The Street Survivors (The Guild Wars Book 12) by Ian Malone (great books of all time TXT) 📕

entire chamber measured all of five feet from dirt floor to rocky ceiling, with a smattering of artificial lights scattered about the space and intersecting corridors for illumination. The whole place reeked of dank air and moisture.

Ugh. Gross.

“Van Zant!” a voice whispered from Taylor’s right. “Van Zant, over here!”

Taylor shifted on his butt to see a pair of coal-black elephant eyes peering back at him through a hole in the cell wall. “Yeah.” He coughed. “Yeah, Haju. I’m here.”

Haju heaved a sigh of relief. “Welcome back. I must confess, for a few hours there, I feared I’d lost you. In all my time in this place, I’ve never once seen another slave, human or otherwise, take a lethal dose of KzSha stinger venom. I was starting to wonder if that’d changed.”

“How long have I been out?” Taylor asked.

“A little over five hours,” Haju said. “How do you feel?”

A herd of imaginary buffalo rampaged through Taylor’s skull like a stampede. “Like somebody laid me face-down at the start/finish line at Daytona, then let the entire starting grid run roughshod over my head at full race speed.”

Haju made a face. “What is a…Daytona?”

“Seriously?” Taylor huffed. “You’ve been the presiding gate master over Earth’s stargate for more than a decade, and you’ve never taken in a race at Daytona?”

“We Sumatozou don’t get out much,” Haju said. “It’s nothing personal against your species, your world, or your Daytona. That’s simply our way.”

Fargin antisocial elephants. Taylor rubbed the back of his scalp and took another pass at his surroundings. The entire space was solid rock, from what he could tell, with the lone exception being the iron-barred cage door that blocked the entrance.

Well, this feels familiar. Taylor frowned.

“We need to get out of here,” Haju said. “Now.”

“I’m all ears for ideas,” Taylor said.

The Sumatozou’s expression turned sideways. “Per the report I read, you and Latura Hylune faced similar circumstances on Rukoria. Surely, then, you of all people can concoct a way out of here for us.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Taylor muttered, recalling his previous thought. “Yes, Japhara and I did face similar conditions on Rukoria. The difference is, I had comms access to coordinate with my people on the outside. We don’t have that here, on account of your pal Akoya’s jamming technology.”

Haju’s broad expression rankled. “Master Vello is not my pal. He is a traitor, both to the others of his race and the Guild we proudly serve. Never forget that.”

The gate master’s tone carried a level of disdain even a deaf person would’ve detected.

Taylor couldn’t blame him. Having seen the way Haju and the other elephants had been mistreated by the KzSha, he knew he’d have been pissed, too, were their roles revered. “Hey, how’s your friend?”

“Which friend are you referring to this time?” Haju grumbled.

“The one who dumped the kambersite bin back on the docks and got the shit kicked out of him for it,” Taylor said earnestly. “I’ll admit, I’ve seen the KzSha abuse other slaves in my time here, but that took the term aggravated battery to a whole new level. They almost killed that guy, and you as well for that matter over the belt thing.”

Haju grunted. “In case you hadn’t noticed, that is the way of things for those of my kind in this place. Master Vello has deliberately seen to that, especially where other gate masters are concerned.”

Taylor arched an eyebrow. “That other Sumatozou on the docks was a gate master, too?”

“Indeed,” Haju said. “Master Ubeloff presided over the Hagarth stargate prior to his enslavement. He and I were on guild assignment in the Boontar system when our ship was attacked by the KzSha frigate. The wasps boarded our vessel, and killed many of the crew, then took the rest of us prisoner. We’ve been here on Droxis ever since.”

“Has anyone managed to escape?” Taylor asked.

“None that I know of.” Haju shook his head. “Not successfully, anyway. There was one who managed to get free of his cage and reach the surface. However, he was apprehended by security before he could escape from the dome and was summarily sentenced to the same fate as your comrade in the fedora.”

Taylor’s jaw clenched. “You heard about that, huh?”

“I did,” Haju said quietly. “I’m sorry for your loss, Chief Van Zant. Truly, I am. No one should ever die that way—human, Sumatozou, or otherwise. No one.”

Taylor nodded somberly as his thoughts returned to the others, specifically Jack. “What do you say we get crackin’ on that plan to bust out of here?”

“I love this plan,” Haju said. “I’m excited to be part of it.”

Taylor did a double take. “Did you just quote Bill Murray?”

The massive alien cracked a rare smile. “As you yourself said, I’ve presided over Earth’s stargate for more than ten years. Just because I’ve never stepped foot on your Daytona doesn’t mean I haven’t sampled other aspects of your classic culture.”

Taylor couldn’t have stifled his laugh if he’d tried. I’ll be damned.

Something stirred in the shadows.

“Who’s there?” Taylor asked, suddenly tense.

Carefully and with great caution, a small figure emerged from the back of Taylor’s cell to stand in the light.

“You want escape.” The alien aimed a claw at Taylor then pointed to himself. “I help.”

Sporting a long nose and floppy ears with a slim anteater’s physique, the newcomer was a Caroon.

“Who are you?” Taylor asked.

“Me Aysep,” the Caroon said. “Me dig. Lots of dig.”

Taylor traded looks with Haju before asking his next question. “How did you get down here?”

“I mine ripper.” Aysep paused, considering. “Was mine ripper. Lost bins in cave-in accident. Much kambersite destroyed. KzSha blame our dig team. Me and my mate, brought down here.”

Taylor started to relax. “What do you want?”

“I take out,” Aysep said.

“I beg