The Alpha Drive

by Kristen Martin

  As the water trickled down her hair, memories of the previous night flooded back to her. Why had she suddenly lost consciousness? Had Rhea seen the chip? Had Anthony actually shown up at her dorm last night?

  She’d dreamt the same dream from earlier in the week—except this time she’d been dressed in a uniform and carrying a gun. The dream ended suddenly, like it had the first time—with a scream and a gunshot—but she still couldn’t make any sense of it.

  By the time Emery had gotten dressed and ready for the day, it was a quarter past eleven. She grabbed her notebooks, laptop, and purse from a pile on her desk and headed toward the door, letting it slam behind her on the way out. First up: Latin II, or as Darden called it, Advanced Latin. Learning languages came easy to Emery, almost like it was second nature. And thank god for that because she was in no shape to take on anything difficult today.

  After listening to her teacher, Mr. Roberts, drone on and on for fifteen minutes, Emery came to the disappointing conclusion that Advanced Latin would be harder than she’d originally thought. The students seemed to be leagues ahead of her, something she wasn’t used to at her old school. Normally, starting school was exciting, but her start at Darden was more daunting than anything else. Fortunately, that day’s assignment involved writing in Latin instead of speaking it. Her pounding head appreciated the fact that she didn’t have to hear twenty other students reciting phrases in another language.

  An unpleasant growl rumbled low in her stomach and, to add to her misery, Emery could hardly focus on anything her teacher was saying. Her mouth was dry, her hands were shaky, and while she knew she should eat something, the thought of food was utterly repulsive.

  A muffled buzzing broke the silence in the classroom. Mr. Roberts gazed up from his desk, searching the sea of students for the source of the noise. Emery waited until he shifted his focus back to his computer before pulling her phone from her bag, pushing aside packs of gum, crumpled up receipts, and tubes of chapstick. The screen lit up with a text from an unknown number. Common Room. 1PM. There was only one person that text could be from.

  Theo.

  Emery tried to hide her eagerness as she slid her phone back into her purse. There were forty more minutes until class ended, which meant forty drawn out minutes of mulling over what her meeting with Theo would hold. Maybe he would be able to tell her what had happened last night. Had her chip malfunctioned? Had he forgotten to tell her something?

  The remainder of class was one of the most grueling times of her life. Finally, the sound of rustling notebooks and papers filled the room as her classmates packed their belongings.

  As Emery rushed back to Rosemary Hall in the sweltering heat, her eagerness turned to fear. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Her anxiety rose as she pushed the elevator button, her foot tapping as the doors opened. One swift move into the elevator and she was headed down to what felt like her own funeral.

  The doors opened and Emery walked down the hall, following the same routine as last time. As per usual, Naia greeted her at the massive door and led her into the main room. Emery took a seat and adjusted her posture, knowing that if she allowed herself to sink into the chair, she would surely fall asleep before Theo even entered the room.

  She shivered as a draft swept through the room. Where is he?

  As if he’d read her mind, Theo appeared, clad in all black. “Emery, how nice of you to join me.” He took a seat in the chair across from her and looked her square in the eye. “Oh my. Please forgive me, but you look like you haven’t slept in days.”

  She grunted as she rolled her eyes. His observation definitely didn’t warrant a response.

  “I’m aware that you had quite a riveting evening. I was hoping that we could discuss it, if that’s okay with you?”

  “Yes, please. I’m actually not sure what happened last night.” She grimaced as the memories resurfaced. “Was there anything about the chip that you forgot to mention?”

  Theo drummed his fingers against the chair. “I told you everything you need to know. We spent all evening and all morning trying to figure out what caused the abnormality in your chip’s behavior.”

  Emery perked up and moved to the edge of her seat. “And?”

  “We couldn’t find anything, which is odd.” He waved his hand in the air. “No need to be alarmed though,” he reassured. “This sort of thing happens more often than you’d think.”

  Emery could tell he was lying. Just as she was about to respond, a wave of nausea hit, causing her to crumple into her lap. Her head fell between her knees as she clenched her teeth, stomach turning.

  “Naia!” he called out. “Bring the serum, now!”

  Emery slinked off the chair onto the floor, her body curling into the fetal position. Serum? What serum? She squeezed her knees tighter to her chest and tucked her chin down toward the floor.

  “I would offer for you to stay as long as you need,” Theo began, “but then you’d miss your first day of training.”

  Emery groaned as she attempted to lift herself up to a sitting position. It took her a few tries until she finally made it upright. “You’ve got to be kidding me. My first round of training is right now?”

  “Indeed. But first, you need to recharge,” he observed.

  “What I need is sleep.” Her eyes shifted from Theo to the doorway, where Naia stood with an oversized syringe, the end of the needle dripping with a bright orange liquid. Before Emery could process what was happening, Naia approached her and pierced the overly sensitive flesh on her upper arm.

  Her mouth opened as she cried out in pain, her eyes watering as the serum entered her bloodstream. She felt her body slump to the ground. The last thing she heard were Theo’s harsh whispers to Naia, the sound of their voices fading off into the distance.

  Then everything went black.

  + + +

  When Emery finally woke up, she had no idea how long she’d been out for. Her surroundings were familiar—she was still in the FCW’s common room. Propping herself up on her elbow, she reached for the glass of water sitting beside her. Beads of perspiration lingered along her hairline.

  Before losing consciousness, her body and mind had felt completely imbalanced, as if she were teetering on the brink of some unknown oblivion. But now, she felt alive, awake, and clear-headed. Emery sprung to her feet, half expecting the nausea to resurface, but it didn’t.

  A faint hum in the background caught her attention. She turned around to face the coffee table. A holodevice displayed her training schedule, and next to that was a neatly folded pile of clothes. She picked up the pile, skimming through each piece—a black long-sleeved shirt, a pair of black nylon pants, and black shoes that appeared to be a combination of soccer cleats and hiking boots. Emery thumbed through the tags, noticing that each one was water resistant, bullet proof, flame retardant, and aerodynamic. How could these clothes hold each of these properties at the same time?

  Emery undressed and pulled the training shirt over her head, making sure to zip the front. The pants were more difficult to get into than she’d anticipated—they weren’t as stretchy as they looked. The ensemble was complete as she slipped her feet into the sleek training shoes and threw her hair up into a tight bun.

  Her eyes flitted over to the holoschedule. The room listed was Aquam. Emery waited for a few minutes, thinking that eventually either Naia or Theo would come get her. But they didn’t.

  Guess I’m supposed to find the room on my own.

  The door at the back of the common room led to a long hallway with multiple doors on either side. To her delight, the first room she stumbled upon just so happened to be Aquam. Seeing as the door was slightly ajar, Emery stepped inside, blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the darkness of the room.

  As she took another step forward, her foot suddenly plunged into a deep pool of water, her body catapulting forward. Goosebumps rose all over her body as water seeped into her ears and mouth, the taste saltier th
an ocean water. She flailed her arms frantically, gasping for air as her lungs desperately searched for oxygen. Spitting the liquid out, she forced herself to take a deep breath before plunging under the surface when, out of nowhere, a force-field type helmet materialized around her head. Before she knew it, her head and neck were encased in white and blue currents.

  Emery tried to stop herself from going under, realizing that she’d probably be electrocuted once the helmet hit the water, but to her surprise, nothing happened. She surveyed the area through her helmet, a sea of deep blue staring back at her. Holding her breath seemed like the logical thing to do, but Emery quickly discovered that she didn’t need to. The helmet enabled her to breathe regularly underwater.

  Nothingness surrounded her. Not knowing what to do, she began to swim. Her arms glided through the water with ease as she propelled herself forward, her feet kicking with little effort. It was like she was flying, but through water instead of air. As she delved deeper into the water-filled underworld, Emery noticed a dark figure at the bottom. It looked like the shape of a human.

  A woman.

  She swam closer, worried that maybe it was another participant who had been left behind during a previous round of training. Theo had said that passing training was a requirement for The Alpha Drive and at the time, she hadn’t thought to ask exactly what happened to those who failed the training. Hopefully it wasn’t this.

  Ten feet away. Her eyes widened as the face came into view. Same deep crimson hair. Same grey eyes.

  It was her mother.

  Emery screamed, the sound reverberating through the helmet, as she swam closer to her mother’s lifeless body. Her face was pale and puffy, like she’d been floating at the bottom of this underwater abyss for weeks.

  Oh my god. She’s dead. She’s not moving. Oh my god, they killed my mother.

  Emery grabbed her mother’s arm, using all of her strength to pull her to the surface, but try as she might, it felt as though they were both pinned down to the sand by an invisible force.

  “Mom!” she screamed through hurried breaths. “Mom, wake up!”

  Her eyes darted back up to the surface. What do I do? Out of the corner of her eye, Emery noticed that her mother’s right hand was clenched into a fist. Her panic ceased for a moment as she pried her mother’s fingers from her palm. A small orange capsule floated up into the water.

  What is that?

  Emery extended her arm to catch the floating capsule when, out of nowhere, water engulfed each and every one of her senses. Her hands flew up to her head as salt water stung her eyes.

  The helmet. It was gone.

  She fought to keep what little breath she had in her lungs. As much as she didn’t want to leave her mother, Emery had no choice. I can’t breathe.

  She swam as fast as she could to the surface, bobbing every which way, her lungs on the verge of exploding. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, trying to get a sense of how much further until she reached the surface. A light shone a few feet away.

  Almost there.

  Emery broke the water’s still surface, thrusting her arm upward in an attempt to grab anything that might be floating nearby. As if by some miracle, someone grabbed onto her arm and pulled her up out of the water. She was hoisted stomach-down onto a flat, level surface, a pair of black leather shoes pointed at her face.

  “Well,” Theo commented, bending down to help her to her feet, “thanks for waiting for me.”

  “What the . . .?” Emery sputtered, her legs shaking

  uncontrollably. “What was that?”

  “That was your first aquam training.” He gestured toward the vast sea of water before them. “Because we don’t know exactly what the 7S world looks like, we need to be prepared for any situation. Which is why your training covers the four main elements: earth, air, fire, and water.”

  Emery coughed, droplets of salt water spewing from her throat. “A little warning before being plunged into the watery depths of hell would have been nice.”

  A light chuckle escaped Theo’s lips. “Do you think 7S will give you a warning before they strike? I don’t think so.”

  Emery shivered as her body attempted to return to its normal temperature. “Warning or not, that training was dangerous. I could have died! And my mom,” she said through rapid breaths, “what about my mom? Is she dead? Did you kill her?”

  Theo’s body tensed. “Your mother? What about your mother?”

  Emery hesitated before responding, noticing his shift in body language. Something told her not to say anymore. “Nothing. It must have been my imagination. Forget it.”

  He eyed her curiously, then pursed his lips. “Well, for the record, you can’t die in training.”

  Emery crossed her arms, rubbing her hands up and down her shirt to warm up. “What if I had drowned? I’m pretty sure I would have died then.”

  “If you had drowned, then we would have revitalized you.” He pulled out a syringe of orange serum, the same one that Naia had used on her just before she’d blacked out. “With sanaré.”

  Emery immediately recognized the word. It was Latin, meaning “to heal”.

  “Sanaré repairs all internal and external wounds and even has the ability to bring you back to life, with certain limitations of course.”

  Emery eyed the syringe with a dubious expression. “That’s physically impossible. Isn’t it?”

  “Not anymore. The power of science and technology is truly marvelous, don’t you think?” He beamed like a third grader who’d just won the state science fair. “Unfortunately, not all the kinks have been worked out just yet. It can repair all wounds, no matter when they happened, but it can only reverse deaths that occur within a twenty-four hour period.”

  Emery was silent, waiting for him to continue.

  “I digress. Back to your training. You must follow your schedule to a tee. If you miss a training session, the rest of the program will have to be pushed back since other participants are also using the rooms. So again, please respect your schedule. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” she paused, “but won’t I run into other participants if we’re all training in the same rooms?”

  Theo shook his head. “Not if you follow your schedule most precisely. You don’t want to see them and trust me, they don’t want to see you. That would result in disqualification for both parties.”

  Emery stopped him before he turned to walk away. “What will my next round of training be?”

  He smirked. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  15

  Torin had finally done it. He was in.

  It had been forty-eight hours since he’d cracked the code and hacked into the Federal Commonwealth’s mainframe. And in that time, he’d learned ten times more about the FCW and its initiative than he’d ever learned about the Seventh Sanctum and its mission. There had been an opportunity to learn even more about the FCW, but since he’d chosen to go the quick and dirty route, he was only able to gain access through a single device: a tablet that seemed to stay in one area, a common room of sorts. He’d overheard conversations about some of the participants, but when it came to who was truly in charge of the FCW, Torin had absolutely no idea.

  The most intriguing conversations he’d happened to eavesdrop on were those about a participant named Emery Parker. From the constant buzz about her and late night phone calls, it was obvious that she was important to them. He just didn’t know why. So, he’d attempted to reach out to her by hacking into her microchip, but much to his dismay, the coding hadn’t worked. For a brief time, he actually thought that she could hear him, but he’d thought wrong. He’d backed out of the system after thirty minutes, worried that if he stayed any longer, he’d leave a trace.

  Torin decided it was best to keep this information to himself. Once the Commander found out he’d cracked the code, he’d most likely be kicked off the project because they wouldn’t have a need for him anymore. They’d go back to treating him like an intern, which meant that he
’d be completely in the dark. He’d receive no updates. No information.

  I’m more valuable than that.

  Torin knew that this decision could ultimately make or break him, but he was willing to take the risk. The more he could find out about the Federal Commonwealth, its initiative, and how 7S was connected, the better off he’d be. Or so he hoped.

  Torin spent the last thirty minutes of his workday watching a holoscreen of what he assumed was the FCW’s common room. After a long period of no movement, he decided it was time to log off and call it a day. But just as he was about to shut the system down, a girl with blonde hair appeared on the screen. She darted across the room and began searching for something, rummaging through every nook and cranny.

  With his index finger, Torin drew an L-shape on the virtual screen, watching as the image zoomed in. The girl looked frazzled, like she was about to pull every strand of hair from her head. What is she looking for?

  Torin watched as the girl pulled up a file—Emery’s file—on one of the FCW’s monitors. There was so much text written under Emery’s name that Torin could hardly read any of it. He craned his next closer to the screen as she scrolled through page after page of notes, until the girl finally found what she was looking for. He tried to zoom in even closer, but it was no use. The text was too blurry. Torin refocused his eyes one last time, straining them to make out a letter . . . a word . . . anything.

  The girl jotted a quick note onto her tablet, then pulled two small balls from her pocket. As she typed in another code, a drawer holding black clothes popped out from underneath the main station. She dropped one ball into each of the boots, then closed the drawer.

  What was that?

  Just as she was about to shut down the system, her phone rang. Torin’s fingers flew across the virtual keyboard as he quickly hacked into the other side of the conversation.

  “Where are we at?”

  “Still on track, Mr. Barker,” the girl responded. “Once testing is complete, we can use the device to render the rest of the world comatose.”