by J. N. Chaney
“The challenge may stand,” said Jacob.
This wasn’t the way things were done. Challenges were presented to the Primes and planned, not issued like some teenage brawl.
The two men moved to the empty center of the hangar where they could carry out the challenge without putting the community in danger.
I tried to get closer, but my mother, who had worked her way to me and Karin during the confusion, placed a hand on my arm and shook her head. Frustrated, I stayed put as the Director prepared to take on his childhood friend.
They circled each other and it didn’t escape my notice that the pair forewent the usual ceremonial bows and words. Then they were lunging forward in a flurry of fists.
Weapons weren’t allowed in challenges because the winner needed to triumph using their own strength and hand-to-hand skills. The general consensus was that if they could defend their position and title, they were still fit to lead.
Mario landed a blow that knocked Cyril back and I tried not to cringe at the sound of hard fist hitting flesh. He recovered quickly, though, and returned a punishing volley of strikes that sent Mario reeling.
Blood streamed down where his right cheek had been split open. Mario didn’t bother to wipe it away but shook his head a little, presumably to clear it, and raised his hands again.
Even from this distance, the hate was evident on Mario's face.
A collective gasp went up around me and my mother’s grip on my arm tightened, telling me I’d missed something important.
It only took a quick glance back at the two fighting to see what had caused the commotion. Mario had produced a blade from somewhere and had gone on the defensive. The man must have lost his mind. Even if he won now, the Primes wouldn’t accept it and he’d be cast out for his actions. That would likely be the case if he lost too.
A group of hunters that hadn’t been with the missing descended on the fight, but my father waved them off.
My breath caught as he danced away from the blade, narrowly avoiding an injury that would have ended the fight and likely killed him.
On the one hand, I understood why my father had waved off the help. It showed that he wouldn’t back down, even with the odds stacked against him. If he won and the gamble paid off, there could be no doubt that he was a true leader.
But on the other hand… if he lost, he’d either be dead or, at the very least, no longer the Director.
At that moment, Mario leapt forward and succeeded in getting the blade past my father’s defenses. I watched helplessly as it sank in deep, almost to the hilt.
For one long, terrible second, I thought it was over. Then my father rallied and pushed Mario. He stumbled back long enough to give Cyril the chance he needed to yank the knife out and hurl it back.
It struck Mario in the neck.
He clapped a hand to the wound even as the blood began to fall, and he sank to his knees.
Then all hell broke loose.
9
The hunters who had spoken out against my father now attacked the ones still loyal to him.
“Go check on Dad!” I yelled to my mother, struggling to be heard over the chaos.
She nodded her head curtly and started pushing her way through the crush of people to reach him. Just before she turned, I’d gotten a good look at her face and didn’t like what I saw there.
Pure, unadulterated fear. Then the survivor in her took over and her features changed to grim determination. Despite my own terror, I did the same and directed my attention to Karin and Mark.
From their expressions, they were both still recovering from the shock of what had happened.
“We have to help,” I told them.
“How?” asked Mark.
Before I could answer, Janus appeared. “I believe there are some citizens attempting to flee,” he said calmly, motioning toward a group of people. “They would benefit from an escort. I’m sure there are more as well.”
“Alright,” I said, inclining my head. “Mark, see if Nell will go with you to find others while Karin and I help them.”
For once, he did what I asked without arguing or sputtering nervously, and I was grateful.
“Janus, do you see anyone else in distress?”
“Yes, there are many. At the moment, no less than five altercations have broken out among members of the community.”
The Cognitive’s expression had turned. His forehead wrinkled, and the features of his mouth drew down into a frown. I’d never seen him that way and it didn’t bode well for us.
“What do you think we can do?” I asked. “They’re taking sides between Mario and my father. I might make it worse just by getting in the middle.”
He nodded, taking that into consideration. “Astute observation, Miss Visaro. There is a small group of expectant mothers on the other side of the crowd. They are not under attack, but it would be best if someone made sure they got out safely.”
“Gods,” said Karin, speaking for the first time. “This is madness.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “But we don’t have time to waste right now. Training’s officially over with.”
I gripped my staff tightly and started to make my way around, then stopped. “Janus, see if you can help calm things down. And let me know if something serious comes up.”
After he acknowledged the statement, Karin and I continued on to the women. It didn’t take us long to find them huddled together. There were only four of them and I wondered if they had come to the ceremony together or if they had sought each other out.
Not that it mattered. Each one looked terrified, but they had linked hands and were scanning their surroundings. I felt a small surge of pride that the little group wasn’t cowering. Then again, we were a colony of warriors and survivors.
I recognized one of the women, Jodi Baxter. She was one of the gardeners that tended to the greenhouse. I’d helped her a few times carrying organic material to Janus’ food synthesizer. She was in her late forties and looked aggressively pregnant, at least to my eyes.
“Jodi, we’re here to get you guys to safety inside the compound.”
At first, the woman glared at me, her gaze falling suspiciously to the powerful staff in my right hand. Then my voice seemed to register because her eyes snapped to my face. Recognition set in and relief shone in a sharp exhale.
“Lucia. It’s good to see you right now. We tried to push our way through, but…” The soon-to-be mother laid a hand on her abdomen and threw a fierce look at the ruckus. “These idiots are so caught up in brawling with each other that they’re not paying attention. We were afraid one of us would fall.”
I nodded at her. “Understandable. Don’t worry. Karin and I will clear a path. You all just stay close and keep holding hands, okay?”
“We can do that,” said one of the other women. I’d seen her around but couldn’t recall her name.
“Alright. Karin, let’s part the way.”
Together, we moved forward. It would have been easy if I could just fire off one of the staff’s power-charged attacks but doing so would put people at risk.
Instead, I started yelling, “Get out of the way! Women carrying unborn children coming through!”
At first, it was like Jodi had said. Nobody wanted to listen. Deciding I would have to get physical, I turned the staff horizontal and started pushing. Thankfully, the brace on my arm did its job and the action didn’t hurt.
This got people to move. They jumped at the feeling of something hard pressing into their backs and came around swinging to face us. Once they got a good look at the women behind us, they tried to give us room.
Finally, enough took notice of what was happening and began to help. Soon we had enough space to walk through with the quartet of mothers behind us. It had the added effect of dispersing much of the fighting.
Karin and I escorted the women all the way to the nursery.
“Will you be okay here?” I asked Jodi.
“Yes, thanks to you two,” she
replied. “I’m—we’re so grateful.”
“Happy to help,” said Karin, smiling at the other woman. I thought I detected a hint of longing in her expression, but that seemed doubtful under the circumstances.
“If you need anything, reach out to Janus. He should be able to get someone here.” I hesitated a beat before continuing. “And secure the door behind us. Just to be safe.”
Jodi nodded and did just that as soon as we were out of the room.
Without the encumbered group in tow, we made it back to the hangar in time to see that most of the skirmishes had died down completely. My gaze tracked to where my father had been, but neither he nor my mother were there.
“There’s Janus,” said Karin, pointing at the stage.
The Cognitive stood there with Alma and Josef. I started for them at a brisk walk since things seemed to be calm now. Once we were closer, it became apparent that something was wrong. Josef looked stricken as he spoke to the other two while making a lot of hand movements.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is it the Director?”
Josef shook his head and I relaxed. “All the fighting was a diversion,” he said.
“A diversion for what?” asked Karin, looking from him, to Janus, to Alma.
“Fusion cores,” Alma supplied.
I stared at her in confusion. “What do you mean? What do fusion cores have to do with anything?”
“It appears that Mario's followers raided the engineering lab and took our supply of fusion cores,” Janus explained.
“How many?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“All of them,” said Josef.
Now Josef’s current state of unrest made perfect sense. A jolt of anger lanced through me and I thought of the upheaval Mario's had just delivered to the community. And for what? Fusion cores? It didn’t make sense.
“Where is the traitor?” I spat. “He needs to pay for what he’s done here.”
“I believe his men carried him to safety,” Alma said with a look of disgust. “Nero was among them.”
“We have to go after them,” I declared, looking at the rest of them. “Where are the other hunters?”
“Protecting the Director, along with your mother,” answered Alma. “A few are in the infirmary. Some… didn’t make it.”
I swallowed the fresh anger that threatened to erupt and tried to think. “And the prospus?”
Alma grimaced. “Prospus Thompson and Folson appear to be working with Costas. Nagata is missing.”
A glance at Karin told me she was just as stunned as I was. It didn’t surprise me that Allan had chosen to side with Nero’s father. I supposed Nell doing the same made sense too. They had both been so willing to follow him into danger when we’d gone down the Boneclaw tunnel.
“I’ll come with you,” announced Josef, drawing himself up.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You need to keep an eye on things and make sure nothing else was taken.”
“There are only the three of you,” he argued. “You could use another body. Janus can monitor what’s going on here.”
“What if something happens to the power?” Karin pointed out.
Janus laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Apprentice Braid, I think she is right. If the traitors attempt to shut me down, then this facility will be vulnerable. At the moment, only you and Prime Doyle have the knowledge to fix any serious issues.”
Josef looked like he might argue, but he relented. “Alright. How do you plan on finding them?”
“Actually, I have an idea on that,” I said, clearing my throat and pulling out the datapad. “When we found the fusion cores for the ceremony, Mark was able to detect them using scanners in the area.”
“Clever,” murmured Josef.
“Yes,” agreed Alma. “I was impressed when they pulled it off.”
“Can you do a widespread scan and find out where they are?” I asked Janus.
His form flickered for a moment as he processed the data, then it went solid again. “Facility 3. I’ve sent the information to your pad.”
“Facility 3?” I asked, somewhat dubious. “Most of that is closed off. Isn’t the power shut down too?”
I vaguely remembered something Janus had taught us long ago about the facility being blanketed with radiation. As a kid more interested in exploring, I’d tuned it out not wanting to hear about someplace we weren’t allowed to go.
It didn’t seem like the best place for a rebel hideout if you had to worry about radiation poisoning.
“Yes,” answered Jo, his brows knitting together. “Though the signal isn’t inside.”
An orange dot appeared on the map and I smiled. “None of the other prospus know about this, so we have the advantage.”
“Okay, then.” Karin blew out a breath. “Let’s go get our fusion cores back.”
The three of us stood in the darkened cave system on the path that would take us to Facility 3.
It reminded me of the final part of our Selection tests only hours before. My body was exhausted. Karin and I had been up since the early hours of morning to prepare for the day, as I was certain Alma had been, but there was nothing to be done about it.
We’d learned after a stop to the armory that Mario's men had already been there. Not much was left except a few bio-coded guns and short blades.
Josef re-coded them for us, but with a limited supply of ammunition, they wouldn’t last long if we got into a fight. Our hope was to at least scout the area Costas had taken the cores and report back.
As we moved silently down the deserted corridor, I was taken back to my youth. The Director often brought me along on scavenging trips once I was old enough, and I loved it.
Back then, the wolves had mostly kept outside and Boneclaws coming into the caves was almost unheard of. Wandering through the caves with my father had been an adventure.
Now he was receiving medical care and fighting for his life.
A hand on my arm pulled me out of my thoughts and I came to a stop to see Alma. She and Karin looked at me with concern when Alma spoke.
“Girl, you are distracted,” she observed. “You are the leader right now. Put away all the emotion and think like one.”
The older woman was right. I hadn’t even been paying attention to where we were going. The three of us stood at a fork and Alma had stopped me from walking down in the wrong direction.
“You’re right,” I acknowledged. “We need to go the other way. Sorry about that. I’m good now.”
Alma stared at me as if deciding whether to believe me, then nodded. “Good.”
I moved off, taking the left fork, and pushed all thoughts except the mission out of my mind. Now that I was paying attention, it became clear that the rebels had come this way.
Mario's people had not been careful. The whole area was cluttered and disturbed, as though it were almost intentional.
Could this be a trap? Or was Mario so confident in his men and the success of his coup that he simply didn’t care?
The former troubled me. I signaled to Karin and Alma to stop. Consulting the pad, I ushered them to a room, and together we slipped inside.
“We’re getting a little close to be talking out in the open,” I explained.
“That makes sense. What’s wrong?” Karin asked.
“It’s just… doesn’t this seem a little easy?” I asked.
I could tell neither of them had considered that possibility from their sudden looks of concern.
“A child could follow the trail they left,” I explained. “I have a bad feeling we’re walking into a trap.”
“But they don’t know we’re tracking the signal,” reasoned Karin.
“That is true,” agreed Alma. “And it’s likely that they assumed no one would be coming after them so soon. The only missing hunters that came back were with Mario. With the amount of injuries sustained and protection for your father and the Primes, there aren’t enough other hunters to mount an attack.”
/>
“You have a point,” I conceded. “Still, I don’t like it. We should find an alternate route.”
“Good idea,” said Karin. “There has to be another way to where they’re holed up.”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t. Mario had chosen his hiding spot well. The orange dot marking the fusion core’s location had stopped moving in Quadrant S. It was situated on the far side of the facility, close to the outside, and the only way to get to it was to keep going. Anything else would take us out of the way and eat up time we didn’t have.
Agreeing to keep moving, we left the room.
As I was about to take a step in the direction the map said to go, a loud thump sounded in the distance.
10
“Uh, what was that?” asked Karin, fear plain in her tone.
“If I had to guess,” I replied, “I would say that it was a Boneclaw.”
“I’d say you’re correct,” whispered Alma. “We need to move.”
“It sounded like it came from the compound,” said Karin worriedly. “Maybe we should go back? They might need us.”
“We don’t know that it came from there,” I pointed out. “For all we know, it’s headed this way.”
“And if we go back, we’ll just run into it,” she realized.
“Exactly. Let’s go. No more talking until… until it’s safe to do so.”
Alma’s mouth twitched as if she might smile at my awkward wording, then another thump sounded, closer this time, and we began to move in earnest.
The older woman had let me take the lead on our scouting operation, even though she was not only the elder, but outranked both me and Karin. If Nero had taken part in the rebellion—and with his father their leader, why wouldn’t he have—then the Primes would revoke his standing.
At least I thought they would.
I recalled Mario's exchange with Jacob Abbot, the Sustainability Prime. If they had planned this together, the Prime was in a position to help keep Nero as the next Director. Still, Abbot had appeared unprepared for the arrival of the missing hunters.
The events of the last few weeks all started to run together, even as I struggled to make sense of them. The fatigue was starting to take over and I caught myself stumbling more than once.