The Crucible- The Complete Series

by Odette C. Bell

  I did as I was directed. When I reached him, I handed him the data input device.

  He took it, switching it to his other hand so that the hand closest to me was free.

  … It was clear they still didn’t trust me. Or was this just my father being careful as usual?

  Though I wanted to ask where Alyssa was, I knew I couldn’t.

  This was it. This was when I would have to look for an opportunity.

  Though I was in armor of my own, it was nothing compared to the soldier’s beside me. If it came down to a fight, he’d win, hands down.

  Then again, I had an advantage, didn’t I? One J’lax had pointed out after the battle at the resistance base.

  I was crazy.

  I was the kind of guy who used a glider as a battering ram.

  As we walked, I kept my eyes peeled.

  Without making large movements of my head, or my eyes, I assessed the corridor in full. I also analyzed the soldier. The way he walked, where he distributed his weight, how free he was on his feet.

  He was probably doing the same to me, or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he reasoned that with his armor, there’d be no way I could win if it came to a fight.

  My mouth was so dry I’d virtually given up on swallowing.

  There was one thing I could be thankful for. The ship didn’t appear to have that many people onboard. Or maybe I just didn’t pass too many. The corridors, which were long and winding, appeared to be virtually empty.

  We walked in total silence. After about five minutes, we finally arrived at a room. Every door aboard this ship was nondescript. There were no labels, no names, no room numbers. No indication of where you were going.

  But somehow I knew. I knew what was waiting for me behind that door.

  I wanted to clutch a hand into a fist, but I settled for grating my teeth together instead.

  The armored faceless soldier swiped his wrist in front of the center of the door, and it opened. He waited for me to walk forward, shadowing my every step.

  Sure enough, I was right – my father was waiting for me inside.

  The room did not do its nondescript door justice. It was massive, cut onto two levels. It was clearly some kind of central operations hub. Though I had trouble recognizing a great deal of the Miracle’s superior technology, with one look at the central mainframe consoles, I realized they were tactical scanners.

  There was a huge bank of movable view screens lodged in the center of the room, directly above a massive discussion table. My father was alone in the room, despite its size, and he didn’t turn to acknowledge my presence. Instead he stood there in front of that massive table, conducting the movable view screens around with nothing but slight moves of his hand.

  His face was locked with concentration, his head tipped up until the light reflecting off the view screens collected under his dark black beard.

  The soldier said nothing. Now I was safely in the room, he turned sharply on his foot and exited.

  I stood there, exactly where he left me.

  I watched my father.

  Even if an explosion went off behind him, I doubted the old man would move.

  I knew my part in this game. I had to stand still and be quiet until I was spoken to.

  That didn’t stop me from seething on the inside, from cursing him, from waiting for whatever opportunity might arise so I could finally turned the tables on him.

  Finally, after what felt like five minutes, he turned. His hands were still in the air, still conducting those view screens. He glanced at me briefly like you might a curious sight in the middle distance.

  Then he flicked me forward with one finger.

  He could have just as easily been shifting his view screens, but it was clear from the look in his eye that he wanted me to approach.

  Again I said nothing. But again I seethed. More and more anger tearing through my chest and gut.

  How did he rationalize it to himself? How did he compartmentalize all the wars he’d started, all the people he’d killed, all supposedly in the name of peace?

  As hard as it was, I managed to control my expression. I walked down into the central section of the room and stood a respectful two meters from his side.

  Again he wouldn’t turn to me until he was finished what he was doing.

  Then he let out a sigh.

  It was a noteworthy and strange move, especially for a man like my father. I tried to search my memory for the last time he’d done something as human as sighing.

  I came up blank.

  Eventually he shifted his attention to me fully. “I know you’re in the resistance,” he said blankly.

  I said nothing, did nothing.

  “I trained you well, son, but there are times to admit defeat.”

  Again, I didn’t react.

  “Commander F’val gave us a report before he was captured. You were mentioned in it.”

  I stood there, back stiff, gaze blank as I stared at my father.

  “His description matched you perfectly. I recognized my son,” Admiral Shepherd’s voice dropped low, so low I had to strain to hear him.

  I forced myself to maintain eye contact with my father, but I didn’t give anything away. Not a scrap of the fear building and building in my gut. The absolute terror at what was about to happen.

  “Naive. He described you as naive. Too trusting. Gullible. A good soldier, but one without a head. My son, oh my son.”

  I twitched. I couldn’t stop myself. It was just my little finger. And I hid it by pressing it hard into my thigh.

  “The kind of man who follows his heart instead of his head. My son, oh my son.”

  I wanted to back away. I didn’t. I stood there and faced my father.

  “There’s no need to stand on ceremony, Nathan – sit.” He gestured to one of the seats around the massive table.

  I remained standing.

  He smiled. I had no idea what it meant. “Very well. You may remain standing, Lieutenant Commander.”

  Silence filtered around us. I waited for him to make the next move.

  Or maybe he’d be too coward to make it. Maybe he could rationalize it easier to himself if he got someone else to kill his only child.

  “Relax,” my father suddenly said, “I haven’t given up on you yet. I recognized my boy in F’val’s report, but I also recognized a lieutenant commander who has lost his way. Follow me, Nathan, and I’ll show you how to find it once more.”

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  It happened so quickly there was nothing I could do about it.

  I fell unconscious.

  It wasn’t slow and gentle like drifting into sleep. It was sudden and violent as if someone had wrenched my awareness from my grasp.

  The world swam around me in a sea of confusion.

  Just before I lost consciousness, I had time for one last thought.

  I’d failed.

  I’d failed.

  …

  Annabelle Williams

  I shifted in my seat. My whole back was stiff, every muscle feeling as if it had been frozen in the depths of space.

  My gaze darted around everybody else on the bridge, and I saw the exact same frightened expressions.

  Five minutes was up.

  The Captain still sat there, ramrod straight in her seat, one hand clutched over the armrest. Her gaze was impenetrable, her expression nothing but a blank mask.

  I found myself swallowing. “… Captain?”

  “… We will give them more time,” she concluded.

  Relief washed over me. But it didn’t last. As I turned back to the view of the Miracle on the main view screen, my stomach clenched.

  What were they doing on there?

  What was happening?

  “Keep all sensors locked on that ship,” the Captain said in a low rumbling tone, “I want to know the second it does anything. And the second it does anything, we act.”

  Her warning reverberated around the bridge.

&nbs
p; I swallowed, forced my shivering fingers to sit still, and returned my attention to the console before me.

  My mind, however, was still with them.

  Come on, I thought, come on, Nathan. You can do this.

  Chapter 13

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I woke. It was hard at first. At first, all I could see was blackness, perforated here and there with swirling shapes.

  Then I remembered.

  My memory slammed into me like a meteorite.

  I gasped, or at least I tried to.

  I couldn’t move.

  The haze of unconsciousness started to resolve into a recognizable scene. I saw a ceiling. High, grey, with sensor lights interspersed at even intervals.

  I was back in my cell. The same goddamn cell I’d been incarcerated in for three years.

  Fear tried to climb its way up my back, but it felt subdued. I was aware of it, knew it was there. And yet I couldn’t feel the full brunt of its force.

  I started to panic. I still couldn’t move.

  … No.

  God no.

  He’d done it, hadn’t he? He’d given me his knew ‘compound’ as he’d called it. His new method of controlling me.

  Though my panic was subdued – the full effect of the terror ripping through my veins stifled somehow – it still had its intended effect. I woke faster. Soon I felt my hand twitch.

  Something beeped. Probably a sensor somewhere. It would relay back to the primary viewing station.

  My cell wasn’t small. It was massive. Half the size of an ordinary hangar bay, it was where I did most of my training. A square grey box of a room, it had no windows, apart from a massive observation deck along one wall. It was protected by meter-thick reinforced flex glass and the strongest shields in the Milky Way. If I tried to attack it to get at the people within, they’d have time to incapacitate me.

  I twitched my right hand, then my left, feeling a rush of relief at the movement, despite how small it was.

  Another sensor beeped.

  He would be up there – Professor Axis. He’d be ensconced in the observation room, head tilted to the side as he smiled at the sensor reports.

  He always smiled when he was around me.

  I struggled at the thought, thrashing, trying to lift myself off the table.

  I could see his smile – it was etched into my hindbrain.

  “N-no,” I managed, surprised I could push the word from my paralyzed mouth.

  Another sensor beep.

  “L-let me go.”

  My only reply was yet another sensor beep.

  As every second passed, I grew stronger until finally I could lift myself up.

  To my surprise, I found I wasn’t restrained.

  I sat on the edge of my simple bed and stared around my expansive room, head jerking up to the observation deck.

  Though it was all the way on the other side of the room, I could still see figures walking around beyond the glass.

  One figure, however, stood stock still.

  It was too far away to resolve features, but I swore whoever it was had their head on the side as they stared at me.

  Axis.

  I threw myself forward before I knew what I was doing.

  I was too weak to stand, and fell hard onto one knee and then the other, my hair scooping low over my shoulders.

  That’s when I realized it was longer. Much longer. Mousy brown too.

  With a startled breath trapped in my chest, I pulled up a shaking hand.

  I… I was different.

  I grabbed at my hair and pushed my trembling hands over my face, palpating my features.

  I was back to my old appearance.

  Axis had changed me back into Alyssa Nightingale, removing every trace of the identity I’d created for myself as Jenks.

  I sat there, crumpled on my knees, long hair clumped over my shoulders and back as I heaved through a cry.

  I let my hands drop from my hair and face. They fell loosely into my lap, my shoulders hunching forward as my back rounded.

  From somewhere, a sensor beeped.

  … And the anger flared.

  It started in my gut. Just a twitch, just a spark. Then it exploded.

  I tensed my hands, shifting forward and locking them on the polished grey metal floor. My long hair fell around my shoulders as I shifted my head up, arching my back as I stared at Axis.

  Lines of sensor lights were cut into the walls, floor, and ceiling, and as I shifted forward, dragging my unresponsive legs over the floor, I passed over a line of lights.

  There was yet another beep.

  Another goddamn beep.

  I focused on him. On that figure up there behind the meter-thick glass.

  He didn’t say a word, he just watched me.

  I wanted to leap to my feet, tear forward, and slam a hand towards him. I wanted my telekinetic implants to activate, sending streams of yellow-gold light erupting over my fingers.

  I needed to attack, to do something other than crawl pathetically across the floor towards him, my now long hair cutting limply in front of my face.

  That’s when I noticed the distinct cold spreading through my arms. It centered on my elbows, a niggling pulsing feeling that seeped into the muscles like melt from a glacier.

  I jerked my head down, staring at my arm.

  I brought one hand up, the fingers trembling and shivering. I was wearing a long white-blue hospital tunic and a pair of pants made from the same light-weight material. The sleeves of my tunic were long, and as I kept that trembling hand lifted, I brought it towards my mouth and grabbed the cuff with my teeth, pulling it back up my arm.

  I saw fresh incisions along my elbow.

  “You’ve finally found it, Alyssa,” Axis said, his voice booming out of the comms. “Now show us what it can do.”

  Without any warning, the middle of the floor started to shift, separating as a platform raised up between it.

  I stumbled back, still on my knees.

  Though I could move the top half of my body, my legs were virtually paralyzed. They were nothing more than dead weights.

  Maybe that was Axis’ plan to keep me in check this time – he’d rob me of my ability to walk in the hopes I didn’t run.

  Then again, I didn’t need to use my legs.

  I spread my hands, directing them at the floor just as it stopped trembling.

  A platform now stood in the middle of the room. On top were around 20 shiny metal crates, their smooth surfaces glinting under the yellow light of the sensor strips.

  I knew what they were.

  Moreover, I knew what was inside.

  I pushed back just as the closest crate moved. In a split second it burst open and a security drone slammed out of it.

  It shot towards me.

  I brought a hand up and immediately activated my implant.

  I could sit there and do nothing, allow it to hit me. It wouldn’t kill me. Axis wasn’t that stupid. He’d let it damage me, but only to teach me a lesson.

  Instead I fought.

  I spread my hand and let a pulse of energy slam through it.

  I swiped it towards the drone.

  And I obliterated it.

  I didn’t just smash it out of my path – it disintegrated.

  I pushed back on my unresponsive legs, jerking away as I brought an arm up to protect my face.

  I… I hadn’t meant to use that much power.

  I jerked my head down and stared at my arms again.

  I noticed that the light spilling over them was different now. It wasn’t the exact hue I was used to. It was a much deeper gold.

  “These are your new implants, Alyssa,” Axis said in a warm tone, as if they were a present I should be terribly thankful for.

  I twisted my head to the side, hair slicing over my cheeks as I looked up at him.

  “Wonderful, aren’t they?” he continued his one-sided conversation.

  I responded by shunting backwards and bashing a
hand into the floor. I directed my implants to send a pulse of energy into that smooth grey metal.

  If I was now powerful enough to disintegrate a shielded battle drone with barely any effort, then surely I could rip my way out of this cell.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he warned.

  Suddenly I twitched. My body convulsed forward as a jolt spread through it with the speed of lightning.

  I gasped as I fell, twitching, to the floor. With one wide-open eye, I stared up at the observation deck.

  “I expect you to behave, Alyssa. Don’t waste your precious energy trying to break out of your cell – if you do, you will be shocked again. And too many shocks, I should warn you, will render you unconscious for a day at a time. Now be a good girl and finish the test.”

  I watched as several more battle drones broke free from the metal boxes in the middle of the room.

  I planted my now sweaty shaking hands on the floor and pushed myself up with a heave, hair fanning in front of my face.

  My body felt like it had just been fried. Every movement I made was twitchy and unsteady.

  I didn’t have time to nurse my injuries though.

  Two battle drones sprang towards me.

  I saw them out of the corner of my eye, two flashes of jet-black matte metal, stark against the smooth grey walls.

  Just as they reached me, their metal claws extending towards my face and neck, I threw a hand out, sleeve flaring around my wrist as I punched my fingers wide.

  A pulse of gold light shot out of my hand, locking the two drones in place, both barely centimeters from my terror-filled eyes.

  I heard Axis give out a happy laugh. “That’s it. Show us what you can do.”

  His voice was always cheery, his demeanor that of a caring fatherly figure.

  I sliced my gaze towards him, brow pressing so low I could barely see.

  I fancied he smiled. Though I couldn’t see him, it was the kind of thing he’d do.

  More battle drones sprung from their boxes.

  Though my body was still numb and tingled all over, I took out each battle drone, hair flaring over my shoulder as I twisted on the spot, disintegrating each drone in turn.

  Just as I finished all 20, another platform rose from the center of the floor and more drones appeared.

  Axis wasn’t done playing with me yet.