Knight

by Ella Young

  Ayla noted the conflict on Ji's face. "These aren't good people, Ji. They are the reason humans are second-class citizens. They might not have pulled the trigger, but they have plenty of blood on their hands."

  It still didn't sit right with Ji. She thought about responding, but moments later Knight came creeping around the corner. She glanced over her shoulder before running the rest of the way to meet up with the humans. Nero exhaled in relief.

  "Why are we meeting here?" Knight said in a hushed whisper.

  Ji swallowed her distaste. Knight was there to help Toshi, and that's all that mattered. "Because," she said. "Follow us."

  Knight huffed but obliged, sneaking along beside them until they came to a familiar piece of scrap metal leaning against the permacrete fence of the compound. With careful hands Ayla pried the sheet away from the wall to reveal the hole that led outside the prison.

  "After you," she said, motioning Knight through. Knight glanced between the humans, eyes wide. She hesitated only a moment before steeling herself and scurrying through the opening. Nero, Ji, and Ayla followed after her. Ayla pulled the sheet metal back into place and came to crouch beside Ji.

  "This way," Ji said, and led the group through the tunnel out into the open air of the asteroid.

  "Oh," Knight said as they exited the drainpipe, eyes widening. A look of awe spread across her face as she looked up at the thousands of stars dotting the sky. Ji wondered when she had last seen them. "It's beautiful." She looked at the group. "But starless sickness—"

  “It's not outside the walls. Nothing has left the compound since it was built. Well, nothing but us," Ayla explained. "And we're not carrying it. We're safe."

  Knight dropped into a sitting position, casting her eyes back to the stars. "I haven't seen them from the ground in ages. I almost forgot what they looked like."

  "This is all well and good, but it's not why we're here," Nero interrupted. Knight shook her head.

  "You're right. Tell me about Toshi."

  "Before I tell you that, there's something I need to show you," Ji said. Ayla looked at her girlfriend and shook her head ever so slightly. Ji ignored her. Ji might have misgivings about the avian's occupation, but there was no denying that Knight truly cared about Toshi. Knight needed to know the story—the whole story. Without another thought the human held out her hand and summoned her Luminance. The ball of blue light hovered above her palm, casting a blue hue on the faces of everyone beneath the stars. Knight gasped. She leaned forward, one hand reaching out towards the orb.

  "You're impossible," she breathed, awed. Beside Ji, Ayla let out a breath, relieved. Nero still looked like he was waiting for Knight to attack. Ji felt herself relax. She'd had no way of knowing just how Knight would react to the display. She seemed more human-positive than others like her, sure, but that could have changed in the presence of Luminance. Knight could have seen Ji as a slap in the face of her religion and reacted violently.

  There had been plenty of that after the failed jailbreak. Ji recalled at least three attempts on her life following the reveal of her Luminance. Two she'd narrowly escaped, having had to slink back to the human dorm to discreetly heal a bloody shiv wound. The third still haunted her. A group of levians had surrounded her during passing time, hiding her from view of the guards. While the rest kept watch, one levian came after her. She still remembered the feeling of hands around her neck, squeezing the life from her. She remembered thinking that was it, that she'd die right there.

  Until suddenly the hands were no longer there, and Ji was looking up at Ralot as he knocked her attacker away. Their eyes met. He said nothing, kept his face neutral, and herded his people away from her. But from then on, there had been no more attempts on her life. No one had dared come near her. In fact, now they went out of their way to avoid her. Ji had used this to work in her favor. It was the reason why the levian had listened to her earlier. No one messed with Ralot, which meant no one messed with Ji.

  "This is amazing," Knight said, looking up at Ji. "But what does it have to do with Toshi?"

  Ji sighed and let the Luminance fade. "That's a long story." And so she began, detailing the jailbreak, the falling immune lamp, the healing. "Toshi took the fall for me," Ji finished. "They never would have believed a human could do what I did. The guards took her away, and we haven't seen her since."

  Knight's face paled. It was clear she knew exactly what happened to Luminants on Arryna. A silence stretched between them, in which Ji and Ayla and Nero all waited for her response. Finally, Knight looked down. "I'm sorry. I tried to get here as soon as I could, but I wasn't fast enough. I could have prevented all this."

  "How?" Ji said.

  Knight held up her hand and called her own ball of blue light to her palm. "They'd have taken a stub in a heartbeat. But Toshi's as good as dead."

  Ji was surprised—she'd never met another Luminant before. She looked to Ayla and Nero, who looked less than shocked. Ji had to wonder how common the power was among non-humans.

  "It's not wholly hopeless," Ayla offered. "We believe she's still alive. In the Rock."

  Knight's brows pulled together. She vanished the light. "The Rock is a rumor."

  “Not…entirely," Ji said. "We have proof."

  It was luck to thank that they'd found it in the first place. With the recent escape of over half of Arryna's prisoner population, there were many old jobs that needed to be filled. One of these jobs was cleaning up the warden's office and the guard barracks. Ji, having previously been pulled aside to do a job that was no longer relevant, was assigned to said cleaning position. In the tenday since the escape she'd scrubbed, mopped, and dusted every inch of the normally restricted sections. She was watched like a hawk, of course, but she'd learned much in her short time working as a janitor. Namely, that the Rock existed.

  It had been an accident, really, that the warden left her pad sitting on her desk. She'd been distracted by a potential fight breaking out by the signumaria. She'd rushed out of her office without grabbing the device. Ji had opted to ignore it, what with the nearby guard watching her every move. But then it buzzed. And kept buzzing. Ji nonchalantly worked her way over to the desk, pretending to clean, to see what was so important. There, across the screen, was a contact name. Ji couldn't read the messages—there was too much, and her grasp on the written language was still shaky at best—but she didn't need to. The name, easy enough to decipher, told her all she needed to know. The pad screen read:

  Message from Arryna Division - Research of Known Contagions.

  It didn't initially click. Ji first thought nothing of it. But that night at dinner she'd jumped as the realization hit her, smacking her knee on the underside of the table. Ayla paused with her bread halfway to her mouth, eyeing Ji with amusement.

  "Yes?"

  "Research of Known Contagions...ROKC. Rock."

  It was so perfect, to have fallen right into their lap like that. Ji explained all this to Knight, who listened intently. When Ji finished, Knight opened her mouth to say something, eyes darting from one human to the next. Then she sighed and looked skyward. "It's a step, knowing that the Rock exists. But what you want from me, from the Remnant…it won't happen."

  Ji felt like she'd been slapped. "What?"

  Knight was shaking her head. "The Remnant's base on Levala was destroyed recently. We lost a frigate in the battle, and our resources are tight between the planets we still occupy. The admiral has nothing to spare. The only reason I was even able to get to Arryna at all is because I threatened to desert the Remnant to come here. If Toshi really is being held in the Rock, there's no way for us to get to her."

  "But you said she was the only hope for the Remnant," Nero interjected. Knight looked helpless.

  "I can find my contact and get word of this to Admiral Ferrao, but I already know what he will say. It's not something we can afford."

  Nero scowled. "Typical," he muttered. "You people can't even help your own."

  A mask of anger fell
over Knight's face. She glared at the man, but Ji suspected that her anger was not directed at him. She was frustrated. Toshi was so close, yet so far, and there was no feasible way to get at her.

  "I'll talk to my contact. We'll do what we can. I didn't come here to leave empty handed," Knight said. It was a noble sentiment, but Ji had to wonder just how much pull Knight had in the Remnant. Toshi had made it sound like she had the officers in her pocket. Clearly, this wasn't the case. Still, this was all they had to go on. They just had to hope and pray Toshi would be worth it to the Remnant.

  -~-~-~-

  Finding Kanu proved to be a daunting task. It was day three of Knight's stint on Arryna. She’d been bothered no more by Arryna’s inmates (was this because of Ji, Knight wondered?) but she was also unbothered by the guards. By one guard, in particular. The Remnant had given her a passphrase—"The immune lamps are bright tonight,”—to which Kanu would respond, "But the Divari shine brighter." However, each time Knight dropped the passphrase around a guard, they either gave her odd looks or ignored her altogether. Knight tried to be as smart as possible in how she questioned the guards, but her frustration was mounting. She was one more wrong look away from walking up to the first guard she saw and straight-up asking if they were Kanu. But that would be stupid, and suspicious, and would help no one. So she continued to be discreet, whispering the phrase as she walked by, pretending to talk to either Ji or Ayla or Nero whenever they passed a guard. Nothing came of any of this for days.

  "I don't get it," Knight said one day at lunch. She rested her chin on her fist, eyes flicking over the guards in the mess hall. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say my contact wasn't stationed anywhere on this Divari-forsaken asteroid."

  "He'll show up," Ayla said.

  "We haven't heard from him since the jailbreak. What if he was killed in the shoot out?" Knight wondered.

  Ayla frowned. "He'll show up," she said again. "We just sit tight in the meantime."

  Knight squirmed in her seat. "I don't like it. I feel like I should be doing something."

  "You could always assassinate the warden," Nero suggested, only half joking. "That'd give you something to do."

  Ji looked up at the ceiling, annoyed.

  Knight noticed this. "You don't like me very much, do you?" she asked. Before Ji could answer, the post-lunch siren rang. All around them, prisoners rose to return to their jobs. It was back to work they went. Knight shuffled out among the humans, tagging along beside Ji. Ji glanced sideways at the avian, who was still obviously expecting an answer to her question.

  "It's not you. I don't like what you do."

  Knight smiled ruefully. "I know someone you'd get along well with."

  "You kill civilians."

  "Every single person I've killed had it coming. They were living stolen lives. It was only right someone stole their lives in return."

  "I still don't agree with it," Ji said, turning forward.

  "You don't have to. But we're still on the same side. If you want Toshi back, you need my help."

  They passed beneath the gaze of one of the guards on the way to their respective jobs.

  Ji smirked. "First you need to find your contact. Without him, you're just another prisoner, Knight."

  The guard took a step closer to them and Knight paused. He seemed to recognize her name. Either that, or he'd grown suspicious at the mention of a contact. A spike of worry knotted in Knight’s stomach. Ji should be more careful about what she mentioned in the open. Knight knew very well how dangerous a slip of the tongue could be. The avian glanced at Ji, who stood at her shoulder. The human looked more hopeful than worried, however. What could it hurt to try?

  "The immune lamps are bright tonight," Knight tried.

  "But the Divari shine brighter," the guard replied.

  Knight breathed out in relief. "Kanu. We need to talk—"

  "Not here. I'll find you," Kanu said, and brushed past her.

  The prisoners went about their day, returning to their work. Knight was assigned to a molding station very near Ayla's. She loathed the work, because she knew exactly where the weapons she made were going. Who knew if the very weapon she molded would go on to kill one of her friends, her comrades? So she started looking for ways to sabotage the guns, calling on every memory of Taz's tutoring during her childhood. She had been hopeless in nearly everything but chemistry, but there were a few things she remembered. Before too long, Knight learned that if you cooled the metal too fast it became brittle under duress.

  Ayla noticed what Knight was doing after her fourth mold.

  "You're going to get in trouble if you keep doing that," she warned. "They can trace each weapon back to the prisoner who made it."

  Knight's eyes flicked up. "I have to do something."

  "So work, and know we'll be getting out of here soon."

  We. Knight frowned. Did Ayla think she was going with Toshi when they left? The Remnant didn't have enough resources to care about their own imprisoned. There was no way they would risk everything to break a few scrappy humans out. Knight fell silent but got back to work.

  Kanu came to pull her off her station not long after, nudging her with the barrel of his gun.

  "Move," he said. Knight played along, standing slowly, and listened to where Kanu told her to go. He led her to an abandoned corner of the facility, far away from the noise and heat of the molding stations.

  "Knight?"

  "Yeah."

  "Took you long enough to find me."

  "You're not easy to locate. You all look the same in that armor."

  Kanu smirked. "That's the whole point of it. I assume by now you know the bad news."

  "Toshi is missing." Kanu nodded. "Why didn't you tell us before I left? It's been over a tenday since she disappeared. You had time."

  Kanu shook his head. "I really didn't. It was hard enough to communicate before the jailbreak. After it, everyone has been on alert. They think one of the guards helped the prisoners escape."

  "Did they?"

  "A few guards may have been taken out by friendly fire, yes," Kanu admitted, the tiniest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Knight liked him immediately.

  "The good news is, we know where she is." Knight relayed to her contact what Ji had told her only nights before, about the Rock's existence. Kanu didn't seem surprised.

  "I always figured there was something else going on here," he said. "But this is way beyond the scope of what the admiral wanted. There's no way to get you to the Rock or to get Toshi back."

  "So what now, then?" Knight wondered. Kanu sucked in a breath.

  "We send word to the admiral that we're at an impasse and we get you out of here."

  Knight frowned. "Just like that? We don't even try?"

  "There's nothing to do here, Knight. The fact that everyone thinks the Rock is just a rumor is a testament to how hard it will be to infiltrate. We don't know where it is. I don't even know where it is, and I've been stationed here for over a year. We've hit a dead end."

  Knight's lips thinned into a line. "This doesn't change anything. We still need Toshi to secure the Remnant. Failure isn't an option here."

  Kanu made a frustrated noise. "There is nothing else we can do."

  "Give me three days," Knight said. "Before you contact Ferrao, give me time to try to sort something out. I didn't come here to give up so easily."

  Kanu studied her, shifting his gun in his hands. After a long stretch of silence, he relented. "Three days. That's all you've got, and then I'm pulling the plug."

  Knight nodded. She only hoped it would be enough. Kanu returned her to her station before resuming his patrol. Ayla watched the guard leave and turned back to Knight. She leaned over her station.

  "What did he say?"

  "We have three days to think up a plan. Do you go to the stars every night?"

  Ayla nodded. "We've been working on something."

  "Good. I'll see you all there tonight, then." Knight slammed her mo
ld closed, cooling it far too fast. This wasn't over…not yet.

  -~-~-~-

  That night, under the stars, Knight relayed Kanu’s words to the three humans before her. None of them were happy. Ji couldn't help the bitterness that had started to grow in her. Toshi, Ayla, and Nero had built Knight up to be a hero, someone who could get things done. As it turned out, she was just as helpless as the rest of them.

  "So it's impossible, then," Nero spoke first when Knight finished.

  "We still have three days. We can do something before my extraction takes place," Knight tried. Ayla looked discouraged.

  "Yes, we have only three days to find the Rock and figure out how to break into it. That's not a lot of time," she said.

  No, no it wasn't. "What do you propose we do?" Ji asked.

  "We start by finding the Rock. You've been here longer than I have. There must be some area of the compound that has just a few more guards, where prisoners aren't allowed," Knight said.

  "The barracks," Nero offered. "But if there was anything there Kanu would know about it."

  "Unless it's not inside the compound," Ayla said. "It could be underground."

  Nero shook his head. "I don't think so. The mines would pose too much of a risk. Don't want a prisoner accidentally sending a pneumoaxe through the wall of your secret research facility."

  Ji drummed her fingers on her knee. "We already know Arryna's size is a lie. What if that mirror field is hiding something else?"