“You’ll get Charista’s interest with that, but she’ll never let you live if she knows you know where it is. Remember that. She needs that way more than you.” Baudricort leaned against the wall.
“So what’s the move here?” Treg asked.
Nelson cleared his throat. “We’ve got another leg up on her. I know where Cataclysm is, to the exact spot. I feel it when I see the map of the area. But I’m not connected to your Link system. So that makes me collateral, or at the very least, valuable.”
“We need to get to the site, but with the Omegans and Lebabolis hunting for us and each other, it’s a crapshoot heading straight there. They’d pick off a convoy like ducks. We have to throw in with one of them, at least for the time being.” Ana crossed her arms.
“An uneasy alliance. You’re going to have to disable it though. If Charista or the others get ahold of this and it isn’t shut down, one flick of the switch and they’ll upend the world,” Baudricort said. “Let me see the rest of the P-LAD information from Otto.
He manipulated the screens on the device for a few minutes. “Otto and I worked on the codes here. The Valkyrie included the shut down sequence. She didn’t even tell me in case they tried to pull it through on a Link. So, she coded it. I’ll need a little time to work on that.”
Baudricort took off for the tech lab with the P-LAD to decipher what he could out of the Valkyrie’s message while Treg and I stayed with Nelson. His strength came back more and he even stood up a little bit, walking and talking with us.
We discussed Charista and what we imagined her response would be. If she would even make a deal with us after she had an idea of what we knew.
“She’s gonna need proof,” Treg said. “No way in hell she’ll buy anything from us without that. And how do we prove something in Nelson’s head?”
“What if she hooks me up to a Link and pulls it out?” Nelson asked.
“Well, maybe. But I’m not leaving you alone with her. As bad as Baudricort got with you, Miss Queen Baddie will make that look like baby steps.”
“We’ll need to get her attention too. She won’t just come up for anyone trying to raid the border of Lebabolis,” Treg said.
“All we need to do is flash that schematic. I bet if any of this means anything to her, that will. That’s our plan, OK?”
They looked at the device and me, and nodded.
Nelson got to his feet and managed some wobbled steps around the room. He still winced, but his strength returned a little bit at a time. “Think I’m getting it here.”
“Looks that way. You better not overdo it; if you’re gonna be traveling with us to the Border, you’ll need some strength.” I glanced at Treg. He eyed me for a second, and he blinked his eyes as if in receipt of the wordless message I had just sent.
Treg stood up. “I’m finding you a weapon, Nelson. If we’re going to be a small group, everybody needs some heat.”
Treg headed to the supply closet. I guided Nelson back to the bed. He watched me as I picked his feet up off the floor. “Think this’ll work?”
“The Border, the deal with Charsista? Can’t say I don’t have my doubts, but if I know anything about her, she’s in it for the power and glory, and that’s what Cataclysm is for her.”
A loud blast echoed in the hall outside the room, and the lights dimmed.
“Raid?” Nelson asked.
Yelling came from the other side, people coughing and struggling about. I got to the floor and crawled over to the door, eased it open to a billow of dust. I winced and looked back into the room, coughing a bit. Then I was able to see more into the hallway. I took off to find out what happened.
Action soldiers flit about the area, some bumped into me as they moved past in one direction or another. After a few minutes of this, I spotted Treg near the end of a hallway. There was a pile of rubble near him, and he worked with some Action soldiers to clear it out.
“I didn’t hear any Hell Hawks. They’re getting sneakier.”
“That’s because there were none.” Treg stopped and looked at me, his eyes wild. “This was an inside job.”
My gut ached at the idea. We had heard about plants and sabateurs in the Action, but this was as close as they’d ever gotten to one of us. I looked at the rubble pile and recognized the markings on the walls. When I did, my heart sunk more.
Treg watched me and reached for me. “Ana, it’s the Tech lab-“
He didn’t need to say anything more. I threw myself into the effort, helping to pull pieces back. “Baudricort!” I screamed. “Can you hear us?”
Treg tried to pull me from the pile of debris, but I refused. In a few minutes there was hole big enough to get into the room. Black scorches covered the walls, and the smell of smoke from the hallway was way more intense. Baudricort lay on his back, the P-LAD from Otto damaged and resting in his hands.
“No!” I screamed, and dropped to the floor. I scampered over to his side. Seeing me near him, he smiled. His face was burned pretty bad. His teeth stood out sharp against his deep red charred flesh.
He took a breath, but he heaved and broke into coughs.
“They’re calling medical; they'll be here soon.” I laid a hand on his head.
He shook his head and looked at me. His eyes filled with tears, and his lips drew into a line. “I’m sorry it happened like this.”
I turned back toward the hole I had entered and yelled, “Can we get some medical in here now! Baudricort is hurt. Bad!”
A medic slipped into the room and rushed to Baudricort’s other side, where he started an IV and worked on whatever he could to make him more comfortable. He gave me a grim look, but I just pointed back toward Baudricort. “You keep going; he’s still with us.”
“That’s my—girl.” Baudricort rasped amid several coughs.
“What are you talking about? I’m one of those you rescued, that’s all.”
He shook his head. “There was never time for telling you everything. Your mother and I weren’t the same Product, I didn’t want you in any danger. So I forged the records in MODOSNet and had you brought to another family. People sympathetic to the Action.”
A tear rolled down his face. My throat clenched, and I felt a queasiness set in. My vision blurred. I felt like I’d lived in a house for so many years, and now it had crumbled with just one statement, just a collection of words strung together made walls smashed, doors splintered, windows disintegrated. Made me undone.
I looked back to Baudricort and realized it was tears in my eyes. “Y-you’re my father.”
He nodded. “I wanted you out, but if anyone ever found out you were mine, you wouldn't have a chance. You’d be captured and used as ransom. You never asked for any of this; I did what I thought would protect you.”
My throat was still tightened, and I felt my voice break. “I saw my parents taken away. My brother, my— Do I even have a brother? Who am I?”
“You absolutely do have a brother. You love him and he loves you. Nothing ever changes that.” He gasped for air before he continued. “Ana, you’ve got to take this.” He slid a datapod into my hand. "It’s got what we talked about on it. Keep it safe.”
I slipped the device into my shirt pocket and clutched his hand. My trembling increased, and the ache of what I’d just learned poured through every inch of me. “You can’t leave me.”
He shut his eyes tight in response and grit his teeth. The medic continued his efforts, but I wondered if the only thing keeping him going was my denial of what was really happening.
“Hey, stay with me.” I watched this man I’d seen for so long, like it was the first time I’d gazed at him. How could this be my father? How could this be, how could any of this be?
Baudricort’s eyes shut. The medic thrust his hands onto his chest and manipulated his cavity for several minutes. But the denial I felt wasn’t strong enough. Neither was Baudricort. I slumped backward on a piece of broken wall and let the sobs flow out of me. My father was dead.
Chapter 38 (Ana)
“ Get away from me, Treg.”
He met me after I left the room. He reached for me, but I held my arms close.
“Ana, what?”
I shook my head, a few tears flung from my face. “Treg, I need a few.”
He looked over my shoulder to the room, then back to me. “I don’t under-“
I brushed past him; my voice almost broke into sobs. “Later, Treg. Tell you later.”
I found a quiet spot in the Encampment in a storage room and slumped against a wall. The pain overtook me for a few minutes. Thoughts rushed past me like a stream. I felt like I was about to drown any second.
Baudricort, my father, was gone.
Just the fact I knew that now felt weird. Everything I’d known up until then was wrong. Why had he hidden it from me, to protect me or just himself?
I never thanked him for what he did for me and Varrick. My brother. Was he still my brother?
Everything was unraveled. Had Baudricort known how grateful I was for what he did? Maybe, or maybe not, since we never had time to say thank you in the Action.
We had ammo with Cataclysm, but everyone was scattered by distance, and now even more without our leader. Baudricort was the glue of the Action. It was up to Llewyn now. Did he know what Baudricort did about Cataclysm?
Whether he did or not, Llewyn was in charge. If people rallied around him, maybe this wasn’t for nothing.
I thought again about what Remy had said about my real parents. Had he known this, too? That little sniveler.
I pulled my knees in and wrapped my arms around my legs. I wanted away from this more than ever at that moment. I had a bad feeling Varrick was dead anyway. In my sea of worry, one thought appeared like the jagged rocks of a cliff: Varrick was and always would be my brother. Blood or not, nothing ever changed that for me.
My thoughts drifted to the girl I was during Exodus, and what I did and why so many people look at me different. No one said anything about it to my face, but I saw it in their eyes, the way they looked at me. Sometimes I imagined what they thought. How did she do that? She's a Worker Product, there is no way. You can't be serious. My Exodus had started like most of the others did. A team of Action soldiers came by my housing unit and got Varrick and me out overnight. We went into this transport vehicle that made it look like a routine maintenance haul. Thirteen others joined Varrick and me. Treg and Brent, two Warrior Products, handled the security. Until I saw Treg, I was afraid we’d just be picked off. Somehow, the sight of his face made me feel safer.
Our ride through the Sector was pretty quiet for a half hour or so. I watched the empty roads from out the rear of the truck. The streets were empty, of course. Curfew in Lebabolis wasn’t something people tested. Anything to not be marked as a Deviant.
I shuddered when a cold blast of air stabbed through me. Everyone else in the back was quiet, which suited me fine. I figured they were as nervous as I was, and I preferred to pretend they were invisible instead. All I had for company were the low hum of the truck and the creaking of the seats and sides of the vehicle when we hit a bump in the road.
The whine alarms of Lebabolis Security broke my calm and sent my gut into a tight knot. The truck shuddered to a halt, and we heard a voice on loudspeaker: "Halt and exit the vehicle for work order inspection!"
There was no other sound for a few seconds, but then the doors opened and blasts of pulse fire echoed in the darkness. Within seconds, the security patrol rained fire on us. The flashes of pulse weapons lit the night, and small bands of hot air whipped by outside with the volleys. A few passed through the roof area of the truck. Varrick crouched low, his arms wrapped around my waist. There were no weapons in the back. The trip was supposed to be a quick pass over the border and then we were home free.
A loud pop came from near the front of our vehicle, and someone yelled in agony. My throat squeezed and my ears rang while I wondered who it was. The rest in the back of the truck braced low. These people, like me, were all Worker Products. We were never taught anything about combat, except for what we saw demonstrated by the warriors in school.
Of course, I had a little after school learning of my own.
The fear I felt everywhere began a turn. I stroked Varrick's hair and kissed him, then popped to my feet. My pulse thumped in my throat. The commotion outside hadn't stopped, and the shots that pierced the truck got more frequent. I looked at the rest in the back, my fellow Products, cowered down like beaten dogs. Distress flowed into disgust. Anxiety into anger. By the time I leapt from the truck my temper raged.
I thought back to one of Treg’s many lessons: “Anger’s good in a fight, but don’t let it overtake you. Stay focused, stay driven. Protect yourself and yours, then attack with abandon.”
I kept low and crawled up toward the front of the vehicle on the driver side. Smoke billowed from that side, and someone lay back on the windshield, a pulse rifle clutched in their hand. When I got close I made out Brent's profile, the side that wasn't a charred mess of burned flesh. Treg stood up on the other side. He fired at the patrol and kept them busy.
The Lebabolis patrol stood near their vehicle, at least three regular soldiers and one Radomet. They were so busy with Treg, they hadn't noticed when I yanked the pulse rifle from Brent's grip to my side. I dropped back low to the ground and crawled near the front tire. The Radomet lurched forward and activated its flamethrower when I sprung to my feet and answered with my own barrage.
Everyone was taken off guard, even Treg. He took out the two regular Lebabolis security troops, but the Radomet shifted to me. An electronic snarl vibrated from it, and its face locked in on me. Its red eyes bored into me. I’d heard Radomets could paralyze someone just by long enough eye contact. But at that point, I couldn’t care less. Part of me almost wanted it to strike me. The rage sweltered in me as I stepped toward it and fired at it with everything that weapon had.
Shots glanced off its armor without damage, but it was still knocked a bit off balance by the impact. I walked toward it and fired more. Treg yelled behind me, "Stand clear, I'm gonna ram it!"
I aimed right for the Radomet's head and released one more barrage. It tried a swipe at my head, but it was uncentered enough that it stumbled. I jumped aside, and Treg floored it. The truck rammed the Radomet and knocked it to the ground. I scrambled over to the driver's side, and he hoisted me up before he sped us away.
"You good?" Treg asked.
I laid the rifle down and adjusted in the passenger seat. I took a few deep breaths, my inner inferno calmed to a low simmer again. "Yeah, I'm OK."
"I'd ask where you learned how to do that, but I think I know already."
A smile found my face. "You should."
"The honcho's gonna love this, Ana. You should think about helping more once we're in the Outlands."
I watched his eager expression when he talked about the Action, something I hadn't ever shared. "Thanks, but I'm making a break as soon as I can."
Was that girl still here?
#
After Llewyn sent word to the entire cadre about Baudricort, everyone met at Encampment 8 for a discussion of our next move. Of course, no one knew who planted the bomb or whatever had killed Baudricort. All anyone had were ideas and theories so far.
Of course, there was also what I saw on Otto's P-LAD. No one else said a thing about it. I was more than done with secrecy, and I had a good verbal salvo ready for them.
The meeting room at Encampment 8 was larger than the rest, and no gear on the walls crowded our group in. The cadre, the group of leaders right under Baudricort, were there. Most of ‘em were in charge of individual Encampments as well. Kaitlinn, chief of Encampment 13, sat next to Llewyn. She studied something on the table in front of her as Llewyn spoke. “We’ve got to continue with Baudricort’s plan and get to the Range before Cataclysm hits.”
Other suggestions flew about in the discussion. Destroying Valentium deposits, staking out locations for Valentium, guarding ‘e
m better, poisoning the water system, and on.
Several quabbled about Baudricort. Others said they wanted out of the Action altogether, that even attendance at the meeting was dangerous if their leader was killed that easily.
I looked around the room. These were the uppers of the Action. Most were in it from the start. They were many of the best and brightest of Lebabolis. All were in heated discussions and arguments, the room filled with their rumbles. Llewyn tried for order, but it was useless.
Nelson shook his head at it all.
“What do you know about Cataclysm?” I blurted out.
The room chatter died down. Llewyn eyed me. "The same thing you and everyone else does?"
With that I strode to the console on the desk. I pulled out my datapod and held it up to Llewyn. His brow creased, but he said nothing.
I placed the datapod into the port and opened the schematic on the main screen. “We’re running from Cataclysm, and all this time I figured it was some natural disaster that would hit at any point.” I looked to Llewyn. “It’s not, is it?”
“Where did you get this?” Llewyn’s eyes were wide. The room looked to him.
“Baudricort. He and Otto were working on this.”
Voices and chatter in the room built again. People craned to look at the schematic, and the discussions ignited.
The discussions started up again and built to a low roar. Llewyn's voice met the rising clamor. “Let's have order in here.” He swung his head back to me. “You know we’ve been avoiding a war, right? All the raids, and the Omegans around. Baudricort had to manage a lot of people and facilities to get Exodus to happen, and we’re still not done.”
After the room settled again, he said, “I know Baudricort developed this weapon at Charista’s request, and it was tested, but then lost because of the Valkyrie.”
“Lost? Try hidden.” I slammed my fingers on the controls and pulled up the Range maps. Nelson groaned off to my right, his eyes twitched at the sight.
“Nelson over here, better known as Xander, has located where the Cataclysm device is. It’s in the Range we’re headed toward. But out of a few thousand miles, he’s pinned it down to one particular spot.”
Cataclysm Epoch Page 18