[scifan] plantation 03 - shadow empire

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  “We are all in awe of what you’ve accomplished,” Commander Eldritch says. “You have uncovered deep secrets of the Empire. You have taken over their most powerful and capable army and you have eradicated an entire plantation freeing almost two thousand children. Nobody has even come close to that in a century of slavery. You, Freya, are to become an honorary member of our parliament.”

  A round of applause follows his words and I feel hard pressed for an answer. My mouth dries up. My cheeks burn. I could say that the blood on my hands can’t be washed off with honors and applause but that would probably be a selfish reaction to the moment. I have to be who they need me to be.

  “There remain a few things that we need to agree upon,” Joshua says. “Ensuring the safety of both the station and the new community we are building on Earth.”

  “We would have never found that perfect location if it weren’t for you,” I say to him, finally able to articulate something reasonable. “We will be forever in your debt.”

  Joshua flew out over the adjoining districts for many hours in search of a place for the new encampment. He risked his life doing this and he did so soon after he lost the lives of so many of his men.

  “We’re all in this together now,” the commander says. “Your friends Zoe and Theo tell me that you can enhance our shield and create a new one so that both locations are safe.”

  “Relatively safe, yes,” I say. “I can provide the energy needed to jumpstart the shielding process.”

  Theo gets up and walks to the console to start his presentation of the new features for shielding systems. As he brings up a large screen, I feel a buzzing in my right pocket where I keep my receptor. I take it out to take a look and see that the alerting red light is on. The buzzing gets louder and then a siren alarm goes off.

  “What is it?” Finn says. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I’m not,” I say frustrated. “The receptor does it by itself.”

  “Has it happened before?” Zoe says.

  “No, never.” Then a second light alarm goes off in my head.

  “The second receptor,” I say. “I had them connected last night, one responds to the other.”

  “Where’s the second receptor?” Theo says.

  I jump out of my seat. “I left it in Tobi’s crib,” I say and take off running. I can’t think straight.

  Finn catches up to me in a cart. “Jump in,” he says.

  I do so and thank him in a whisper.

  “Who’s with Tobi?” he says.

  “Pip.”

  “Try contacting her. The commander has alerted the security team in Sector One.”

  I try to contact Pip on her touchpad but she doesn’t respond. We get to my room not a minute too soon. The place is empty. Tobi and Pip are gone. There’s no sign of a fight which gives me some hope.

  “Maybe they went for a walk,” I say. I bend over the crib and find the receptor lying there smashed and broken down.

  *

  THE STATION IS ON LOCKDOWN. Every single person on board is looking for Pip and Tobi. Every single person except me. The commander has ordered me to stay put for security reasons. I know that the true reason is he thinks I’m presently unstable. I play along and pretend I can be useful here. I owe him this much.

  Damian shows up when I’m about to break my promise and leave the room. Every minute that goes by is killing me.

  “I’m going crazy,” I say. “I’ve been locked in here for I don’t know how long. I can’t take it anymore.”

  He studies me carefully. “It’s been twenty-five minutes,” he says. “No one has left the station. We will find them. Stay put. I need some of Tobi’s clothes. Something that he wore recently that hasn’t been washed yet.”

  I hand him the pajama pants Tobi had on last night. Damian brings them to his face and starts sniffing like a hound.

  “Do you mind if I take them with me?” he says.

  I shake my head. “What are you going to do?”

  “Find our son,” he says. “And kill whoever took him.”

  He leaves running and I realize that not only is the Sliman in him now awake, but also the father. He will use his unique sharpened senses to track Tobi down. I feel better. If there’s someone who can do it, it’s him.

  I pace around the room restlessly. I’m sweating but when I turn on the cold air, I start shivering. Nothing feels good for my body and spirit right now. After a while, I can’t do it. I can’t obey the commander on this. I rush out of the room and into the corridors of Sector One. I soon understand I have no idea where to start looking. The teams have all been assigned a specific section of the station while I just want to be everywhere at the same time.

  I run into a group of fighters. Five of them with five loaded guns.

  “Any news?” I ask. “It’s my son and sister who are missing.” I don’t know why I say that. They know who I am. Everybody knows.

  “Sorry, nothing yet,” the one in charge responds.

  It crosses my mind that Tobi and Pip could be off the station already. Maybe the empress sent her teleporting beams to get them out of our reach. Then all this would be pointless. And my punishment complete.

  I reach the crossroads that connect the four sectors and cannot decide which direction to take. I am out of breath. I try to hold on to the idea that if the empress has my son and sister, it is because she wants me. She will contact me for an exchange. Which I will be happy this time to give her.

  A pair of teenagers run by me toward Sector Four. Then another group of fighters does the same. I try to pull myself back together and follow the crowd. I run on the moving walkway as fast as I can, something that is strictly prohibited. I push people away, blindly putting one foot in front of the other.

  I reach Sector Four and head for the main square. The square is full of people, fighters and medics. I try to get through the crowd but it’s hard, everybody wants to get to the front.

  I keep pushing and shoving when a hand grabs me.

  “I was going to call you,” Joshua says. “Come this way.”

  I follow him obediently, not sure where he’s taking me. He opens a door and we enter an office.

  “Pip and Tobi are fine,” he says. “They have been taken to the hospital wing to be examined by the medics but they seemed to be unharmed.”

  “What happened?” I say just barely able to process the good news.

  “It was one of us,” he says sadly. “His name is Gabe. One of our fighters. Highly trained and greatly ambitious. I don’t have the details but it seems that he decided to work for the other side. Bribery, is my guess. Maybe extortion. Maybe overzealousness. I don’t know yet. I don’t know when it started. He will be interrogated.”

  “How did you find him?”

  “We didn’t. Damian did. He found the kidnapper in the hangar moments before he took off in a space pod with Tobi. He had already tied Pip down and hidden her in a supply closet.”

  I walk to the door but Joshua stops me.

  “I have to go see them,” I say.

  “No, wait, Freya. I know that Damian is Tobi’s father. The kidnapper, he had a magnetic knife on him. When Damian grabbed him and threw him to the ground, Gabe managed to throw that knife at him.”

  “Where did it hit?” I say.

  “His chest.”

  Everything goes black. “He’s not dead?” I say. I know what magnetic knives can do. They’re bad enough if they hit a leg or an arm, it almost always means amputation, but his chest? A regular person would have died in an instant.

  “He’s not dead,” Joshua says. “Not yet. He kept fighting Gabe until he knocked him out. Then he took Tobi out of the pod and called security before collapsing. And that’s all I know.”

  “We’re wasting time,” I say. “I have to heal him.”

  “Heal him? I’ve never seen anybody lose that much blood and come back,” he says.

  I smile at him and put my hand on his. “Have some faith,” I say and go out the do
or. Finn would be proud of me. I take out the receptor and create a single sizzling energy line that I cast above the crowd. Gradually, they turn to look at me curiously.

  “Out of my way,” I say and the crowd divides in two separate groups so I can walk through.

  I reach the square and find Damian in a pool of blood. I run and kneel down next to him. My shoes and pants get soaked in his blood. The medics have been trying to stop the bleeding with pressure and coagulating foams but that’s not possible. Not with the magnetic knife stuck in his chest. Any attempt to pull it out or even move him in any way will kill him for sure.

  “Freya,” he says.

  “Shush, don’t talk. I have a lot of work to do,” I scold him. His face and hair are covered in blood. There’s blood everywhere. “Please, move back,” I tell the two medics. They look at each other but can’t make up their minds.

  “Do as she says,” Joshua orders them and they back off.

  “How close to the heart is it?” I say.

  “Missed it by a few inches,” one of the medics says.

  That’s good, I think and close my eyes to focus for a moment but I feel Damian’s hand reaching out for mine. I take it and hold it gently.

  “I saved him,” he says.

  “I know you did. Now shut up.”

  My whole being concentrates on one point. That knife has got to come out without causing any further harm. I turn on the receptor’s white energy field. I guide it over Damian’s chest and bathe the magnetic knife in it. I fight against the molecules that fix the knife tightly to the bones like the tentacles of an octopus. The white light spreads over the knife until it starts sparkling. Millions of tiny sparks travel up to the ceiling and then fall down like silver confetti. They all come together around the knife and fuse with it.

  Damian makes a sigh as if a weight has been lifted off of him.

  I turn to the medics. “You can pull the knife out,” I say. “Then I will close the wound.”

  They look at me hypnotized. They no longer doubt my words. They place clean gauzes around the wound drenched in coagulating foams and local analgesics. As soon as the knife is out, I send a rainbow of light down the gash in Damian’s chest. It works its magic gradually until the skin mends over and goes from red to a bright pink.

  I sit down and try to catch my breath. I feel arms around me. Zoe and Tilly and Scout. My vision is blurred and my heart is racing but unlike the night when I healed Rabbit, I remain conscious and breathing.

  The medics hurry to take Damian away to the hospital wing. He will need a blood transfusion, they tell me. He smiles at me as they’re carting him away and puts his hand on his heart to say thank you.

  “You should go to the hospital, too,” Zoe says but I realize I can’t go to that place now that Doc is gone. I won’t be able to for a long time. I can’t bring myself to cross that doorstep even when my own child is there.

  *

  THEY ASK ME IF I WANT to interrogate Gabe myself and I refuse. They tell me that he contacted Plantation-15 on his own initiative, initially to inform them about me and then, to inform them about Tobi, and all I do is shrug my shoulders. They tell me that he has been found guilty of treason and will be executed and it doesn’t make any difference to me either way. The Empress knows about my child. The harm is done. I will have to spend every waking moment protecting him. That’s all that matters. But when they ask if I want to be present at the execution, I say yes.

  It’s not something I would have anticipated for myself but it’s too late to take it back. A lot is expected of me now and I can’t keep letting people down.

  There are very few witnesses in the small room where Gabe will be read his charges and given a small portion of a concoction that will put him to sleep before claiming his life.

  The only Saviors present besides me are Finn and Damian. I don’t know if they’re here because they have been invited or because they wanted to offer me some kind of support.

  There are two rows of seats and I choose to sit in the back. Damian and Finn sit on either side of me. The commander is wheeled in and placed in the center of the front row along with the judge and two members of the military council.

  I see Gabe for the first time when two guards bring him in. I am shocked at how young he is, not much older than Damian and Finn, and how healthy he looks. He has been treated well despite his betrayal.

  They have him sit on a chair on the small stage in front of us and the judge reads him a long list with all his transgressions. Treason, kidnapping, spying, endangering lives. But when the vial with the deadly concoction is brought in, the commander raises his hand.

  He turns to look at me. “It seems only fair to ask you if you would want to be the one to execute the prisoner.”

  My jaw drops to the floor at his words. “What do you mean?” I say.

  “I mean that he tried to steal your child and give him to your enemies. You might want to end his life yourself. In whatever way you see fit.”

  I consider this for a moment and then I shake my head.

  “Are you sure?” he insists. “It might feel good to answer his offense.”

  I search inside of me for the right words. “Yes, it would feel good,” I say. “Which is why I won’t do it. I can’t start wanting to take lives. This is not the kind of mother I want for my son.”

  Damian gets up. He has lost some weight and there are dark circles under his eyes. “I am the boy’s father,” he says. “I will kill the prisoner gladly.”

  I grab his arm. “Sit down, Damian,” I say. “I know this man almost killed you and took our son, but no one is going to die here today. The cycle of death has got to stop sometime. I choose today. That’s what I wish, Commander. That we start a world without executions.”

  “This is absurd,” the judge says. “We have laws thousands of years old. Treason is the ultimate crime.”

  The commander turns to the members of the military council. “What does the council rule?” he asks.

  The two whisper something to each other. Then the older one stands up. “We think that Freya is the path to the future. We should follow her there.”

  “There you go then,” Commander Eldritch says. “I don’t know if life in prison is a better option for a young man but it will be as you desire.”

  Finn squeezes my hand. I knew he would be pleased with my decision and maybe he counted on me to make it before I even knew I would. I guess my thirst for vengeance is over. My real work starts now. I want to build.

  *

  FINN SITS WITH TOBI and me on the carpet in my room. Pip has made toys out of cloth for the baby. Finn and I have played with him for so long that he’s finally given up and fallen asleep.

  “If only I could pass out just like that,” Finn says.

  “You actually do,” I say.

  “That’s not true,” he protests. “I don’t even remember the last time I was able to doze off in the middle of the day.”

  “Ah, try yesterday. Right after you and Rabbit came back from training.”

  “How could you even know that, Tick? Does anything escape you?”

  “I know of a little rabbit that talks as fast as he runs,” I say.

  “Sounds about right.”

  “He also told me you have a date tomorrow.”

  Finn laughs. “I can’t hide a damn thing from you,” he says. “You have too many spies.” Then he looks at me seriously. “I will have to be honest with her.”

  “Why don’t you get honest with me and give me a preview of what you will say?”

  He pinches the top of my hand and I let a cry out.

  “Shush, you’ll wake the baby,” he says.

  “Just tell me what you will tell her,” I insist.

  “That’s none of your business,” he says.

  “You know what? You’re a bit too young for her. She’ll dump you eventually.”

  “I’m glad to see you’re in a playful mood.”

  I reach over and kiss him on th
e cheek. “Nothing lasts,” I say. “That’s the lesson I’ve learned. I’m going to be grateful for every moment I spend with those I love.”

  He puts his head in my lap. I can’t resist. I lean over his ear. “It’s payback time,” I whisper and start tickling him. He didn’t see it coming. He tries to push me away but I keep coming back until we hear a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” I say laughing but when Damian walks in, I realize that I hadn’t taken that possibility into consideration.

  Finn sits up and I instinctively rub my sleeping baby’s back.

  “I’m sorry for the interruption,” Damian says. “But since you’re both here, I might as well say it. I want to thank you both for your patience with me. Freya, you saved my life. Twice. I think that makes us even. And Finn, I’ve mocked you about it before, but it’s true. You have been there for Freya and Tobi and I hope you will continue to do so. They need you even if they don’t know it. Take good care of them.”

  Finn is speechless.

  “Why do you say this now?” I say. “Are you going anywhere?”

  “No plans to. I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to do but my whereabouts has nothing to do with what I said.”

  “Why did you say it then?” I insist.

  “Because it’s the right thing to do and you are my friends,” he says and I think Finn will fall to the ground in shock.

  “Thanks, Damian,” I say awkwardly. “You’re our friend, too. Right, Finn?”

  “Right. Yes, of course,” Finn says lamely.

  “Good to know,” Damian says before he nods and hurries away.

  20

  It’s late at night when I arrive at the underground base. I’ve come straight from Spring Town, our newly founded community to house the children of Plantation-8. There’s another community next to it for the Dark Legion but no name has been given to it yet.

  Joshua and Kroll have come with me. We’ve been in talks with the rebel Sliman about the necessity to shut down the base. It’s too risky to keep it going for everyone involved but especially the rebels.

  “You can come with us or stay at the plantations if you don’t want to turn into fugitives,” I tell Malzod. “It’s up to you. We have enough Omicron 5 now to keep you going for a while. We will soon be able to produce more. But the base could have been compromised. The best thing to do would be to destroy it.”