I shrug. I guess Clint had to do something unpleasant to make up for being so nice. Regardless, I'm grateful for the group, even if I do have to put up with Tristan.
We walk forward to greet the soldiers. Suddenly, Cassidy rushes up to me.
"Mari! I can't believe how exciting this is!" She exclaims.
"Who gave you permission to address your superior?" Clint roars. Cassidy stops in her tracks. "Go back to your line, soldier!" He commands.
"Clint, it's okay," I mutter.
"No, it is not okay!" He yells back. "I understand that these are all your former peers, but they must respect your position!"
I watch Cassidy run back to stand with the others. Her lip is trembling.
I walk to her first and take her hand.
"Don't worry," I whisper, "He's a jerk to everyone." She nods and gives me a small grin.
I move down the line to shake everyone else's hands. Liam's eyes are shining with excitement, Joby smiles, but doesn't look me in the eye, and Tristan wrinkles his nose and pulls his hand away as quickly as possible.
"Soldiers," Clint announces, "this is a dangerous mission. We will be the first members of the Community to willingly go to the North. Therefore, it is imperative that you each accept and fulfill your duties. Follow me."
We walk around to the open side of the warehouse and my jaw drops. One of the North's oval airships is sitting in front of us, its sleek black color glistening in the sun. It's the only one of their fleet we were able to take down. I have to remind myself not to be terrified, but just the sight of it brings back awful memories.
"This ship has been reconstructed to carry passengers," Clint explains, looking pointedly at us. "Even though it nearly flies itself, we'll all need to take turns piloting because the trip will take at least 14 hours."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Tristan whines. Clint gives him a severe look that keeps him from opening his mouth again.
"Luckily," Clint continues, "the coordinates of the air ship's original location are already programmed in the console, so we won't risk getting lost."
"Wait," I say hesitantly, afraid Clint is going to blow up at me for interrupting, "if we've known the North's location all this time, why hasn't anyone gone before?"
"Because you're the only one brave enough to ask," Clint responds, snickering. "I swear Mari, if it were anyone else the Governor would have ripped their head off. I think he's got a soft spot for you. Or he wants you to die. I guess we'll find out when we get there.”
———
The inside of the ship looks like it could comfortably fit about 30 people. I remember the ships looking huge as they flew overhead, but being inside one of them makes me realize just how massive they are. There are rows of bunks along one side of the ship, with large seats and a couple small bathrooms on the other side. The control panel is simple; there are only a few buttons and switches in front of a large screen. The remotely controlled guns along the bottom of the ship were removed, and now the entire base is composed of fiberglass, allowing us to see everything as we fly over.
Suddenly we see a dense collection of buildings and houses below. They look like the ones we have in the Community, just older and empty.
"What is that?" Joby asks, looking almost frightened as he stares through the floor.
"I don't know," Tristan answers apprehensively, "there's nothing about it in my Amplifier.”
I look around for Clint and see him sleeping on one of the bunks. I guess this is what he meant by vacation.
"It's probably where the North used to live," I muse aloud, remembering what I read in my ancestor's journal about how all the sectors used to be part of the Community.
"How would you know that?" Tristan remarks testily.
"She's got the enhanced Amplifier, remember?" Liam responds. "Of course she'd have access to that information." Tristan makes a face as he turns away and climbs into one of the bunks. Cassidy is piloting at the control panel, and Joby mutters something about going to check on the supplies. I walk over to the chairs and sit down next to Liam, who is looking melancholy.
"What are you thinking about?" I ask him.
He stares at the floor and waits until we've passed over the last of the mysterious buildings before he answers.
"Alia," he states, glancing up at me quickly then returning his gaze to the floor. "I can't imagine what it would have been like for her to have to fly 14 hours to the North in that cage."
I nod, recalling the brief image I saw of her and the others being carried off several months ago.
"It's all my fault, you know," Liam continues bitterly. "She wouldn't have been taken if I had stayed with her."
"What do you mean?" I ask cautiously.
"That night, when we realized our Amplifiers had been turned back on, I made Alia stay in the Mall-cruiser while I went out to see if it was safe. Turns out I left her in the worst place possible."
"Liam, if you had stayed with her, you both would have been abducted," I say, trying to encourage him, "and then who would have given me that great idea to ask the Governor about getting the North's technology?"
Liam smiles weakly, but I can tell he almost wishes he were taken with Alia.
"Hey Mari!" Cassidy calls from the front of the ship, making me jump, "It's your turn to pilot."
———
"We'll arrive at the North's headquarters in 15 minutes," Clint shouts.
I roll out of the bunk I've been sleeping in and stare through the floor. I have to rub my eyes a couple times to make sure I'm seeing right. I must have been sleeping for a long time, because the landscape has completely changed. We're flying over jagged mountains and everywhere I look I see bright white. I assume it's snow, something I've never seen in my life except in the films we watched in school.
"We should be prepared to fight," Clint continues. "They've probably detected us already, so be ready to take action. There are plenty of weapons in the cargo hold."
I catch my breath as the North comes into view. Jutting out among the peaks are dozens of tall black buildings, probably made from the same material as this ship. They're elegant and intimidating, the black a stark contrast to the surrounding white. I finally realize how truly insane this mission is. How could I think a few of us would be able to take on a whole sector? Did I imagine we could just stroll in and take back our hostages along with a sample of their technology without suffering any losses?
The ship slowly lands in front of the largest building, which I assume is their headquarters. I grab a gun and walk cautiously out of the ship with the others. I've never felt this kind of cold before. It penetrates our thin uniforms and makes me scared to stand still, but we don't have anything else to wear. How could we have known to dress for this climate? We are the first ones to come here.
We trudge to the tall building, sometimes sinking up to our knees in the snow. Our entrance here is not graceful or stealthy. I don't want to go through the front doors, but I think at this point everyone's primary concern is just to get out of the cold. Thankfully, the doors are unlocked. We throw them open and step in, expecting the worst, but nothing could have prepared us for this.
Chapter 7
There are dead bodies everywhere. They are piled on top of each other and in varying stages of decay. The cold has kept them more intact than they otherwise would have been, but the stench is still overpowering. My skin crawls. I hear Cassidy scream behind me. Joby rushes to get away from the bodies and stumbles over one. Joby and the body slam against a wall, and the corpse makes an odd clinking sound. I force myself to look closer at the heaps of dead bodies and notice something that makes me shiver, and it's not just because of the temperature.
Under their decomposing skin I see metallic plates and hinges. Their human parts are fused with rusting robot parts. I close my eyes as I try to process this information. These people were half human, half machine.
I hear Clint access his Amplifier.
"Clint, figure out what happe
ned to these people." He methodically scans all the bodies, then reaches down to inspect a few nearest him.
“Hm, something went very wrong here," Clint remarks.
"No kidding," Tristan says sarcastically. "You don't have to be a Restrainer to see that."
"Shut up, Prewitt!" Clint growls, making Tristan shrink back. "These people were on to something brilliant," he explains, "making themselves immortal by slowly merging technological components with their organic systems to automatically replenish the failing organs, but some event caused a malfunction that killed everybody."
"Like what?" Joby ventures, looking like he's going to vomit.
"I don't know,"Clint responds. "There's not enough information here for my Amplifier to piece that together. We'll have to explore the other buildings."
We step back outside into the freezing weather and start heading to the adjacent building. I peer up at the huge mountains surrounding us. It's beautiful here, in a desolate way. Suddenly, I run right into the back of Liam, who has stopped walking. I'm about to ask him what's wrong when I see what he's staring at. There are several sets of footprints leading to a small building about 200 feet away. Liam immediately starts running to the building.
"I know she's in there! She has to be!" He yells as he struggles through the snow.
"Wait, Liam! It could be anybody!" I shout after him, but he doesn't slow down. The rest of us hurry to follow him, readying our weapons in case we are greeted by enemies. We burst through the doors into an unassuming room with a few operating tables and dozens of blank screens. At least there aren't any dead bodies here.
We stand there in silence for a few seconds, trying to make sense of our surroundings. In the dark corners of the room, there appear to be dozens of robots similar to the ones that attacked the Community. The ceiling is covered with machinery and instruments, poised above to assist with operations on the tables below.
Suddenly, we hear a whimper come from under one of the tables. We all slowly converge on the table with our weapons ready. I crouch down and am soon staring into the wide eyes of a small boy with bright, white hair.
"Eeyah! Eeyah!" He screams.
I try to calm or hush him, but he keeps hysterically screaming that foreign word, possibly calling for help. There's a commotion as the wall behind the boy opens up to reveal a line of people covered from head to toe in long, white parkas, holding the biggest guns I have ever seen in my life.
"Eeyah!" The boy repeats, scrambling out from under the table and running up to the person in front. The figure picks the tiny boy up and throws back the hood of their parka. It's Alia.
I'm so overcome with shock and relief that I nearly drop my gun. Alia's eyes grow wider and wider as she looks at each of us, her gaze finally resting on Liam. She sets down the boy and starts toward him as he runs to her. They embrace and kiss. And kiss. And kiss.
The people that were standing by Alia remove their hoods and I recognize them as the other three soldiers that were taken. There are two boys and one girl, and one of the boys is glaring furiously at Liam and Alia who, incredibly, are still kissing. I mean, I'm glad that they've found each other again, but they're making this really uncomfortable for the rest of us.
Finally, the little boy runs over and starts pounding his fists on Liam's calves.
"My Eeyah! My Eeyah!" He shouts indignantly.
"Whoa, Liam," Joby calls out, "it looks like you've got some competition!"
They break apart and Alia again picks up the little boy, soothing him. Liam can't seem to stop smiling. Alia runs over to me and gives me a one-armed hug, squishing the little boy in between us.
"Mari," she exclaims, "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you guys!"
"I can't believe we found you!" I respond. "What happened? What have you been doing all this time?"
"Surviving, obviously," the boy with the glare interrupts, walking over to Alia.
"Oh sorry, this is Brice," Alia explains nervously. "And that's Kaylie and Trey," she adds, gesturing to the other girl and boy behind her. “These past several months have been rough, and we've all gotten pretty close."
"How close?" Liam asks, eyeing Brice suspiciously.
"Close enough," Brice responds, putting a hand on Alia's shoulder.
"Like family," Alia says quickly, tactfully shifting the little boy to her other arm so that Brice's hand falls off her shoulder. “We're so glad you all came!" She adds.
"Yeah, took you long enough," Brice remarks smugly. "We thought we were going to die here."
Alia gives Brice a nasty look, then turns back to us.
"When we were brought here, it was pretty much the same as it is now. Everyone was dead, and had been for a long time, except for Juro."
"Juro?" I ask.
"Yeah, Juro," she says, looking at the small boy in her arms who beams back at her. "He's General Remington's son."
That would explain the familiar white hair, I think.
"As far as we can tell, the General and Juro were the only ones alive out here for months, until the General went to the Community, where I assume...?"
"Yes. He's dead," I mouth to Alia. I don't know how much the little boy understands, but I don't want to risk upsetting him.
"Why didn't you guys try to get back to the Community?" Clint asks. "Surely with all of their technology here you could have come up with some mode of transportation."
"Our Amplifiers don't work here, we’re outside of the boundary,” Kaylie replies simply. I don't know the girl, but her response kind of makes me want to smack her in the back of her head.
Alia's mouth goes into a tight line.
"We've been busy trying to find food and warmth," she says. “Hybrids don't need either, so it's been a challenge.”
"Hybrids?" Joby chokes out.
"Human robots," Alia explains nonchalantly. "Almost every building here is full of their bodies. They were trying to create the perfect combination of machine and mortal, but clearly, it didn't work out. That's why General Remington tried to kidnap all the members of the Community. He needed more test subjects.”
My mouth goes dry as I think about the kind of lives we’d be living if General Remington had succeeded.
Chapter 8
"How exactly did all these people die?" Clint asks.
Alia shivers. "We found it here in General Remington's lab research," she says, turning on one of the screens in the room. The screen displays numerous diagrams and notes, with drawings of bodies and machinery parts. We all step closer to get a better look.
"Do you want to explain this, Trey?" Alia asks the soldier behind her. "It seems like you've been studying it the most."
"Uh, sure," the soldier answers quietly and shuffles over to the illuminated screen. "The citizens of the North were attempting to overcome natural death by integrating electromechanical components into the human systems. The robot parts would regenerate the body and vise versa, thus creating a self-sustaining and indestructible entity. But in order to be successful, the Hybrids had to stay under a stress threshold. If it was exceeded, the pressure of their emotions would overload the mechanical systems and destroy the entire being."
"Did they know they had to control their feelings?" Cassidy asks, looking horrified.
"Of course," Trey responds. "They went through extensive training to condition themselves to stay calm in stressful or tempting situations. But apparently, learning about it and living it were two entirely different situations."
I shake my head. I don't know if I'd want to live forever if I couldn't fully experience everything. Although, I realize that we're living it on the other side of the spectrum in the Community. We have access to the most thrilling sensations, but they're dulled by the ease of achieving them through the Amplifiers. Even with such phenomenal resources, somehow none of us can live truly fulfilling lives.
"General Remington documented all of the Hybrid malfunctions in these videos," Trey explains, bringing up a file on the screen.
&nbs
p; The General's face suddenly fills the screen, and Juro starts squirming in Alia's arms.
"Daddy! I want daddy!" He yells excitedly, trying to grab at the image. Alia calmly takes him around the corner where the screen is out of sight.
"Day 141 of the Hybrid Experiment," the digital General recites, looking almost bored. "Today there was an argument between subjects 673, 29, and 307 in the dormitories of the school. The disagreement escalated and the tension overtook their mechanical functions. We are attempting to keep their deaths secret. In my estimation, they were too young. I'll propose to the council that everyone under 14 should be in isolation until they are properly conditioned."
Trey brings up another video of the General.
"Day 179 of the Hybrid Experiment. Subjects 152 and 799 were starting to become intimate, even though it has been made clear that reproduction is no longer necessary," he reports with a touch of annoyance in his voice. "At least we can assume they died happily," he adds sarcastically. "I'm ordering another course of sexual dilution for all the Hybrids.”
The last video that Trey opens shows General Remington looking slightly maniacal, much like the way he looked when I first saw him in our Community's control tower.
"Day 512 of the Hybrid Experiment," he says quickly. "There was an avalanche on the East side next to the recreational area. Some were killed by the avalanche, some were killed by the exertion of running and screaming, and the rest were killed from the fear of watching the others die. I was ignorant not to account for natural disasters, but many still could have been saved had they exercised more self restraint."
"However, this presents a great opportunity to start fresh. The citizens of the South are perfectly suited to become Hybrids. I’ll weaken them by depleting their resources and then bring them here to go through the operation. Through their Amplification, they only need to command themselves to remain placid and can therefore easily stay below the stress threshold. This combination will likely allow me to finally perform the operation on myself and on my son, Juro."
The Restrainers: Third Book in The Amplified Series Page 3