosive of some sort. There wasn't much of them left to identify, but judging by the gear they were with Blackmountain.

Marcos continued on alone, cautious of more booby traps. A few minutes later he called back down the tunnel.

"I found him. It doesn't look good, he's taken some shrapnel."

"Let me see," Alice pushed past Weizza and hurried forward.

Marcos had his hand on Robert's wrist, checking for a pulse. Given the vacant eyes and bar of jagged metal sticking out from Robert's temple, Alice didn't have much hope.

"He's dead," Marcos confirmed. He gently closed Robert's eyes, stood, and saluted their fallen friend.

"Thank you Robert," Alice murmured, head bowed low.

Weizza put a hand on Alice's shoulder. "Alice, we must–"

"I know," Alice choked out. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she turned away.