the heated air from their suits, feeling the cold seep through the insulation with sharp, cutting fingers. The Spector was a dark and broken husk behind them.
Max noted how awkwardly Lucas handled his strange rifle. In that moment, he was reminded how little he knew about these people—where they had come from, what their agenda might be. Still, he told himself, they were lucky to find them and they may have something to offer: energy, rations, knowledge…hope.
They walked up to the massive cycles and stood in front of them, frankly astonished.
“What the hell are these?” Andrew asked.
Each cycle had a huge cockpit—comfortable for two, a squeeze for three—with a cargo hold and some sort of engine compartment. It seemed to be built to fit around a massive wheel and knobby tire, twelve feet tall, but the cockpit and cargo hold didn’t actually seem to touch the wheel at any point. The two components seemed to be held together by some type of magnetic force-field—a field that was deactivated at the moment, so the cockpits sat crookedly on the ice itself, waiting to be lifted up and borne away.
“These are MC-7s, or better known as Mag-Cycles,” Lucas said as he approached the nearest upright wheel. It towered over him, almost twice his height. “They are the old-generation Vector5 tech. Used to be standard issue for fast ice transport.”
“MC-7s?” asked Andrew. He’d never heard of such a thing. “How did you get them? How do they work?”
There was an ominous thoom from deeper into the passageway. They all turned to see the lights blazing brighter than ever.
The Crevasse Spiders were on their way.
“Later,” Lucas said. “Let’s get moving.”
As one of the cycles fired up with a thundering, sizzling WOWWing sound, Simon smelled the tang of ozone in the air, despite the frigid temperature. A blue glow radiated from the wheel housing, and Max and Simon stood in awe, their faces lit by the blue light of the MC-7 as the cockpit levitated, floating rapidly to ten feet above the icy ground, and hovered just above and behind the upright wheel. There was a breathless pause—just an instant—and then the wheel spun madly, dug into the icy floor, and sped away. The cockpit rode high above it in complete silence—except for the deep vibration of the ice itself, the vibration that Simon’s team had felt in the Spector just moments before when the cycles first approached.
The first cycle to leave had been stuffed with provisions and equipment, so completely filled there was barely space for the pilot. But it was clear that two passengers and the pilot were all a MC-7 could handle—and there were only two cycles left. Simon saw Nastasia being helped into one of the remaining vehicles already, by a pilot who kept looking nervously over his shoulder at the Crevasse Spiders as they broke barrier after barrier, still slowly approaching.
Simon gestured to Samantha and Ryan and pointed to the cycle nearest to them. “You go ahead,” he said. He looked at Sam for a moment, then looked at Max. “Andrew can handle a little exercise,” he said. “He and I will go on foot along with Lucas. Will you take Sam with you in that last cycle?”
Max looked positively offended. “What the fuck are you talking about? You know I’ll have nothing of that. I go where you go.” His expression was fierce, even angry. Simon had seen that look before; he knew there was no arguing.
He sighed. “All right then. Sam, why don’t you go with Andrew, and we’ll join you on foot.”
Samantha looked back at the rapidly approaching Spiders. A few more barriers, a few more twists and turns, and they would be right on top of the Spector. Then she looked forward at the darkness beyond the down-sloping passageway—more unknowns, more danger.
She really didn’t have any choice, and she knew it. Andrew pulled gently at her arm, helping her into the cockpit of one remaining cycle, while the one next to them glowed brightly and roared to life. As they were about to enter, the man in front of the cockpit said, “Bit tight in here. These aren’t made for three.”
Seconds later however, the hatch had closed over them, and Simon caught a glimpse of Andrew holding Samantha tightly in his arms as the cockpit lifted up into the air. Before they knew it, the cycle shot away, screeching as it barreled down the passageway and disappeared into the black tunnel ahead.