by Amy DuBoff
A tingle once again passed over Raena’s skin. The sounds of footsteps and shouts lowered in pitch and then ceased entirely. As she ran forward with Ryan, they rounded a bend and saw a team of eight guards suspended mid-stride.
They ducked around the guards and wove their way through the halls. Passing around the next bend, the hall branched into two. Raena scanned over the walls and noticed a sign written in Old Taran that indicated an elevator.
We’d have to ride up in real-time. They’d be waiting for us to exit, if they didn’t stop it in the middle of the shaft. They needed another way out. “No elevator,” she said to Ryan.
He nodded, seemingly to also intuitively understand the issue with that route. “Air vent!” he suggested.
They scanned the walls and ceiling for any sign of ventilation.
“There!” Ryan exclaimed, pointing to a grate at the base of the wall ten meters up ahead.
Raena waved her hand to rip the grate from the wall. As soon as it was clear, the sounds of footsteps and shouts resumed. Her head ached and a wave of nausea almost brought her to her knees.
Ryan wrapped his arm around her back and half carried her to the opening. He helped her into the cramped tube—barely more than half a meter wide and tall.
Stay focused, she urged herself onward as she began to squirm through. Ryan wriggled in after her.
They scrambled through the vent for a hundred meters before encountering another grate. It was only secured at the top, and Raena was able to swing it upward to pass through.
The tube on the other side was tall enough to stand in.
“This must be the main shaft,” Ryan said. “That means we’re almost out.”
Raena licked her finger and held out her hand, trying to get a sense of the wind direction. It seemed to be blowing toward her left. “This way!” She ran through the dark to the right, keeping her hands outstretched in front of her to avoid running into any obstacles face-first.
The guards would be right behind them. They had no time to waste.
After a full minute of running in complete darkness, faint light began to show in the distance.
Raena’s fingertips brushed against a wall in front of her, and she realized that the tube was curving to the left. When they completed a gradual ninety-degree turn, they caught sight of direct sunlight shining through a metal grate.
A salty breeze gusted through the tube, carrying the crashing sound of waves.
Raena stopped short of the grate, grabbing Ryan’s arm. With her other hand, she sent out a blast of telekinetic energy, rending the grate from the fasteners.
They were at least fifteen meters above the ocean. Water churned below, waves breaking on jagged cliffs.
“We’re cornered!” Ryan exclaimed.
She glanced over the edge at the rock, but it was sheer, unscalable stone. “I’m not going back.”
“Wait, is that…?” Ryan pointed out at a distant speck hovering above the water.
Raena strained to make out the form. It was a shuttle.
“Rescue or reinforcements?” Ryan asked.
“I’m not sure.” Raena tried to identify the details of the craft, wasting crucial seconds.
Shouts sounded behind them, getting closer.
“We need to move!” Ryan urged.
Everything went quiet and still around her as voice spoke in her mind. “Raena, if you can hear me, we’re coming for you.” It was her father.
Raena took Ryan’s hand. “That’s our rescue.”
She jumped.
CHAPTER 21
Ryan was pulled from the ledge after Raena. The ocean rushed up at him, with white-capped waves slamming against rocks that were far too close to their path.
Raena released his hand four meters above the water and pinned her arms against her body with straight legs. Ryan did the same and took a deep breath.
The impact with the water almost pushed all the air from his lungs. He was blind.
He forced his eyes open despite the sting from the salt water, looking for any light to help orient toward the surface. The turbulent waters pushed him backward toward the rocks. He struggled against the current, only to find himself deeper under water.
For ten terrifying seconds, he couldn’t find the surface. He swam up and up, his lungs burning for air.
Finally, he broke free. With a gasping breath, he swam away from the cliffs, hoping to find calmer water.
“Raena!” he called out, unable to see her bobbing in the water.
“I’m okay!” she shouted back from behind him.
Ryan looked over his shoulder to locate her and temporarily was forced underwater by a wave. When he resurfaced, she was two meters away and heading for him.
“You’re insane!” he told her.
“It was that or let them catch us.” She began swimming out to sea.
Hopefully the rescue shuttle sees us. Ryan swam after her as best he could, but he wasn’t used to the open waters. He and the other Sietinen Wards had swum in Lake Tiadon when he was a child, though that was years ago and the calm waters didn’t pose a challenge.
The ocean battered him and he had to constantly swim to avoid losing ground. Raena kept a solid pace up ahead. He wasn’t about to let her get out of sight.
A rumble sounded in the distance overhead. Ryan looked up and saw that the shuttle had dropped in elevation.
Raena slowed her strokes and waved a hand up in the air.
The shuttle positioned over them and the side door opened. Someone poked their head out—it was Wil, as far as Ryan could tell through the splashing water and glaring sunlight.
A tingling sensation washed over Ryan’s skin. He could no longer feel the waves. Suddenly, he began rising upward. The air seemed to congeal around him as he continued to rise, heading straight for the shuttle door. Raena rose alongside him.
They passed through the open shuttle door and were released gently on the ground.
Ryan dropped to his knees and coughed out some water that had gotten into his lungs. When he looked up, he saw Wil, Cris, and six other men around Wil’s age dressed in black surrounding him. Every one of them had glowing eyes. Are these Agents?
Raena smiled with relief when she saw them. “Thanks.”
Wil embraced her. He held her in silence while the shuttle turned around and accelerated away from the island. The door closed and sealed.
Raena pulled out from the hug. “We have to go back. They have other prisoners.”
“Not now,” Wil replied. “We need to get you somewhere safe first. I wasn’t expecting you to make it out on your own.”
“I still can’t believe we did…” Ryan murmured.
“How?” Cris questioned.
Raena slumped into a seat along the side of the shuttle. One of the men handed her a blanket and she began wiping off her face.
Ryan noticed another Agent had extended a blanket toward him and he took it. The soft, warm fabric was a relief after the chilly water.
“This is going to sound nuts,” Raena said at last, “but you know back home when they’d have stories of someone who performed a feat of incredible strength—like picking up a car that fell on their kid, or whatever?” She looked at her grandfather. “Well, I remembered what you said about when the Priesthood came after you as a teenager, and how you got away. So, I told myself that I need to ‘stop time’ or I was going to die. And I just… did it.”
The eyes of all the Agents in the shuttle widened with surprise.
“Really?” Wil kneeled in front of her. “So that’s how you got out?”
“Not just that,” Ryan added, “but she busted out some doors, too.”
“We both did. No thinking, just acting,” Raena said.
Her father put his arm around her. “You never cease to amaze me.”
She hugged him again. “Thanks for coming for us.”
Wil held her at arm’s length and looked her in the eyes. “I will always come for you. No matter what or where.�
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She smiled weakly.
Wil examined Ryan. “And what about you? Did she extend the spatial distortion around you, as well?”
Raena shook her head. “No, that was him. He kept up with me.”
“Really?” Cris looked at Ryan incredulously.
It certainly didn’t seem like I was doing it, if I did. Ryan took a shaky breath and pulled the blanket tighter around himself. “Like she said, we did what we had to do.”
“I mean, I couldn’t have done it all on my own. That’d be way too much, right?” Raena said. “It had to have been a team effort.”
“That’s incredible,” Cris said after a pause. “Yes, I was able to pull off some advanced maneuvers in a life or death situation, but to perform coordinated maneuvers like that at will with no training… It’s unprecedented.”
“She is my daughter,” Wil pointed out. “Regardless of the odds, they did it.”
Ryan swallowed. Or maybe I was just along for the ride.
“This isn’t over,” Raena said, her voice growing stronger. “The Priesthood is up to something.”
Wil sat down on the seat next to her. “What did you learn?”
“They’re all clones—transferring consciousness from one body to the next,” Raena said.
Wil shook his head. “I foking knew it. Of course they’d ban the practice and then keep doing it themselves.”
“No surprise there,” Cris agreed. “No wonder they never show their faces. I thought I saw hints of the Bakzen in there.”
“What else?” Wil prompted his daughter.
“Well,” Raena continued, “it sounds like they’re trying to make a new vessel for eternal life. They said the Bakzen design was flawed but that through our pairing they could achieve their perfect vision.”
Cris nodded. “That sounds very similar to what we pieced together.”
“But there was something they didn’t anticipate,” she went on. “They were talking about needing to cross back the lines, or something. It was all in Old Taran—they didn’t know I was listening. I lost track and don’t remember the rest.”
“Don’t worry,” Wil assured her, rubbing her back. “This is way more than we had before.”
“Oh!” Raena sat up. “They also said that gestating a baby in a lab makes it weaker. When the mother has abilities, they’re expressed better in the child.”
“And you said you saw these women?” Cris questioned.
Raena nodded. “Most of them looked to be pregnant—second trimester, mostly, but it varied.”
“Shite,” Wil breathed. “I was afraid that’s what they were up to.”
Cris shook his head. “Surrogates for their perpetuation.”
Ryan slumped down in a seat across from them. “I don’t know about Raena, but I was out for quite a while. They may have… taken what they wanted.” He felt nauseated thinking about the violation.
“Doubtful,” Cris replied. “They wouldn’t have been testing you in the lab if that were the case.”
“Exactly,” Wil said. “And now we know that they’re missing a piece they need to complete their plan. That means we still have time to take them out. Any idea what the missing piece might be?”
Raena’s brow furrowed as she replayed the memory. “I think it was something about ‘should have taken him, too.’ ”
Wil and Cris looked at each other.
“Jason?” Cris said.
“Fok, I wouldn’t put it past them,” Wil muttered.
Raena’s face twisted with disgust. “You’re not suggesting…”
“It’s not worth speculating about the twisted musings of psychopaths,” Wil assured her. “Now, let’s just get you on the Vanquish and have Medical look you over. If everything checks out, we’ll try to put this behind us until we can make our move.”
“But what about the prisoners?” Raena protested.
“Where are they in the facility?” Wil asked.
Ryan shrugged. “Somewhere underground.”
“So, short of blasting a hole in the side of the island, our entry points are very limited, I’m guessing?” Wil asked.
“Well, yeah, but—” Raena began.
“Getting in is one thing, but getting dozens or hundreds of captives—most of whom probably haven’t been outside in a decade?” Wil shook his head. “It’s too many unknowns. We need to know that they’ll be safe once they’re released. There are no assurances right now.”
Raena crossed her arms, pulling the blanket tighter around herself. “I hate knowing what’s going on in there and not being able to do anything.”
Wil rubbed her shoulder. “Welcome to true leadership. You know more than you want to and can’t always do what you feel is right. But, the best leaders never give up. We’ll act when the time is right.”
* * *
Cris stared out the window as he sat in silent contemplation for the rest of the shuttle ride up into space. The information Raena had brought back about the Priesthood’s inner workings confirmed his darkest suspicions, but at least now they knew their adversary’s motivations.
Eternal life through the perfect physical vessel. He shook his head. Too bad it’s not a consciousness worth saving.
The shuttle headed to where the Vanquish was waiting for them just beyond standard orbit of Tararia. He didn’t trust the Priesthood not to lock down the Tararian spaceports and make their departure impossible, so a remote rendezvous seemed like the safest option rather than joining up with the Vanquish at a dock. He’d also ordered TSS battleships to be standing guard back at Headquarters’ spaceport when they returned; he didn’t want to take any chances when it came to getting Raena and Jason back to comparative safety inside the moon.
Kate and Saera had insisted they wait with Jason on the Vanquish rather than go back to Headquarters. Cris couldn’t blame them—the idea of leaving behind some of the family in unspeakable danger would have kept him standing guard, as well.
The shuttle made the final approach to the Vanquish, swinging around to the port side entrance to the main hangar. It decelerated moments before it passed through the shimmering force field covering the entry to the hangar. After a short taxi it came to rest at the end of a row of TX-70s.
“Let’s get out of here,” Wil said.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Cris replied. He reached out telepathically to his pilot, Alec, up in the Vanquish’s Command Center. “Take us home via the independent jump drive. We don’t want them trying to intercept our route on the beacon network.”
“Aye,” Alec acknowledged.
A moment later, Cris felt the familiar sensation of a subspace jump initiating. The vibration rattled the ship for five seconds and then everything was still. He heaved a sigh of relief. “No more kidnappings allowed,” he declared.
Wil smiled and released the seal on the shuttle door. “It seems like we need at least one good abduction or runaway every generation. The good news is, now this one is out of the way.”
Cris hopped out of the shuttle into the Vanquish’s hangar. “Some traditions should be broken.”
No sooner had Cris’ feet touched down on the deck plates than he sensed Kate running toward him from the entry door, accompanied by Saera.
His wife threw her arms around him. “How are you back so soon?”
“That’s a little complicated…”
While he tried to think of what to say, Raena and Ryan stepped out from the shuttle, still wrapped in blankets. Their hair and clothes had yet to dry in the cool air. Wil climbed out after them, followed by the Primus Elites who’d volunteered for the rescue mission.
Saera rushed over and embraced her daughter. “I’m so sorry we let this happen.”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’m fine,” Raena said.
“You’re soaked,” Saera commented as she pulled out of the hug. “What happened?”
“We sort of jumped off a cliff into the ocean…”
“What?” Saera turned to Wil. “Did you—?”
> “No, they rescued themselves,” he replied. “We just picked them up out of the water.”
“It would seem exceptional abilities run in the family,” Cris added. “We can do a proper debrief later. For now, get them to Medical for a preliminary examination.”
“Already on it.” Wil directed Raena and Ryan toward the door. Saera followed them, a gentle hand still on her daughter’s shoulder.
“How’d they get out, exactly?” Kate asked.
Cris glanced at the group of Primus Elites and gestured Kate toward the door. “Let’s head up to the Command Center.” When they were clear of the shuttle, he continued, “Apparently they spontaneously taught themselves how to ‘stop time’.”
Kate’s jaw dropped. “In a coordinated maneuver together?”
“From what they said, it sounds like it.”
“That’s exceptionally more difficult than doing it alone. With the variability, to sync things up—”
“I know.” Cris massaged his eyes. “So, either Raena did it on her own without realizing it, or they really do have a unique connection.”
“Either way…”
Cris chuckled. “I don’t even think they realize how incredible a feat it was. Raena just said she knew she had to do it, so she did.”
“It’s really not so different, even when we’ve been trained. When it comes down to it, controlling our abilities is just a matter of freeing our minds enough to not hold back.”
“Visualization,” Cris agreed. “Once you know how to picture what you want to do, instinct takes over.”
“But if she can do that on a whim…” Kate trailed off.
“I wonder if she’s as strong as Wil.”
“There’s no telling what she could do.”
Cris nodded slowly. “But I do know this: she is good and pure of spirit. However she ends up using her abilities, and however strong she becomes, she’ll use it for good.”
Kate linked her arm around his. “I believe that, too.”
They walked in silence for the rest of the way up to the Command Center. Two meters from the door, Cris sensed Wil reaching out to him.
“Medical says they’re clear,” Wil said. “No signs of extraction or other experimentation.”