by A M Lopez
"I have some bots in my bag, they can help you." She reached around her and found nothing. "Where is my backpack?"
Frantically, she started to look around in the grass. "No, no, no. This can't be happening."
"Allison, Allison!" She snapped her head back. "It's okay. I don't have mine either, seems that the fall took away our supplies."
Allison sighed and looked to the crystals around them. "So, what do we do now? Are these the crystals?"
Aaron shook her head. "I don’t know"
Allison nodded. "So, we're to just wait here then?"
"Help me get up."
Allison held out her hand, and with her other hand, Aaron pulled herself up. She brushed off her pants and suddenly froze.
“What’s wrong?” Allison quickly waved a hand in front of Aaron’s glazed over eyes.
"It's calling me, I have to go." With that, she started to walk towards the mountain.
"Wait!" She grabbed Aaron's arm, quickly going after her.
A white light started to glow in the distance and the duo stepped into it, swiftly disappearing.
They blinked slowly, eyes adjusting to their surroundings. Allison and Aaron were at Triangulum, inside the Director's office. He was sitting on his chair, yelling at someone's hologram. Aaron slightly stepped back, attempting to leave the room but it was as if he wasn't looking at them at all.
“What do you mean she’s gone? She hasn’t gone on a mission in years!”
Allison shot Aaron a questioning look, getting only a shrug followed by a wince.
“I’m sorry, Director. Jasmine took one of the old ships and left.”
Aaron tensed, fear rising. Allison’s eyes narrowed, trying to figure out why the name caused Aaron to react so badly.
“She just took a ship and left? How did no one realize?”
“I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again—”
“I don’t care if it happens again! My wife is dead!”
Allison’s eyes widened, realization hitting her like a brick. She turned to Aaron only to see tears in her eyes, before she could do anything the Director continued to talk.
“Figure out who was on the docking bay when she took the ship. I want them all questioned and fired.”
“But sir—”
The Director ended the transmission, putting his face in his hands. Aaron and Allison could tell he was muttering under his breath but couldn’t hear what he was saying. He stood up suddenly, his chair flying backwards onto the floor.
“This is all Aaron’s fault! If she had never gone against orders and just killed Richard, everything would be fine! But no, she had to give her ‘friend’ an out. The same out that killed the rest of them.”
Aaron shook as her father picked up a photo frame from his desk, knowing what the picture was. Allison took a glance at her leader before moving closer to the Director to see the photo. It was of a beautiful lady sitting in a field, the sun making her dark skin glow and the wind blowing through her black hair.
“If Aaron had listened to me, then you and her team wouldn’t be dead. If she had been as good as our other daughter, then none of this would have happened. She isn’t though, and you sacrificed your life trying to save her.”
The Director ran a finger over the photo, tears falling from his eyes. Aaron took a step forward, then another. Soon, she was right in front of her father and put the hand of her good arm on his shoulder. He looked up with hope in his eyes, the same matching in Aaron’s when her father didn’t scream or attack her. Instead, he slowly brought his arms around her, tucking her head into his shoulder with his left hand. Allison watched from their left, heart broken at the sight when fear filled her.
“Aaron, look out!”
Aaron’s head snapped in Allison’s direction, the opposite way of the knife in her father’s right hand. He raised the knife, and swung down before Allison could move. Aaron reacted faster than the other two could realize, spinning out of her father’s grasp. The knife meant to stab Aaron in the back ending up in her father’s stomach, horror filling everyone’s face. Aaron rushed forward, only for the Director to throw himself back.
“Stay away from me!” His eyes were raging forest fires. “You kill everyone who gets close to you!”
Aaron froze, tears seemingly never ending. “That’s not true…”
He glared, the hatred in his eyes unmatched despite his shallow breathing. “Tell that to your mother.”
Those eyes burning into Aaron’s skull rolled back into their sockets as the Director’s corpse fell to the ground. Aaron couldn’t turn away, pain overriding logical thinking. Allison, who had been frozen in shock, finally snapped back to her senses. She rushed to Aaron’s side but was stopped when a dark shadow began to rise around her friend.
Allison’s eyes widened, terror rising up her throat. “Aaron!”
Aaron slowly turned to her friend, eyes bloodshot. “Allison?”
“You have to realize this isn’t real!”
“You’re dead.” Aaron’s face fell. “I got you killed.”
Allison shook her head rapidly as the shadows around Aaron began to envelop her. “No! I’m fine, and so are the other members of Astrolabe! We are all alive, including your mom!”
Aaron looked at Allison, shadows already risen to her chest. “You’re lying.”
Allison’s brows furrowed. “Excuse me? Since when did I lie to you? Plus, you know us, we’re too stubborn to die.”
In that moment, Aaron’s lips twitched up in a smile and the shadows scattered, making the two girls duck. When they opened their eyes seconds later, the two were on a path. Looking behind them, Aaron and Allison realized they were halfway to the mountain.
“Well, that was unexpected.”
Aaron laughed, surprisingly loud and clear. “You can say that again.”
Allison smirked. “Well, that was—” Her eyes glazed over and she pointed to the mountain.
“Allison?”
She kept walking towards the mountain despite Aaron’s calls, as if she couldn’t hear her leader. Ahead of them, a white light glowed, one that Aaron didn’t hesitate to follow Allison into. They disappeared once more.
Allison groaned, rubbing her head. “Aaron?”
When she got no response, her eyes snapped open and scanned the area for her friend. She realized with a start that she was in HQ’s docking bay, sitting on a chair in front of an empty space. Aaron was in the chair next to her, making her sigh in relief. Above them the docking bay doors opened to let a ship in, one that was black and red. Allison’s heart dropped, she knew what her nightmare was. She could feel the shadows rise around her, they chilled her to the bone.
The ship began lowering, about to land in the space in front of them. Allison took a deep breath, thinking happy thoughts. Despite her attempts, the shadows began to engulf her. The door to the ship opened and Allison closed her eyes, refusing to look at the people unboarding. She knew that if she did, then her already losing battle with the shadows would be over. She continued to take deep breaths, ignoring the footsteps heading toward her. She pushed the memory of this day out of her head, forcing the bad thoughts away.
Allison leaned back in her chair, relaxing her body. She thought back to the day she was categorized into the engineering school. She was so unsure, not knowing if she had been sorted correctly. She only did crafts occasionally, there wasn’t enough materials to do it often. Sometimes she would help fix the men’s cars, but she only handed them the tools. Right before she could ask to be retested, a hand landed on her shoulder.
‘That’s the perfect school for you, Al.’
She looked at the person over her shoulder, a grin stretching her face wide. The person was a boy with Hazel eyes, and dirty blonde hair. While she was sitting, he seemed to tower over her.
“Thanks, Gabriel.”
“Allison?”
Allison’s eyes snapped open, only to land on Aaron. Her leader looked at her, worry in her eyes.
&nbs
p; Allison smiled, standing up and brushing herself off. “I’m fine.”
Aaron didn’t seem convinced. “How did you get out of your nightmare so quickly?”
The mechanic’s smile dropped for a second. “I’ve long since learned to use it as a reason to keep going. When it got hard to deal with, I reminisced the good times. I thought it would work here and it did if our location is an accurate indicator.”
The two girls were once more on the path, except this time they were at the bottom of the mountain. Allison turned away from Aaron to look at the mountain when she saw a cave carved into its side.
Pointing to the cave, Allison started to say, “Do you think that is where we should—”
Suddenly, a light flashed and there was a trail leading from the one they were on currently into the cave.
Aaron laughed. “I guess so, apparently.”
The two shared small smiles, walking down the trail. They enter the cave cautiously, both on edge. The trail had begun glowing as soon as they stepped foot into the cave, lighting their way. The girls followed the trail to its end, which took a lot longer than expected. To Allison, the walk felt like an enternityies had passed in what was logically only 20 minutes. Finally reaching the end, the girls were led into a room, both froze.
“What. The. Heck.”
Allison’s hands clenched into fists as she stared into the filled room, crystals on every surface but some spots on the floor. Aaron sighed, before perking up.
She moved to the left of the entrance. “Look.” She held up a bag with her good arm. “It’s our packs.”
Allison immediately walked over and grabbed hers, taking out a robotic medkit. She turned it on with stiff fingers. It flew into the air and scanned the girls, choosing Aaron as the top priority. The bot had quickly begun to set Aaron’s arm in a cast, said girl keeping her arm as still as possible. She glanced over to Allison, who was glaring at the room. Aaron hoped what she was about to do would help her friend in the only way she knew how, tricking her into releasing her feelings.
“The hint Arthur told us about was ‘the one that deals with all.’ Which of these do you think it is?”
Allison tensed, eye twitching. “I don’t know. There is a lot of them.”
Aaron narrowed her eyes, but put on an innocent face the second Allison looked back at her. “I know, but still.”
“Don’t say that, it’s stupid! But still what? Finish your thought! And as for these stupid rocks how am I supposed to know? Oh, that’s right, I can’t!”
Aaron was about to calm Allison when she froze, pointing behind her mechanic friend. Allison turned around quickly, wanting to know why Aaron had stopped their conversation. When she did, Allison froze too. The crystals behind her had begun glowing a faint red, but were already beginning to dim. As the two watched, the crystals dimmed by a lot but the red was still visible. Allison looked straight at the crystals, confusion lining her features. Suddenly, some crystals glowed a light grey, the color already dimming.
Allison started to laugh when she realized what the crystals were, causing some of them to turn yellow. “We’re dealing with mood rings!”
Aaron raised a brow. “They’re crystals, not rings.”
Allison huffs, the crystals turning violet. “Fine, mood crystals.”
Aaron’s eyes furrowed before she smiled, pointing to a few batches of crystals. “The one that deals with all.”
Allison followed her finger and saw that the batches of crystals held multiple colors. “So, we just need to express emotions and see what crystals have all the colors?”
Her leader shrugged. “That’s what I’m thinking.”
Allison smirked. “Let’s do this.”
She walked over and poked Aaron’s arm through the cast the bot had just finished wrapping.
“Ow! Allison!”
Said girl pointed to the crystals turning magenta.
Aaron rolled her eyes. “Fine. Good job.”
“Yeah!” A bright orange lit up a few batches of crystals.
She smiled, looking around while deep in thought. “Nervousness is an emotion.”
Allison rolled her eyes at her leader. “And you can’t find it in you to be nervous?”
Aaron shut her eyes, taking deep breaths. “What if the other’s aren’t okay?”
The mechanic shut her eyes, running a hand through her hair. The crystals turning black and dark grey.
Allison raised a brow. “Why are there two colors?”
Aaron shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I felt scared, so I’m guessing they represent nervousness and fear.”
Allison looked at her leader, her friend. “Aaron…”
Aaron smiled, reassuring her friend. “I’m fine Allison. Plus, we are down to two batches of crystals.”
Allison turned and saw that her leader was right, only two batches had dark grey in them.
“Now, what?”
A wicked idea popped into Allison’s head, she almost felt bad about it. Almost being the key word.
“You like Dimitri.”
Aaron choked on air, cheeks flushed. “Wha— I don’t— you don’t know what you’re talking about! He’s my teammate!”
Allison was rolling around the floor laughing, a pink glow coming from one batch of crystals. “I wish I got that on camera!”
“Beep boop.”
The two girls froze and looked at the robot that had put a cast on Aaron. Usually, the robots put themselves away but because the two were in unknown territory it had stayed deployed. There is one thing they always do however, record their surroundings. Aaron and Allison lunged for it at the same time.
“Beep boop!”
It flew above them, out of their reach. Aaron watched it like a hawk would their prey, following it on the ground.
Allison had begun cheering. “You go, Beep Boop!”
“Is that its actual name or are you just calling it that?”
“It decided its own name now.”
Aaron rolled her eyes. “Of course. C’mon, let’s get the crystal and go.”
She pulled the chisels given to them by Cato out of her bag one handed, practically throwing one at Allison.
The mechanic barely caught it. “Hey!”
Aaron laughed, already beginning to gather the crystals. Allison was quick to help after pulling containers from her pack. Beep Boop was making noises in a poor excuse for music to pass the time and neither girl had the heart to tell him to stop. Together, they filled the containers in under 15 minutes. They shared a smile when the floor shook, Beep Boop quickly returning to his station in Allison’s pack. Looking around they found a crack in the floor, with a crystal like the one they fell through before. They look at each other and step up to it hesitantly, immediately getting blinded. When they regain their sight, the girls realized they had arrived where they had been before and could see the kid waiting for them, still far away.
Sharing a smile, the two girls jog over to him.
He looks at them in pure awe. “You both survived.”
Allison laughed, hands on her hips. “It will take more than that to kill us!”
Aaron glared at her friend, silently telling her to shut up before turning to Oyder. “We have to get going.”
Oyder’s face fell, sadness in his eyes. “Yes, of course.”
Aaron kneeled in front of him, putting her good hand on his shoulder. “We will visit when we get the chance.”
His eyes lit up, a grin stretching his face. “Really?”
“Of course.”
He smiled and hugged Aaron carefully, then doing the same to Allison. A horn went off in the distance, causing Oyder to pout.
“I have to go. That’s the gathering call.” He turned to the girls. “I will miss both of you. Please visit when you get the chance!”
Oyder smiled, running off toward his village. “Bye!”
“Goodbye, Oyder!”
“See ya, Oyder!”
Allison turned to Aar
on, seeing the huge smile on her face. Letting Aaron have her moment, Allison scanned the nearby with her suit and got the coordinates. She pulled out the coordinate calculator, she made up the name after dropping off Connor and Eva. Typing in the coordinates she had gotten, Allison called Dawn. Above them, the ship appeared through a portal.
Chapter Twenty-One
The past few days were filled with chaos for Dimitri. Ever since Arthur had shut down, he no longer responded to any questions unless they had to do with the cure and their teammates’ missions. He was completely focused on his work, pulling all- nighters and falling asleep at his computer more times than not. Dimitri ended up stashing a bag full of things to help Arthur, when his twin finally fell unconscious, under his work table. All he had to do was reach under the desk and get to work, trying to keep his brother in working shape. The bag had needles full of nutrients, band-aids, a blanket, vitamin gummies, and even an IV.
Dimitri thankfully hadn’t needed to use the IV, he was able to convince Arthur to drink water by saying it would keep him awake longer. Technically, that was the truth because the human body can’t survive without it, but his goal was to keep Arthur as healthy as possible. If Arthur had known his brother’s intentions, he didn’t say anything. His twin kept a close watch on him though, Dimitri’s eye practically burning into his head.
The health bag Dimitri had put together, initially only had the blanket. It was after witnessing Arthur’s actions that the other materials came into play. Dimitri had made giving Arthur meals a part of his routine, hoping that the food being brought to his desk would make him more compelled to eat. Only the first day had passed when that hope was thrown out the window. Dimitri had left food for the three main meals of the day, he even brought his brother snacks in between. Every time he walked into the room, he would see a full plate, Arthur touching none of the food. When Dimitri bothered to ask if his brother was hungry, Arthur rejected every plate of food he offered him and continued to work.
This led to the addition of the needles full of nutrients and the band-aids into the health bag. Dimitri knew how much Arthur hated things happening to him without his knowledge, so he warned his brother of his plans. Arthur simply nodded, as if he couldn’t care less. Dimitri would inject the nutrients into Arthur’s bloodstream while he slept and put a band-aid where he punctured skin, the inside of his elbow. Every time he did it, Dimitri would have to remind himself that he was doing the right thing to keep his guilt at bay. Fortunately, it lessened when he saw Arthur looking healthier than he had for a while. When telling his brother about it, Arthur nodded and quickly rubbed a finger over the band-aid before returning to work.