by Tracy Korn
CHAPTER 14
The Wraith
Arco
We all move from the airlock to the bridge, which is the same size as the Leviathan’s, but with two main center stations sitting on the second tier of the descending floor. I look around for other consoles—the navigation stations that should flank the pilot’s station—but there aren’t any…just the enormous window that wraps from end to end in front of the long stretch of embedded panels and intermittent controllers.
“Where are the systems consoles?” Avis asks, scanning the bridge.
“They’re below,” Dr. Denison says, approaching us. He’s wearing the same dark red jumpsuit he wore at Gaia.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “How are you here?”
“Luck.” Denison’s white eyebrows jump when he nods, and I forgot how young he looks despite the color of his hair—like he can’t be more than ten years older than I am. I shake my head at the absurdity of my whole damn world.
“Luck? What’s that supposed to mean?” Jax asks, echoing my irritation.
“Everything is on high alert with you all missing, and now the news about crashing the Grid server flooding the infobits,” Denison starts. “We convinced Rheen to pull the regular pilots for these runs and send us in their place.”
“And why does she think you’d be fine with shuttling a bunch of Phase Two kids to a lab in the port-cloud for more genetic testing? Your tenure?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at him and wondering just how many experiments he’s performed on students himself.
“Something like that,” is all he says in reply. His face is solemn, and I don’t like the way he’s looking at me like I’m some kind of pathetic, wounded animal. He looks over my shoulder at Ms. Reynolt, who’s climbing the last of the metal stairs that lead below deck. She’s wearing the same blue jumpsuit she wore at Gaia. They must have come straight from there.
“We’ve never been directly involved in the experimentation, Mr. Hart,” she says with a weak smile. “We’ve been working for several years to expose this operation, and now, with your team’s help, we can.”
“Do you have people below now? People from Phase Two?” Fraya asks.
“They’re back at The Seam building already. You made quite a mess of those labs.” Denison half-smiles at us, and this time, I smile a little too. “We weren’t able to get everyone aboard. Some fled into the biomes. We’ll need to run some sweeps before the facility goes back online.”
“Phase Two is still active?” I ask, incredulous.
“Their systems are badly damaged,” Denison says. “The neural freeze Jack launched corrupted much of their programming, but yes, they have basic functions in place…enough to cover their tracks if they have to by reactivating the biomes.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I say, pinning him in place with a cold stare. He meets my eyes and sighs.
“So you learned about the original test subjects then,” he states rather than asks. “The Vishan model.”
“We learned that the biomes exist so Gaia could get rid of them as evidence? Yes,” I answer. “How long have you been part of this?” I ask. “How long have you known and done nothing?”
“Arco, that’s not how it is,” my sister says.
“Really? Because last I checked, he didn’t stop anything while they were making you fireproof. He’s part of the problem!”
Arwyn starts to protest, but Denison nods and takes a few steps toward us.
“No, it’s all right,” he says to her, then looks right at me. “I wasn’t there the night they took Lyden and Arwyn, son. Neither was Luz. We were told they’d been transferred to Admin City for special internships, and at the time, neither of us had the clearance to investigate.” He shakes his head, then turns away and walks to the window that stretches the length of the bridge. “We knew something didn’t add up after they had us pursue Jack Ripley, so several of us started listening, then we started asking people the right questions. We made them think we wanted to be involved. It wasn’t long before they asked me to supervise Phase One of The Elements program—that’s what it’s called—and I chose my team.”
“Unfortunately, this didn’t happen in time to keep Liam Wright out of the snare,” Ms. Reynolt adds. “But he was the last Gaia Sur cadet to be given a special internship. We’ve run interference ever since using simulated port-call clones, all of them unfortunately passing before they could continue onto Phase Two.” She winks, looking from Denison to Tark.
It all seems to make sense, but I still don’t fully trust them. I wonder if I just don’t fully trust anyone anymore.
“We need to move into position,” Lyden says, turning to face us from the main console. “The dock will be waiting for Calyx and us now. I altered the delivery specs for this run, so they won’t be expecting a ship of transports anymore.”
Denison nods, and Tark gestures to Ellis and Avis.
“Come with me. I’ll show you how to run the core. It’s similar to the Leviathan, only much smaller. The rest of you should get comfortable below. After we deliver Calyx’s group, we’ll need to exit the cloud space, then burrow back in.”
“Burrow?” Jax asks, confused.
“Mr. Hart and I picked up some piranha wind at our little pit stop in the Sojourner,” Tark says over his shoulder, then extends a small box. “A zephyr, as you know it.”
Jax’s eyes go wide before his expression turns hard.
“You have one of the tornado monsters in there? What are you going to do with that?”
“Nothing,” Tark answers with a half-smile. “We were hoping you and your father might be able to code it for assassin work.” He pauses, nodding to Jack. The blood drains from Jax’s face all over again. Tark chuckles. “Can you code it to make a Wraith-sized hole in the port-cloud, then replicate to fill it behind us?”
“You want it to work like an A-sym patch?” Jax asks, exchanging glances with his dad.
“We need Rover nanites for that,” Jack says, shaking his head.
“I thought you might say that,” Denison says. “Skull can get you situated below. The med bay is small, but it’s equipped with what you’ll need.”
Jax looks at his dad again, who nods, but still doesn’t look at ease. Jax takes the little box from Denison very carefully and goes below deck with everyone else.
***
Denison slaps me on the shoulder and gestures to the front of the bridge. “Shall we?” he says. I look from him to Ms. Reynolt.
“Uh, I’m flying?”
“You’ll need to be acquainted with the system for when the time comes. When we get in range of Phase Three, Luz will move into place, and you’ll get out of sight.”
“You’re a navigator?” I ask her.
“No, a Reader with a Nav latency, but I’m not here to fly this thing.”
“Luz will make sure we stay out of trouble,” Denison says with a half-smile to her. I look at them both quickly and decide I don’t want to know what’s going on there. “Have a seat, son.” Denison nods to the console next to him, which is smooth with embedded, illuminated buttons and screens. I sit down, and the chair forms to me just like the one on the Leviathan.
“Where’s the yoke?” I ask, scanning the controls, stopping to look at Denison when I can’t find it. He exchanges another glance with Ms. Reynolt, then smiles at me.
“You’re the yoke, Mr. Hart.”
I can only blink at him. “What?” I ask after he doesn’t elaborate. He pushes a series of buttons, and it suddenly feels like every system stops spinning. The downshifting hum vibrates in my stomach, and I feel like we’re falling.
“What happened? Did we stop?” I ask, trying to turn in my seat. Immediately, the ship jerks and shimmies, and all my blood stops flowing at once. “What the hell…?”
“Just relax, Mr. Hart. Lean slowly forward,” Ms. Reynolt says, and a wash of calm comes over me.
“I’ve transferred control of the ship to you from autopilot,” Denison says. “Try to be part of th
e ship, because it is now part of you.”
I look at him quickly, reminding myself not to make any sudden moves.
“It’s all right. Just imagine you’re flying out here like a bird, Mr. Hart. Feel the direction you want to go, and lean into it in your mind,” Reynolt coaches. I try to ignore the criticism I have for this idiotic design and reach for the grips in front of me. I take a deep breath and imagine myself leaning forward a little, like I’m going to dive off the rock ledge back home and drop into the ocean. The ship systems start to hum again, and I feel us pushing forward like we’re—like I’m—facing down a strong headwind.
“That’s it, son. Just keep pushing through…” Denison says from somewhere in the distance, or so it seems. I see him sitting next to me out of the corner of my eye, along with several occasional numbers and symbols, which are always there when I either look directly at them or engage my peripheral vision.
“I’m flying this thing with my mind?” I ask, still not quite sure if that’s a good question or a stupid one.
“Indeed, and quite well, I might add,” Denison says. “Take us to about sixty seconds from the cloud gate—right there on the scope, see it?” he says again, this time gesturing to a holographic green scope just to my left. “Then I’ll move her in while Luz readies the airlock to release Calyx and her team.”
I nod, noticing in the same second how dry my mouth is. I’m afraid to swallow because what if that causes another staggering jerk-to-halt like turning around a minute ago did? But then I think of Jazz, smiling at me and nodding like that first time on the Leviathan. You can do it, she said, and for at least that second, I didn’t need to believe it as long as she did. I close my eyes and try to find that person she saw, because she’s not here to tell me anything anymore.
CHAPTER 15
The Badlands
Jazz
“This smells like grease and sadness,” Vox says, wrinkling her nose away from the burlap wrap near her face. I stifle a laugh and scan the horizon for Seaboard North…for the lights of the Fishers’ campfires and the lights from the habitat stacks. I blink, trying to clear my blurry vision, but it doesn’t help.
“We’re home…” I say under my breath, but Liam hears me anyway.
“Don’t get comfortable,” he says with an edge in his voice.
“I’m just saying we made it. What’s wrong?”
“Why would Spaulding send him into the tunnels?” Liam asks, but after a second I realize he’s only talking to himself. “If he wanted to get rid of him, he would have done that in Admin City…”
I jog a few steps to catch up.
“He sent him with handlers, too,” I add when Liam doesn’t say anything more. “Could it have something to do with Phase Two?”
He just shakes his head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense. The transfer logs said there were five in his party, and that walrus back there said there was a reception team with gear. We don’t have the equipment to follow them, either. We’ll have to find Azeris and regroup.”
“Do you know where his hab is?” I ask. “Where are we going?”
“Forward.” Liam spits out the word, and I glare at him, which he doesn’t see. He picks up his pace specifically, it seems, to get away from me. I’m about to stop in my tracks and tell him we need to figure out what we’re doing when Vox’s voice sails over my shoulder.
“You know, tunnel sharks aren’t the only things under your feet out here!”
Liam stops in his tracks and turns abruptly to her.
“What are you talking about?”
“The V,” she adds, raising a burgundy eyebrow.
“The people you said your people call the Fringe?” I ask, wondering where this is going until she raises her other eyebrow at me and heaves a sigh, blinking obnoxiously.
“What the hell are you two talking about? The cannibals? There aren’t any. Tunnel sharks are what pulled people through this sand.”
You’re talking about the Vishan? I think toward Vox, and she starts slow-clapping. “The supply crews and tunnel shark teams… Liam, they’ll help us!”
“Who? The sharks? Uh, afraid not.”
“No, Vox’s people.”
“In the woods?”
“No, mollusk. How are you a doctor again?” Vox rolls her eyes at him. “The Vishan in the volcano about six miles that way.” she adds, pointing to the ground.
Liam looks at her blankly for a second, then shakes his head to clear the fog.
“Vishan…? Allsop Vishan?” He looks as confused as we are until he jumps like something has bitten him. “Wait, your treatments!”
“What? Who is Allsop Vishan?” Vox asks, ignoring Liam’s sudden attack.
“Sorry. He’s the original scientist who altered the DNA strand that Jack and I used to code the neural thread—the one we put in the virtuo-cines to warn Liddick…the messages, remember?” He shakes his head, then abandons the question. “Never mind. The DNA was archived. I forgot the original test subjects survived. I forgot there were descendants out there who helped you through the biomes…” he says, all the blood draining from his face. He pushes his hands through his hair again and takes a deep breath.
“OK, how do we contact them?” I ask. “Do we still need to find Azeris?”
“Yes, we need to go there first. Where are we?” Liam asks, but it still seems like he’s talking to himself more than he’s answering me when he starts looking around. Vox flips the burlap off her shoulder and unzips the front of her white jumpsuit a little, then pulls out her arm. She tilts her head to the side, studying for a second before she points to a spot on her inner arm.
“Here. There’s Skyboard Mountain.” She points to another spot higher up her shoulder. “Tinkerers are on the other side of the forest there.” Vox nods directly ahead of us. Liam and I both stare at her. “What…he’s a Tinkerer, isn’t he? I mean, you call him a Badlander, but none of them live in the Badlands. These are the Badlands,” she says, shoving her arm back in her sleeve, then holding it out to the spread of sand all around us.
“What just happened?” Liam asks, shooting me a glance. Vox sighs in disgust.
“Follow me. Go exactly where I go, and watch where you step.”
***
The sun is setting, and I start to wonder if we’ll make it to Azeris’s hab before it’s completely dark. We need food and supplies if we’re going in those tunnels, not to mention…will our nanites even work again? Vox is several yards ahead of us, and even though I can see the little fires along the beach from the Fishers’ docks, we are still a world away from home. Cold shoots down my back, and I start to feel sick as a new worry surfaces.
“Are the nanites they gave us at Gaia still working even without our dive suits? Can we actually survive this?” I ask Liam as we follow Vox as closely as we can in the diminishing light. He chuckles at me, then jogs a few steps.
“Probably not,” he says. “They need a hub to stay charged. Your suits acted like little battery packs when you were out of range of a facility. Azeris will be able to upgrade them so we can go deep. Just slow down and try to relax for now.”
I squint at him. Relax? We’re about to voluntarily make our way into the one place we’ve been warned to avoid our whole lives, and now we know why: there really are things that will eat you in those tunnels.
“Liam, what if Azeris doesn’t know anything else about where Liddick is? What if he doesn’t have anything that will help us in the tunnels? Then what are we going to do?” I ask, but Liam just cocks his head sideways as he watches Vox take off her burlap wrap and fold it over one of her arms, then push up her white sleeves. She’s going to get us killed.
“Vox! Put that back on! That hub operator said we’d be bait out here in the jumpsuits!”
“It’s hot!” is all she says in reply.
“Who put all those map lines on her arms?” Liam asks, still studying her.
“She did. She’s a boundary scout for her clan. Are you listenin
g to me? What are we going to do if Azeris can’t help us find Liddick?”
“So, they’re what, symbolic of her job or something?”
“No, they’re actual maps of where she’s been. Her clan sends kids out to get some kind of flower from the top of Skyboard North when they’re thirteen. They can’t take anything with them except a little knife,” I explain just to get it over with. Liam gawks at me.
“She gave herself those tattoos with a little knife? At thirteen years old?”
“Yeah. I mean, no. I mean, not all the maps when she was thirteen. She added to them on different trips.”
Liam nods and sticks out his bottom lip.
“She must be pretty tough. Resourceful…” he adds, nodding at Vox.
“She’s insane,” I answer without hesitation. I look up at him in the same second he glances at me and gives me a crooked smile like I should have figured all this out by now. “Uh, I’m not her,” I answer. “I couldn’t do what she did.”
“Why not? What makes you any different than she was when she was 13?”
I almost laugh out loud at Liam but manage to swallow half of it.
“Well, for starters, she knew it was coming. She wanted to be a Boundary Scout, and that first, she had to go up the mountain.”
“That’s it?”
“No, her whole culture expects it. It’s just what they do. It was always part of her plan.”
“So what do you want, Jazwyn?” Liam asks as the wind blows our burlap wraps into billows behind us.
“What?” I squint at him again.
“What are you doing out here? What do you want? What’s your plan?” he asks again, and this time he looks at me.
“To find Liddick,” I say, shaking my head at him. “Did you miss something back at The Seam building? You know, when we decided all this?”
“So you know where you’re going then.”
“Liam, no, we don’t know where we’re going. The tunnels are—“
“The tunnels don’t matter,” he says, stopping in his tracks. “We’re going to find Liddick, wherever he is. Sometimes you can only see the next step, though, you know? So for now, we look in the tunnels…”