“What’s going on?” asked Kepa as the robed figures scurried from station to station.

“We’re getting ready to evacuate,” replied Marina. “They are getting too close and we can’t afford to be caught, not a single one of us.”

“Where will we go?” asked Maite. 

“We have several spaces like this scattered in the underground across the city, with advance scouts to keep them prepped in case we need them. We’ll be ok, but we need to clear this one out and leave as little usable evidence as possible. They can’t find out who we are or where we are going next.”

Maite and Kepa watched as Argia dismantled her monitor system. Rather, as it folded in on itself, the edges coming together, the screens curling and folding up, until ultimately collapsing to a small cube about the size of a Rubicks cube from their own time. The rest of the equipment in the hall was doing something similar. 

“That’s amazing!” began Kepa.

“Shh!” warned Marina. “This is all pretty standard stuff for this time. No one from this time would be surprised by it.”

Maite nodded, the wonder still visible on her face. “It’s still pretty cool.”

Marina let a smile crack her grizzled face. “It is. Consider that I grew up in a time where lighting came from fire and stories came out of the mouths of elders.”

“We’re ready,” barked a man that Kepa recognized by voice to be the one who had drug him here and he assumed was Marina’s right hand.

Marina nodded. “We’re going to checkpoint dorrea. You all know what to do. Go your separate ways, reconvene there in…”

An explosion interrupted Marina’s orders as the doors to the hall burst from their hinges and erupted into a million pieces. Within moments, three uniformed officers on hoverboards burst into the room, followed by multiple spherical drones.

“Nola? How?” bellowed Marina but before she could get an answer, the drones were swarming the room, bolts of energy firing in all directions. 

Marina grabbed Kepa and Maite’s arms. “This way!” she yelled, pulling them to the desk as some of the robbed figures huddled behind tables, firing their own weapons back at the spheres that rolled through the air above them. Other drones spewed smoke that sunk into the room. The smoke stung their eyes as they half followed and were half dragged by Marina toward the desk.

As Marina led them back to her desk, it suddenly moved aside, revealing stairs that went down into inky blackness. 

“Come!” she hissed, pulling Kepa’s arm so hard he thought she might dislocate it. He turned to grab Maite’s hand when a bolt of energy hit her in the back. She immediately fell to the ground.

“Maite!” screamed Kepa as he jerked his arm free of Marina and rushed to Maite’s side.

Maite lay on the ground, looking straight up at him. “I can’t move my legs,” she said, tears flowing down her cheeks. 

Marina grabbed Kepa’s arm again. “We have to go! Or they’ll catch all of us.” She looked down at Maite. “We’ll find you.”

“Zer?” cried Kepa, anguish carved in his face. “We can’t leave her here!”

“And we can’t carry her either!” barked Marina back at him. “Your leg isn’t fully recovered, and she can’t move. If we don’t go now, they’ll catch us too.”

Kepa looked pleadingly at Maite, tears filling his eyes.

“Go! Zoaz! I know you’ll find me, if not in this bubble, in the next” said Maite.

Kepa nodded, wiping tears from his eyes as he rushed down the stairs with Marina. Maite watched as the desk moved back to cover their escape.

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