Bright Star

by Nickie Anderson

Captain Berings’ voice echoed down the dark hall. “Get to interrogation! Secure all the prisoners!”

  I didn’t wait to be secured. I ran to the end of the hallway where I had noted the stairwell earlier and sprinted up the steps, taking them two and three at a time. The complete darkness hid the steps from view, but I kept dashing ahead, hoping my feet found their way on the floor.

  “Ugh!” I ran into a soldier hidden by the pitch black, knocking him against the wall.

  “Who is that?” he called.

  I didn’t answer. I kept running, faster and faster up the stairs. One flight, two flights, onward and upwards. My feet raced along the steps, barely touching the stairs in my dash to the top. I paused for a split second on a landing and heard the echo of footprints below.

  “I said, who is that?” shouted the soldier. “This is a secured area. Answer or I’ll shoot!”

  I clamped my mouth shut to keep from panting and continued running up to the exit, up to freedom. Over the building’s speakers an automated warning sang. The calm female voice of the alarm unnerved me. How could the voice be so calm? My heart was racing. My lungs burned with effort.

  “Attention, all hands, attention. Attempted prisoner escape from basement levels. Seal all exits. Stop any suspicious persons. Attention.” The message repeated over and over, drilling into my skull. I was the escaping prisoner.

  I took longer leaps up the stairs, but I could hear the soldier closing in on me. Panicked, I stumbled, tripping on the edge of a step and falling to my knees. The soldier caught my ankle and dragged me back down the stairs.

  “Sir, this is Private Dallah. I’ve caught a person on the south stairwell. Request for backup!”

  I kicked, flailing against the soldier’s hands. One of the kicks connected with something soft; the soldier groaned, releasing my ankle. I pulled myself back up. Run, just run, almost there, run.

  The door to the main floor was a few steps up. I could see daylight streaming through the cracks around the frame.

  Move, move, move!

  I willed myself up another step and gasped when the soldier tackled me from behind. My elbow struck the steps and then my head. Fireworks went off in my skull. The soldier’s grip tightened around my legs. I tried to swing around with my arms, but hit nothing.

  “South stairwell! South stairwell!” the soldier screamed. “I have someone!”

  I rolled as hard as I could, loosening the soldier’s hold for a moment, but a moment was enough. I was back on my feet, charging up the dark stairwell.

  Almost there, move, move, move.

  I ran up another step, another, another. I lunged for the door handle, but the soldier’s hand snagged my dress, pulling me back to the ground. Despite my struggle, the soldier held firm and dragged me down slowly, step by step. I screamed.

  The door to the main floor flew open, blinding me with the morning light, and a silhouette of a man appeared. He kicked the soldier squarely in the face, sending him tumbling down the stairs. The man picked me up and dragged me up the stairs.

  I lunged toward the door, slapping and clawing at the man’s arms until he let go. I ran up the stairs, but his voice stopped me.

  “It’s me,” Baruj whispered. “Keep your voice down.” He pulled me through the door to the main floor, dragged me down a hallway, and headed toward another stairwell. “We can’t go through the front entrance. I’ll bet it’s already been sealed. We’ll have to try one of the windows.”

  “How did you find me?” I whispered.

  “That skinny boy you like—Timothy? He was running to Mrs. Nagi to tell her what had happened, but I crossed his path first.”

  “He didn’t tell anyone about you.”

  “I know that,” Baruj said.

  “Is he OK?”

  “I think so. I told him to go find Dr. DeWitt.”

  “He’s smart,” I said.

  “I know. He’ll be safe.”

  My hands dangled uselessly in the handcuffs. Baruj grabbed my arm, guiding me up the dark stairwell. I nearly shook Baruj’s hand off, but right now I needed the extra strength and comfort.

  “Where do we go from here?”

  “Upstairs,” whispered Baruj. “There’s more bushes back there.”

  More bushes? I didn’t understand, didn’t know why he’d care about bushes at a time like this, but I didn’t argue. He led me up the stairs, and at the next landing he peered out the door. “It’s clear. Everyone’s probably watching the main entrance.”

  We sprinted down the hall and turned sharply to the right. Baruj threw open the first door on the left and pulled me inside.

  The room was dark and sparsely furnished—there was only one desk in the room and a lone chair tucked behind it. Dim morning light came in from a bay of windows covering the opposite wall. Baruj let go of my arm and pulled a window open.

  A siren began blaring. “Window opened in room 14. Window opened in room 14,” the alarm repeated calmly.

  “Jump now!” Baruj leaped from the window and tumbled to the ground, a row of bushes below breaking his fall. He bounced right up and waved wildly to get me to follow.

  I stood at the edge of the window and looked down. I knew I was only one floor up, but the height seemed dizzying, the ground impossibly far away. I closed my eyes. I was supposed to jump? And a little shrub was supposed to soften the blow? This is insane.

  I took a deep breath and stepped closer to the window. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t jump. I wouldn’t jump. I could break my leg, or hit my head, or, or...

  My feet stood still, frozen to the floor.

  Voices carried down the hall behind me. “They went this way.”

  I could jump, or I could get caught and rot in the interrogation room. It was now or never.

  I jumped.

  The ground zoomed closer, the grains of sand coming into focus. I struck the dirt, landing hard on my feet. My right ankle buckled beneath me, twisting under the pressure. Air forced itself from my lungs as I toppled to the ground. I lay there a moment.

  “Get up!” Baruj grabbed my arms and tugged me upright. “We need to move.”

  Yes, we had to move. Somewhere in my brain I still remembered this imperative. I’d jumped from the window, actually jumped, but I couldn’t stop there. The siren still blared through the open window of the Central office, alerting everyone to our presence. We dashed behind the row of shops across the street. Sharp pain shot through my leg with every step. My arms were awkwardly bound in front of me, but I kept running. I can’t stop now, can’t slow down. Baruj finally slowed and tugged me into a side alley. A cab sat concealed there, bright blue and shimmery. I recognized it immediately as the one from Dr. DeWitt’s shop. “Hop in.”

  I pulled myself into the cab, trying to avoid bumping my sore ankle. I strapped myself in, and we took off. The cab shot off the ground and out of the alley. Baruj steered us toward the outskirts of Samalut.

  “Where are you headed?”

  “Dr. DeWitt’s shop,” he replied. “He was the one who cut power to the Central office.”

  I remembered Captain Berings’ words to me. It’s all patterns. “Don’t go there!”

  Baruj turned around, his brow furrowed. “Why not?”

  “They’ve been watching me for a while. They’ll be watching his shop.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. That’s how they knew to grab me at Timothy’s.”

  Baruj swore under his breath and pulled the cab off the road, tucking it behind a row of scraggly bushes. “Dr. DeWitt told me to meet him at the shop. I’m going to see if there are guards over there.”

  “I told you, there’ll be soldiers.”

  “Then I have to see if Dr. DeWitt is safe,” said Baruj.

  “I’m going with you.”

  “Stay in the cab, Sadira.”

  “What if someone finds the cab? We shouldn’t split up. We can go close enough to see whether Dr. DeWitt is still there.”

  Ba
ruj considered the logic of this. “Fine, you’re right. Stay close, stay quiet.” He grabbed my hand again, walking low to the ground to keep out of sight. We moved out of the cover of the trees, darting between clusters of withering shrubs.

  He dropped down to his hands and knees and pushed aside the branches of the bushes. I peeked over his shoulder, studying Dr. DeWitt’s garage in the distance. Baruj began to get up, but I seized his arm and yanked him back down.

  “Wait a moment,” I whispered. “I’ve never seen this place locked up before. Something’s not right.”

  Baruj crouched back down beside me, and we waited for a moment, peering through the bushes at the weathered blue building. One long minute followed another. Everything in me felt hot, uncomfortable. The sun had started its arc through the sky, and the air was beginning to catch fire. Baruj glanced left, right, his eyes darting across the landscape, searching for soldiers.

  “It looks clear. I’m going.” He moved to his feet, but I pulled him back down once more.

  “Just one more minute. Please. Dr. DeWitt never closes the shop.”

  His mouth settled into a frown, but he sat back down. A minute later, a couple of guards walked around the corner of the building, glancing into each of the darkened windows.

  Baruj covered his mouth and swore. “Where do we go now?”

  I thought for a moment, but my mind was blank. Think, think, think. I willed the memories into my head. Papa at work early, Papa coming home, Papa telling me he was going somewhere...

  “Sometimes Papa and Dr. DeWitt would meet in one of the storage units instead of in the shop.”

  Baruj’s face relaxed for a split second, then twisted back into tension and fear. “Do you remember which one?”

  “I think so. It’s the last row of units, right next to the Wall.”

  He nodded. “We’ll head there, then.” We sat under the bushes until the guards climbed into their cab and drove off, gliding back toward downtown Samalut and the Central office.

  “Should we head back to the cab?” My ankle still stung, and a bruise pressed against the straps of my sandals.

  “No. It’s too far back. We’ll lose time and risk getting caught. Come on.” He snatched my arm and pulled me up.

  “See that clump of trees?” He pointed across the dry, empty field to a patch of green over a hundred meters away.

  I didn’t like where this was going. Why, oh why, couldn’t it be midnight? The morning sun illuminated the clearing, showing each rock in sharp relief. If anyone was near, we would be seen.

  “I see it.”

  “On the count of three. One.”

  “My ankle—” I glanced down. I didn’t think I could keep up with Baruj.

  “Two.”

  I wanted to sob, sit back down, and wait for Papa to find me, but I knew I had to press on.

  “Three.”

  Before I could say anything, Baruj plowed through the field. I jumped up and began sprinting alongside him, my arms halted by the cuffs on my wrists. I wanted to see if any guards had spotted us, but I was too scared to turn my head. Trees. Make it to the trees.

  I collapsed beneath the trees, rolling out of sight. Baruj crawled down a moment after.

  He was gasping, sucking air in raspy gulps. “I didn’t know you could move so fast.”

  “Neither did I.”

  He rose to his knees and scanned the area. The biggest open stretch lay behind us. A colony of water treatment buildings sat in front of us. “We’ll have plenty of cover from here.”

  We raced from building to building, always looking and listening for guards. I could only hear the roar of blood in my ears and the rush of water in the treatment plant. We crept close to the walls of the outbuildings. Baruj stayed in front to keep lookout.

  I could see the rows of storage units from the edge of the water plant. A few cabs whizzed along the road, but none slowed here. I tensed as another hovercab whizzed by, ripping through the air.

  Baruj looked over his shoulder and gave me a quick half-grin. “Relax. Those are only scouts. Central won’t patrol here on foot until they’re sure we’re not holed up somewhere downtown.”

  I knew he meant it to reassure, but the thought only scared me more. Any chance we had of moving unnoticed would disappear as soon as the soldiers decided to cover the outpost on foot.

  We waited for a lull in the passing hovercabs, and then sprinted toward the storage units. The storage units, plain white boxes of buildings in long rows, stretched before us. We veered to the back, to the final rows of units before the Wall.

  Baruj stared at the red numbers on the sides of the units. “Which was it?”

  I peered up and began walking to the middle unit. “I think it’s this one. Unit 390.”

  I looked closer at the number painted on the building. A small, dark speck sat in the middle of the zero. I motioned to Baruj. “Come here. Look at this.”

  He leaned closer, thick brows furrowed, studying the speck. “I’m not sure what it is.” He started scratching at the mark with his fingernail.

  “It’s a camera.” I jumped, and from the startled look on Baruj’s face, I knew he had jumped too. I whirled around. Dr. DeWitt stood at the door of the storage unit, his face relieved.

  “Don’t just stand there. Come in before someone sees you.” He waved wildly to the open door. Baruj and I rushed inside.

  Dr. DeWitt’s entire body relaxed as he shut the door firmly behind him. “Thank goodness you remembered where this was, Sadira.”

  The door led to a small but brightly lit room. It looked a bit like the hovertech shop, only cleaner. Bits of metal, wires, and bulbs still crowded the room, but instead of being thrown into haphazard piles, they were each neatly sorted into labeled bins. Labeled in Papa’s handwriting, I realized.

  “You made it! You’re safe!” Timothy ran from the far corner of the room, a smile growing on his face. The grin fell when he saw Baruj still clinging to my arm. I pulled away from him and rushed toward Timothy, the shelves, tools, and hovertech parts fading from view. I wanted to hug him, but my hands hung uselessly in cuffs and I found myself standing dumbly in front of him.

  “You’re safe, too. How’d you get here?” I could feel my face grow hot. I dropped my gaze to the floor.

  Baruj cleared his throat. “I told him to run to the hovertech shop. I assume you brought him here, sir?”

  “Yes, I did, and a good thing, too. Central’s last blip said they were looking for all four of us.”

  Timothy staggered back toward the corner of the room. “They’re looking for me, too?”

  “What did you think would happen if you went running off after this morning?” Baruj crossed his arms, staring at Timothy. “Well?”

  “There’s been soldiers at my house since I got home last night. They’ve been waiting for Sadira. The Colonel—he scares me. He said they had to wait until you broke a law, any law, and then they’d take you in for questioning. What was I supposed to do?”

  Baruj’s arms dropped. “You weren’t kidding about Central watching you, Sadira.”

  “No, I wasn’t.” I lifted my chin and returned my gaze to Timothy. “I’m sorry for getting you mixed up in this.”

  “I’m not,” he replied. My eyes met his. His face was quiet, serious. “There’s no need for Central to threaten my family, or interrogate Sadira, or have a warrant for all of us.”

  Baruj lifted one dark eyebrow in surprise, then smiled. “You’re right. It’s messed up. What are you willing to do about it?”

  “Whatever it takes to make things right.”

  Baruj seemed satisfied with that answer. He turned his attention back to Dr. DeWitt. “Do you have something to cut off those cuffs?”

  Dr. DeWitt thought for a moment, then began rummaging through the room. “I should have a plasma torch around here...” He dug through a shelf of tools and wriggled a torch from the very back. He grabbed a welding mask from the wall and led me to a table. Timothy walke
d back toward me, but paused awkwardly once he got to my side.

  “Hold still, and turn your head. This will be very bright.” He pulled the dark visor over his pale face, and I turned my head sharply, waiting for the white-hot plasma beam to turn on. The metal around my wrists began to heat up, but before they could become uncomfortably hot the cuffs fell to the floor with a clang.

  I rubbed my sore wrists, raw from struggling against the sharp metal. Dr. DeWitt yanked the visor from his face, grabbed my hand and stared at the cuts from the cuffs. “Let’s put something on that for you.” He grabbed a small bottle and opened it, the scent of rosemary filling the air. He slopped the greenish gel onto the broken skin around my hands.

  “ReGen gel,” he said. “I had a friend in the hospital pinch a bottle for me. This stuff works wonders.” It did, too. The gel stung a bit at first, leaving my skin feeling warm and tingly. The small cuts on my wrists began to seam themselves up, until they were no more than a sliver of a line.

  “Thanks.”

  He waved his hand dismissively. “No need for thanks. We have bigger things to discuss. Why did the Colonel take you in for interrogation in the first place?”

  I told them about Colonel Marwasi stopping by the previous night, and about Mrs. Nagi telling me to run. “They took me in for breaking curfew, but that’s not what they wanted to talk about. The Colonel threatened to exclude everyone I know.”

  I rested my hand against my side and felt the edges of the puzzle box in my pocket. “I think they were looking for this.” Perhaps Dr. DeWitt would have some more answers about how to use it. “Baruj and I found this in my house yesterday.” I handed the box to Dr. DeWitt.

  Timothy stared at the box. “You found this in your house?”

  Dr. DeWitt peered at the box. “It looks like a toy.”

  “It’s not. Watch.” I took the box from Dr. DeWitt, tapped it on, and then quickly punched the squares, aligning the colors on each side. “It’s a modified Rubik’s cube.”

  “You figured it out?” From the way Baruj tried to bite back his smile, I could tell he was impressed.

  “Yep.” Since I now knew what to do with the puzzle, I was able to quickly solve all six sides. The box gave a small ‘ding’, and one face flipped open. Timothy and Baruj leaned closer, studying the open flap.

  Dr. DeWitt’s already pale face turned a ghostly white. “What’s inside?”

  I tugged out the clear box within. “I think it’s some sort of radio, powered by one of those crystals. I got this thing out of the puzzle last night, and it seemed to turn on when I held it up to the light.”

  Dr. DeWitt gently lifted the box from my hand and held it up. The crystal inside glowed softly, and the box hummed. “Remarkable. I was reading through your father’s notes on the crystals. I hadn’t imagined he’d gotten this far.”

  “What exactly is it?” I asked.

  “Henri told me in passing that he had heard rumors of naturally entangled elements. The ancient oracles and prophets always wore crystals in their costumes, so Henri was convinced that these stones were some sort of communication device. Of course, I was skeptical.”

  “When he first showed me the crystals, I was intrigued, but I didn’t see a use for it. Your Papa, on the other hand, made it an obsession. When he wasn’t working on the Bright Star, he was fiddling with these rocks. In fact, he was talking about redesigning the com systems on the Bright Star to use those things.”

  “What happened?” Baruj asked.

  “I’m not sure. One day, this was all he would talk about. The next... he acted like they never existed. That was about two months ago. I didn’t pry. I assumed he had hit a dead end with his research. But this—sneaky bastard!” He laughed, shaking the box. I winced. “Sorry, Sadira. I’ll mind my language.”

  “Do you know how it works?” Timothy asked me.

  “No. I played with it a little bit last night, but I could only receive messages. I heard—I heard Papa. You’re right, Baruj. They’re still alive. I don’t know how to send a message out, though.”

  Dr. DeWitt tinkered with the bright red buttons now appearing on the box. He sighed. “I’m not sure either. Oh, I wish Henri had said something! Then I might be able to help you more. I suppose he still didn’t trust me completely.”

  “Why wouldn’t Papa trust you?” Papa and I visited Dr. DeWitt all the time. He was my godfather, one of the people I felt closest to. There was no reason to not trust him.

  Dr. DeWitt smiled for a moment, then licked his chapped lips. The smile faded, replaced with crinkles of worry along his brow. “No, he didn’t tell you. Oh, dear, Sadira.” He looked as though he might cry.

  “I’m the reason your mother is gone.”