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They must have maintenance exits, though, doors to the outside so they could fix up the walls that were standing up against the elements. And judging by the make and material of those walls—clumsy sheet metal welding—they would need to be fixed often. There wasn’t anything that looked like an exit that he could see from here, though.
Sebastian checked his oxygen gauge. The air inside had crystalized into ice along the glass and made it hard to read, but it looked like Sebastian probably had enough oxygen for a scouting expedition around the perimeter in search of an entrance. And well, even if he didn’t have the oxygen for a scouting expedition, he didn’t have the oxygen to go back to his ship either, so there was that.
The factory stood to his left—with definitely no entry points—and the town stretched off to his right, so with a cursory glance out from his rock for security, Sebastian stole from his hiding place and followed the edge of the town away from the factory.
It was slow going now, so close to his target, trying to stay hidden and keep an eye on the town’s wall so as not to miss any entrances. He had to stay low, and he found himself grabbing onto rocks with his gloved hands and scrabbling over the ground like an insect or the worm that bigots always called him.
All the way around the town, on the side opposite from the factory with his fingers so cold they were just dull aches on the ends of his hands, Sebastian’s oxygen meter beeped in his ear to warn him of his imminent demise, and he decided that this was absolutely his worst mission ever.
And then, finally, he caught sight of a yellowish light stuck on the wall, glowing valiantly against the persistent dimness of the world. He made for it with a groan of relief, not bothering to even entertain the thought that it wasn’t what he was looking for.
He tried to stay cautious, but he got clumsy in his haste, and by the time he was at the door and caught the sounds of voices, there was nothing to do but throw himself against the outer wall of the town as the door swung open.
Thankfully, it swung out toward him, hiding him behind it instead of framing him in front of it.
“No! No-no-no, p-p-p-please!” The urgent pleas of a man—too clear to be muffled by a helmet or oxygen mask—dissolved into chattering teeth.
“Then hand them over,” coaxed another voice, muffled by a helmet and full of the cruel humor Sebastian recognized from the most hated soldiers during the occupation. “Come on.”
“N-n-no, my family.” The man was finding some strength. “My family needs them. M-m-more than yours.”
“Your family don’t come into it,” said a third, helmeted voice, nasty and slimy. “Hand it over.”
“N-ah!”
Sebastian saw a short, thin man—unnaturally slim, probably from a lifetime of malnutrition supplemented with ration pills—stumble past the gap in the door above the hinges. He pressed himself back tightly against the wall as his view was blocked by the dark uniform of a guard.
“Give ’em here, or we close the door and come pick ’em off your frozen corpse in an hour.”
“How would your family like that?”
Sebastian couldn’t see the man from here, but he could imagine the despair and impotent rage on his face. He’d seen it countless times on many others.
“I-I-I-I-I I hope you ch-ch-ch—” the man was completely losing his ability to speak in the cold. Would he even survive out here long enough to give them whatever they wanted? Any oxygen for him to breathe was coming out of the town, and his blood was probably crystalizing in his veins. “—choke on—”
“Yeah, yeah, we know.” The guard obscuring Sebastian’s view stepped forward and snatched what sounded like a crinkling bag from the freezing man.
“Ain’t for us, though,” said the nasty voice, still in the town’s warmth.
“N-n-now let m-m-me in.”
The nearest guard suddenly barked out a laugh. “Let yourself in!” Then he sent the small man sprawling onto the icy ground and shut the door with a loud clang.
Sebastian—suddenly exposed—stared at the shivering tangle of limbs in front of him. The man whimpered and twisted and managed to get around onto his side and open his eyes. They locked onto Sebastian’s and flew wide.
He opened his mouth, and his blue lips twitched, but he was far past speech.
Sebastian’s oxygen alarm beeped insistently in his ear, spurring him to action. He shoved himself off the wall and hooked his clumsy gloved hands under the man’s underarms. He pulled a thin limb over his shoulder, and when he stood, the man was so small, Sebastian lifted him from the ground.
“I got you,” Sebastian muttered, hauling him to the door. “You’re not freezing today.”
Thankfully, the bastards had left the door unlocked—if it locked at all—and Sebastian heaved it open and dragged them both inside. Even through his own thermally insulated clothing, Sebastian could feel how much warmer it was inside the shelter, and he slammed the door shut behind them to keep it that way.
He eased the man onto the ground and leaned him back against the wall, then glanced around. They were in a long corridor with a couple of doors on the town side and no one in any direction. Sebastian had the feeling they were in a remote place as far as the town went, but he wasn’t eager to test that hypothesis.
He looked down at the man who was significantly less blue, breathing hard, and staring up at him.
“Who”—the man paused to lick his chapped lips—“who are you?”
