The Energy Crusades

by Valerie Noble

  Just as Ajax predicted, the room was empty. On the monitor, Tory had left a note letting me know she was with Malik. I sat for a while staring at it, trying to detangle the knot of emotions filling up my belly and pressing against my chest. Jealous was the word hovering inside my head. Malik and Tory had found each other so easily and didn't seem to have a care about one of them being an Unviable. They didn't have to worry about being watched. Most likely, Malik wouldn't turn his back on Tory the way Ajax had with me. I didn't want to think about it. Part of me felt defiant: I wouldn't be told who to marry. Part of me felt like the Athlete they trained me to be, and I would do as expected. Why wouldn't I? Only I wasn't sure what was expected anymore.

  I changed my clothes and washed for bed, then lay on top of my covers in the dark.

  Kaia, he called, and I got up and went to his room knowing it would bring me a restful sleep. I settled in the bed next to him, my back toward him, and his toward me. A multitude of thoughts swirled in my head.

  Ajax, I called before either of us could fall asleep. I don't want to marry your brother, I admitted, sure it was true and always would be.

  No, was his simple reply, but he let his emotions go for a minute. They were red, angry. It made me smile. He did have some feelings after all.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Ruined City

  The mornings were difficult. Waking up next to Ajax and then having to extricate myself from his room was an uncomfortable way to begin the day. It was lovely getting a restful night's sleep, but walking out of the room and leaving him behind felt terrible and I couldn't understand why. I wanted it to be easy, like when we were young children, but it wasn't, so I did it quickly and without thinking on it too much.

  For our first mission, the six of us gathered in the Weapons Room again. Tory and Balor had been healed and seemed as fit as ever. There was a much stronger sense of camaraderie between us since we'd completed our first challenge as a team. Even Ajax wasn't nearly as gloomy as he'd been. Being well rested helped to lighten his mood, and we got along much easier even when not training.

  Our packs and a small monitor sat atop a table in the middle of the room. I felt a little thrill of excitement to see all the gear they'd left for us: food, extra clothing, sleeping bags, and enough supplies for at least a week.

  "Bring it on," Malik was smiling from ear to ear. We were all eager for our next adventure together. Ajax walked to the monitor and pulled up our instructions while the rest of us explored what was in the packs.

  "Alright," Ajax said, motioning us over to the monitor. We fanned out around him. "They're sending us to the ruins in the East. The city is not restored and remains a stronghold of the Resistance. This will be our first attempt to recover a cylindrical object that was stolen from the Reformation."

  "Our first and last attempt," Balor grinned, confident as ever.

  We studied the image of the object on the screen. It was about fifteen centimeters long and less than half that width. The silver case had markings all over it and contained what looked like a glass vessel. It looked familiar, but I couldn't think where I'd seen it before. Perhaps Professor Baal had shown it to me the first day I arrived at the University, but I didn't think so.

  "What is it?" Caden asked.

  "I don't know," Ajax shrugged. "Some kind of information?"

  Several images appeared on the monitor showcasing a few members of the Resistance, those believed to be leaders in the area. However, the images were taken from a distance and it was impossible to make out any distinguishing characteristics. One young man showed up in nearly all of them. He had a shock of white-blonde hair, which stood out starkly against his black clothing, but his face was hidden behind large solar glasses. I felt the beginnings of anger deep in my gut. The Resistance did not wear energy suits, nor did they provide energy for the grids and there was no reason for him to be dressed in black, the color for Athletes. My hands balled into fists at my sides and all the lighthearted happiness from moments ago slipped away. Ajax looked at me briefly but said nothing. Some of my feelings had leaked out and I quickly took control of them.

  "I'll get the case," I informed the others through clenched teeth. I wanted the chance to get my hands on the blond haired impostor before any of them did.

  "I don't think so, Kaia." Balor was oblivious to what was really bothering me. "This looks like a job for a man. I'll take care of blondie." Of course we all wanted to be the one to retrieve the case. Tory surprised us all by speaking up.

  "I guarantee you we're on this assignment because of a man. I bet you it was a man who was supposed to guard the information, and it was a woman who stole it. You'll need a woman to get it back." Tory and I exchanged a knowing look. She winked at me and I bowed my head at her. She didn't speak up much, but when she did, she knew just what to say.

  "That's right, Bay," I picked up where she left off. "It'll be a woman who gets the case back; I second that." I was determined to teach the resister a lesson.

  Balor smiled but folded his arms across his chest, taking a determined stance. He was not going to give in. Before we could argue any further, Ajax continued with our instructions.

  "The Teachers provided a portal for us to use. This will place us directly at the ruins; however, we'll have our transporters to carry us around the city. We have climbing gel in case we need to scale any buildings and other equipment as you've all seen. We're looking for the blonde young man," he continued, pointing at the screen. "They estimate his age at somewhere between nineteen and twenty-one years. He's never worn an energy suit and isn't registered with the Reformation. He uses the name Jason Paris, and he's been indicated in several Resistance activities. If we can't recover the information, we should try to find out anything we can about him, but we need to avoid violence, if possible."

  "How will he feel about us?" Caden interrupted.

  "I don't know," Ajax answered honestly. "Their actions have been mainly non-violent, but they're getting bolder and taking more chances. They've started carrying out missions on Danu. It is now believed they are far more advanced than they seem."

  "Example?" Caden asked. Ajax looked him directly in the eyes.

  "For instance, some of them dress in rags as if they are barely able to survive, yet they can pull off a highly complicated maneuver, like shutting down the solar cells of an entire grid.

  Caden knew all too well the consequences of a failed power source. He saw firsthand the kind of chaos that ensued when all of the solar cells in a grid malfunctioned simultaneously. Perhaps when it happened in his grid, the Resistance was to blame. His jaw clenched in anger and I realized I wouldn't be the only one with a grudge, except my irritation with the resisters and their lack of energy suits seemed small in comparison to what had happened with Caden.

  "What kind of information did they steal?" Malik wanted to know.

  Ajax shook his head. "They didn't tell us. But you can be sure they think it's valuable. Something has happened to escalate tensions between us and the Resistance."

  "Let's head out." Malik was anxious, so we gathered all of our gear and Ajax signaled to the Teachers to provide the portal. When it appeared, a shimmering wall of energy separated the room, the air swirling and heavy inside the portal. Stepping into it felt like walking through a wall of water. A portal was a wrinkle in the universe between two places, and portal crossings required permission from the Reformation. Generally, you could get anywhere on the planet with a transporter or fully enclosed solar vehicle, but we were going to the other side of the continent and the portal would put us there instantly. Also, we had earned enough energy as a team to be allowed such a luxury.

  Ajax had us line up in pairs. He took me by the arm and we stepped through the portal together. As we crossed, the energy fell about us, thick and suffocating. The weight of it pressed on my chest and made me gasp for breath. Ajax made it to the other side first and tugged me along. Once through, I bent over, hands on knees while struggling to regain my breat
h. Malik and Tory, then Balor and Caden emerged from the portal, all of them gasping for breath as I had. It took several moments for us to get our bearings and take in our surroundings.

  We had stepped into a bleak winter landscape. The sudden cold bit at our faces and stung our eyes. My energy suit registered the drop in temperature, and began to warm my body in reaction to the cold. We could see the ruined city less than a kilometer away, the terrain leading to it sparse and devoid of color. There were patches of snow in places, but otherwise no vegetation and not a whisper of life anywhere.

  The only breaks in the monotony of the bare earth were the seemingly random objects rising from the ground. At first glance, they appeared unrelated: an ancient automobile, a metal pole, an extremely large rock, a pillar of bricks. Each of these, and many more we couldn't make out, were buried in the earth, but interestingly they all seemed to be the same height, regardless of their dimensions. It was dumb luck we'd portaled in far enough away to notice how the objects were most likely equidistant from each other. They extended around the entire perimeter of the city as far as the eye could see. Had we arrived any closer, we might have missed observing the makeshift wall.

  Beyond the city lay the ocean, and the city itself appeared to be partially submerged as if part of it had broken off and fallen right into the sea. What were once huge skyscrapers had long since fallen, and now stood destroyed and crumbling. The whole scene was eerie and disheartening. Why would anyone want to live like this?

  I pulled my transporter from my pack and the others followed suit. Next to me, Ajax's cheeks were slightly pink in the crisp air.

  "First we get through the wall." I stated the obvious. We hopped on our transporters and flew toward it, staying low to the ground.

  Caden led the way, bringing us to a stop between two of the objects. To our left was an upended automobile, circa 2010 by the looks of it, and to our right some type of metal pole.

  "What do you think?" Ajax questioned Caden, who took out his orb and threw it toward the pole. The two objects were about as far apart as the length of three football fields and it took a few minutes for the orb to reach the pole, circle the top of it and return to its owner. Caden caught it, and immediately sent it flying toward the automobile to perform the same task. Just to be sure, he sent it farther on in each direction, measuring the distance between objects.

  "Same height, same length," he stated, confirming our suspicions. "It's an energy field. If we walk through the wall, I'm sure it will sound some kind of alarm in the city."

  "Can we fly over the field?" Malik wanted to know, but Caden shook his head.

  "This is a sophisticated wall system. They've tried to make it look haphazard, but it isn't. This city is well guarded and the energy field extends higher than our transporters can rise. We would need an aircraft to fly in."

  We all thought about the situation for a few minutes before Balor spoke up.

  "I say we just fly through. I'm sure they already know we're here anyway. If this wall is that sophisticated, they're probably watching us too. Let's just fly on through and see what's what."

  I nodded at Balor's words, agreeing with his statement. The wall was for the unexpected, and they were expecting us.

  "Yeah?" Ajax asked, looking at each of us to see if we all agreed. We nodded our consent and steeled ourselves for the crossing. "Ready?" he asked.

  I was ready all right. We all were.

  "On my count," Balor instructed. "One, two, three, then we all cross together." He gave the count and we flew through the barrier side by side. The change was barely perceptible as we crossed over. There was a little more weight to the air, and I felt the slightest of tingles brushing at my arms as we entered the realm of the city.

  We were greeted immediately by the sound of barking dogs. They weren't visible yet, but it only made the sound of their ferocious barking all the more frightening.

  "Tory!" Ajax commanded and she flew forward. We fell back in a V-formation behind her. Caden and Balor were to her left, and Ajax and I on her right. Malik stood directly behind her. The dogs came charging at us from the depths of the city, bursting into our line of vision appearing huge and vicious. My heart pounded in my chest at the sight of them and my palms felt slick with sweat.

  The closer the dogs came, the larger they appeared. They were mostly gray and looked bigger than German shepherds, more like huge wolves, actually. Ajax moved his body just a bit, blocking my view of the dogs. Maybe he wanted to protect me, I wasn't sure, but if I were braver I would have balked at the gesture. Instead I was grateful for it.

  "Stay calm." His voice was low and reassuring, but I could see the tension in his body. All of our bodies appeared tense, except for Tory's.

  Without a trace of worry, Tory flew out farther in front of us and threw her orb about a meter ahead of her body. It would project a calming influence over the dogs, or so I hoped. She hopped off her transporter and knelt on the ground, extending both fists in front of her as if waiting to greet a cherished pet. Both her face and demeanor were calm, and she seemed perfectly at ease. My own heart beat wildly in my chest as I clung to Ajax, my fingers digging into his arm. I stole a glance at Malik and though he appeared calm, I could see beads of sweat forming at his temples and rolling down his face. When he met my eyes, the worry was plain in the deep creases of his forehead and I tried to give him a reassuring look, but it wasn't easy. Tory was such a little thing, yet she had the courage to stand in front of us and greet all of those enormous dogs while I feared they would trample her tiny body.

  "Get off your transporters," she commanded. "Get on your knees with your fists out!"

  We obeyed immediately. One shaky hand extended in front of me as I came to my knees, and the other kept a tight hold on Ajax. I wanted to be brave and release my grip on him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. If something happened to one of us, then it happened to both of us.

  The dogs charged at us with breathtaking speed and I braced myself for an impact. Instead of trampling us, however, they circled around and between us, sniffing at our clothing and generally sizing us up. They licked Tory's face and she laughed as they smothered her. We got to our feet as soon as it became clear the dogs were not going to attack us. Tory told us to retract our transporters. "We'll have to walk as long as they're escorting us."

  We began the trek into the ruined city, a walk of maybe twenty minutes. The dogs walked in a loose circle around us making it obvious they were doing the leading. As we neared, we could make out a lot more of the city. An antiquated road system was nearly unrecognizable except for the grid-like pattern it carved through the dilapidated buildings and ruined monuments. Overrun by vegetation, the roads and most of the tall buildings had crumbled beyond any usefulness. Trees grew right out of the roofs of some of them, and what were once skyscrapers were either toppled, with huge masses of concrete lying all about their peripheries, or they were burned out shells with broken glass and empty windows. Along some streets there was water lapping at whatever stood in its path, as if the ocean was slowly taking over. Whatever bridges once existed had long ago fallen, and the vertical and horizontal lines of the exposed rebar resembled the ribcages and vertebrae of the ancient beasts that once roamed the earth.

  Still, there were signs of life among the ruins. People had been using the streets recently, the patterns were visible through the vegetation, and it wouldn't be hard to figure out where they kept themselves. There were even signs of restoration. The old wooden poles, which were once the means of providing electricity throughout the city, were still intact. No wires extended from them; instead, they'd been equipped with solar cells. These ruins had energy. I looked over at Ajax. He met my eyes but his cool blue stare gave nothing away. Caden, however, did not mask the hurt and anger spilling across his features. How could these people function and provide their own energy without feeding into the Grids? Where did the children serve? How was the energy dispersed? There were too many questions swirling around my h
ead.

  The dogs continued to lead us through the overgrown streets. Tory walked slightly ahead of the rest of us and relished in her camaraderie with the dogs. Their large gray and white bodies stood almost to her waist, but she wasn't the least bit intimidated.

  Caden jerked his head toward a building ahead on our left. Among the other ruins, it stood neatly restored, a steel and glass behemoth at least 15 meters high. I was willing to bet the glass was solarized, and little needlepoints of anger pricked at my scalp. Not only did these people exist here; it looked as if they lived comfortably.

  When the dogs slowed, Ajax poked me in the back. Ahead in the street, about ten meters from us, six people stood side by side in the overgrown road blocking our path. I sensed it was no coincidence that there were six of them and six of us. One of them stood slightly ahead of the others and my instincts told me we had found Jason Paris, although he kept a dark hood over his head and looked to be wearing solar glasses. Once again, he was dressed all in black, and I bristled at the sight, letting it bother me more than I wanted it to. He wasn't an Athlete and he never would be no matter what color he chose to wear. My feelings were irrational and I tried to quell them. Beside him, the other resisters also wore hoods to cover their heads, but their clothing was a variety of colors. None of them wore energy suits.

  The dogs abandoned us and trotted over to the resisters. Their leader made some kind of gesture and the dogs dispersed into the surrounding streets. Tory gave a little whimper as they faded from view. Ajax held up his hand and we halted in a line mirroring the way they stood, with Ajax just slightly in front of the rest of us.

  "We can take them, Ajax!" Balor was ready to charge. Ajax shook his head and kept his gaze straight ahead.

  "Of course we can, Bay; that's not even a question. We need to use our heads. We don't know how many more of them there are or what kind of weapons they have. Put your hands on your orbs and let them make the first move."