Vallar

by Cindy Borgne

  We entered the Marscorp office building from a rear door.

  Beacon met us at a branch in the hall. “Take him to the room at the end of the hall in the basement. It’s set up for interrogation. I’ll be there in a moment.” He left the group, going right down the hall.

  “Yes, sir.” Kodet led me down a flight of stairs, through a long hall and into a chilly white room with nothing but a counter, some cabinets and an examining table.

  My heart pounded so hard it felt about burst. Mitch and I glanced at each other. His brow narrowed. He didn’t want to take part in this, but he couldn’t speak.

  I had to get out of there.

  My eyes darted from one object to another, the trigger of a pistol, a crack along the cement floor and a spot of blood on my sleeve. Sweat burned my eyes and stuck to my hair. The room had a speaker on the ceiling. Hearing my own breath, I set my feet and tightened my muscles. Kodet moved toward the table while the officers turned away.

  They were not going to get me on that table. I shoved the other petty officer with cuffed hands, sent him stumbling backwards and lunged for the doorknob. Clanging the chains across the floor, I tried to turn the knob.

  “Hey!” Kodet yelled.

  The door opened a couple of inches. Two large hands grabbed me around the neck.

  Mitch hesitated with a blank look in his eyes.

  “Restrain him!” Kodet ordered.

  Mitch grabbed me around the waist.

  I remained standing and tried to squeeze through the door. “Mitch! Let me go!” I braced my legs with all my strength. Another officer rushed in and grabbed my chains. An elbow struck me in the mouth. A fist in the stomach knocked the wind out of me. I landed face down with the side of my face against the cold cement floor. It happened so fast I couldn’t tell if Mitch had hit me too.

  “Get him on the table!” Kodet ordered.

  I squirmed as they picked me up and slammed me down on the table.

  “Stop!” Kodet slapped me across the face.

  I didn’t feel any pain from the blow and continued to kick and swing at Kodet. The officers’ grips tightened around my limbs.

  “My God,” one petty officer said, panting and dripping in sweat. “He’s gone mad.”

  “What the hell is going on in here?” Beacon stepped in holding an injector.

  “Nothing.” Kodet sounded like a nervous ensign.

  Mitch’s eyes locked onto the injector with a look of horror.

  “Hold him still.” Beacon raised the injector toward me.

  I screamed, fearing it was the drug Clare told me about and struggled against the tightening hands. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll cooperate,” I lied, hoping to delay him as long as possible.

  “We’re past that point.”

  All I could see was the tip of the injector. “Wait! I-I-I have a question!”

  “There’s nothing left to discuss.”

  It felt like hundreds of hands holding my limbs down. Mitch held me down too, but his face paled and he turned away.

  Beacon jammed the injector into my neck. My arms and legs went limp and numb. I tried to move them, but they only twitched. The petty officers took the shackles off.

  Beacon chuckled at Kodet and the panting men. “You may step out.”

  Mitch gave me one last glance and shook his head.

  I was paralyzed like in my vision. The remaining adrenalin had nowhere to go and left me trembling. I feared I wouldn’t be able to hold out. An irritating knot-like feeling settled in my lower back.

  “I should’ve raised you myself,” Beacon said.

  “You’re wasting your time.” I tried to keep my voice steady and turned my eyes to the wall.

  “Am I?” After a short pause, Beacon stepped out of the room.

  I swallowed and grimaced at the taste of blood from my lips. The door squeaked open again. Clare stepped into the room in her white lab coat.

  “Clare!” I screeched and tears welled up.

  “I tried to warn you.” Clare stepped over to me, trembling with puffy eyes. “Your resistance has led to exactly what I said it would.” She rubbed her shaking hands together.

  “I had to try.” I breathed heavily and could barely see her through the tears. “You could’ve helped me.”

  Clare backed away from the table and stood at a distance silently for several seconds. “I’m old. I can’t just . . . .”

  Tears overflowed and rolled down to my ears. I started to hyperventilate and tried to slow down. Beacon walked through the door with another injector in his hand and offered it to Clare. She stared at it.

  “Ian? You ever wonder how you became psychic.” He held up the injector. “It’s this drug.” Beacon extended the injector toward Clare.

  “Sir,” Clare said, “This version of Lixatra isn’t fully tested.”

  “What!” I cried and trembled at what he might say next.

  “It’s about time you knew,” Beacon said. “Years ago my scientists presented me with an opportunity to spy on my opponents in a unique way. I wasn’t about to pass it up. You were in a group of children given Lixatra in small amounts from age one to four, all in an effort to stimulate psychic ability. Clare’s been putting Lixatra in your food in small amounts for years.”

  “I was just an experiment to you!” I screamed at Clare.

  “No, no!” She flinched and took a step back.

  “You and Nate were the only two successful subjects,” Beacon coldly continued, “We’ve made some modifications to this drug, which are not fully tested, but under the circumstances, I’ve decided not to wait.” He stepped toward Clare. “Give him the first injection.”

  Clare slowly held out her trembling hand. Beacon thrust the injector into her palm. She took a couple of steps toward me and stared with baggy bloodshot eyes.

  “Go on!” Beacon boomed.

  He tested her loyalty and even though I couldn’t move, a wave of raging anger went through my veins. I imagined my hands wrapped around his throat, but only my fingers and toes twitched. “Coward!” I shouted before coming to my senses.

  Beacon curled his pale, thin lips with disgust. He marched over and punched me in the stomach. Being unable to move made it much more difficult to catch my breath. I gasped for at least a minute.

  Clare hovered over me and turned her head away. She stayed still for several moments and slowly stepped forward. I didn’t want to get her in trouble by begging her to stop, so I stayed quiet, and imagined myself dragging Beacon’s half-dead body behind a hovercraft.

  She pressed the injector into my neck and stepped back. Her face paled, her lips quivered. The injector tumbled out of her hands and hit the floor with a thud. She rushed out of the room.

  Beacon chuckled and left the room.

  I thought back to the day I fainted aboard Beacon’s flagship. My mind had been having several visions that day and the next few. Clare had to have given me a large dose of this drug, which set everything in motion.

  I was alone and gritted my teeth, determined to fight the drug.

  Oh God, what if they’re going to torture Kayla next.

  My mind spun into a panic while my body remained still. Somehow, I had to find a way to kill Beacon. Even though it looked impossible, I was still closer to him than any other member of Vallar.

  Chapter 25

  An intense white light made my eyes throb while images whirled through my mind, turning and blending into each other, even though I was awake. People I had never seen before, strange objects, forests and barren terrain. The vision ended, leaving me with a screaming headache. I tried to move for the hundredth time. Tears welled up. Please don’t let them hurt Kayla.

  Shoes shuffled across the floor. I tried to focus on the person leering over me.

  “What are you seeing?” Kodet asked.

  “The images are too fast.” I strained to speak above a whisper. “I can’t make anything out.”

  “We need you to find Vallar’s weaknesses.”
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  “Can’t you see the wars have to stop?” I asked.

  “Why do you refuse to cooperate?” Kodet asked.

  His question was so stupid. “Why are you Beacon’s puppet?”

  He grabbed me around the neck and tightened his grip. “Do you prefer this senseless suffering?”

  I strained to breathe and couldn’t answer even if I wanted to.

  “Have you become a complete traitor?” Kodet released his hand and slapped me across the face.

  I coughed and gasped for air.

  Kodet laughed. The door squeaked as he left the room.

  After a minute, a high-pitched tone slowly grew louder. I tried to lift my head to see where it was coming from and caught a glimpse of a speaker in the center of the ceiling. It sent out a vibrating screech that felt like a knife going through my head. The pain made me force myself to breathe.

  “Sonny!” I cried out and whimpered. Please Sonny, Bret, get me out of here.

  When the tone hit a torturous peak, the volume gradually decreased. I breathed heavily, covered in sweat and dreading the next round. Cool air blew from a vent on my damp skin and caused my teeth to shatter.

  Sonny had helped me from the minute we met, but what happened to him? Sonny, please be alive.

  The ceiling of the interrogation room went in and out of focus. More images raced through my mind. I saw Vallar and Marc vessels heading for Argyre. The people of Argyre crowded into a busy hovercraft terminal and lined up at the emergency exits, arguing about who would board the next vessel.

  Bret was at the helm of Phantom Two.

  “No!” I wouldn’t let myself discover anything that could hurt my friends.

  The piercing tone returned. This time it weakened me to the point of trembling. Sometimes I heard voices in a void of darkness, other times images swirled and bent for the longest time.

  We have to get them out of there.

  It was Sonny’s voice. He was okay and trying to help me. I tried to tune into more details, but it faded away.

  Instead, I appeared in Clare’s living room. Someone sat in the center of the couch, but all I could see was the back of a hairless head. He stared at a holo projection of a flat area of Mars rippling with dust.

  This person stayed oddly still. I came closer. A long reddish scar ran across the right side of his bald head. My heart raced as I went around the couch.

  I shuddered in disbelief. “Nate!”

  Someone had shaved off his hair. His pupil’s had a slight red cast. He stared with no movement at the holo projection. With arms limp at his side, Nate wore a Marscorp uniform. I remembered the brain image on Clare’s holo with the device. She had operated on his brain. He was alive all this time. Clare knew it!

  “What did they do to you?” I screamed. An outburst like that would’ve normally caused me to wake up. Instead my emotions sent me soaring right through the ceiling and above the roof.

  “Computer,” Nate said in a monotone voice. “Change to MCH2O1.”

  I gasped. Those were the identification numbers of Bret’s hangar at Marscorp. Nate’s voice drew me back down into the room. The holographic projection displayed an image of Bret piloting the Phantom. All the console screens were visible, giving away that he was on his way to Argyre. With Nate’s help, Beacon would be aware of Bret’s every move.

  “Stop!” I lunged at the holo projection and dove right through it.

  Not only had they tapped into Nate’s brain, but they’d increased his seer ability – probably with Lixatra.

  It wouldn’t be long before he found the hidden Gentech base. I remembered the glimpses of Nate from my visions and screamed with a mix of terror and anger. I woke up coughing. He had to be stopped.

  “What’s the problem now?” Beacon’s smirking face leaned over me.

  “What did you do to Nate!”

  “Oh, so the drug is working. One moment.” Beacon went out into the hall.

  The high pitched tone faded away.

  Beacon stepped back in with Nate following him. He wore a blue cap with the letters “MC” on the front. Seeing him in person made me struggle and yell, wanting to tear Beacon apart.

  “So now you know,” Beacon ignored my outburst, “but I would much rather have a human seer than a robotic one.” He shrugged. “He’s not really alive. I imagine his soul must be trapped in such a state. You and Nate were close, weren’t you?”

  I shuddered, feeling the veins in my neck pulsing.

  “I could free his soul and let him rest in peace if only I could replace the position with someone qualified.”

  “Nate!” I yelled, desperate for a response.

  Nate stared ahead looking right over me.

  “Nate!” I asked louder and strained. My arm slowly moved toward my friend, but he didn’t move or even blink.

  “Tell Ian what you told me about the spies within our organization.”

  Nate’s head turned toward Beacon. He spoke slowly in a monotone voice, “I found a man named Bret Yargar. He works at MCH2O1.”

  “As you can see Nate’s the one who found you.” Beacon explained. “Nate, where is Captain Yargar now?”

  “He is on his way to the Argyre post.”

  “You can be sure their grain station is going to be down before he gets here. I’m also going to take care of anyone helping him.”

  It sounded like he hadn’t found Hannah and Alexis yet. By now Bret had to have warned them. At least Sonny wasn’t captured. Knowing this helped me hold out.

  As I looked at my friend, I doubted whatever existed in his body was really Nate.

  Beacon turned to me. “Tell me what you’ve seen in your visions – besides Nate.”

  I wanted him to shut up.

  “The drug will take away your will.” Beacon removed an injector from his pocket and pressed another injection into my neck. “You need to accept that I’m the one who gave you the gift of visions through this drug. You belong with me, doing the job you were raised to do. Your attempt to leave was foolishness.”

  I said nothing, knowing that if I did it would lead to more ranting from Beacon. I’d never asked to become psychic, and I had zero obligations to him.

  He left the room. Nate slowly turned and followed.

  “Nate, stop. It’s me, Ian,” I called to him over and over, even after the door shut.

  The piercing tone increased in volume again. I tensed up anticipating another round of torture. Sharp pains went through my head, making me flinch, and my pulse pounded in my ears.

  “Clare, help me. Turn it off!”

  Nobody answered. I tried to calm down and gain control, so I could use my increased ability against Beacon.

  A beautiful forest came into view with tall trees. I followed a winding path. At first I thought I was seeing the executive bio-dome, until a lake came into view – the biggest I’ve ever seen. Children played on the beach. This had to be Kayla’s home. Even though I felt at peace here, I didn’t want to risk discovering the location. I squirmed, and the images blurred.

  Kayla where are you? Kayla?

  The power of the drug sent me right to Kayla. In a small room, she paced in a circle and rung her hands. Every so often she stopped and listened at the wall. At least she was unharmed.

  Where is Bret?

  A sensation of rising came over me. I continued to float way up above Argyre. People were leaving the colony in large transports and a mix of hovercrafts. High above, the domes looked like patches of green because of the crops growing inside. Way up in the atmosphere, I could see all the Vallar ships moving in. While some continued to Argyre, other vessels formed a circle around the farming post.

  “Beacon’s not going to leave Argyre alive,” Bret said.

  The images continued to speed up. I couldn’t handle it. Waves of darkness rolled into me. I fought endlessly, and the waves became thick like quicksand and dragged me down.

  Chapter 26

  I awoke, relieved to hear nothing, having no idea how much t
ime had passed. The door squeaked open. Footsteps came toward me. Through a blur came a small figure in white. Clare looked pale and her eyes blinked too much.

  “Drink.” She brought a bottle of water to my lips.

  I turned my face to the wall.

  “Ian, please. You need to drink before you dehydrate.”

  “You let me think Nate was dead.” I squirmed away and choked out the words. “You turned him into a machine.”

  “I had no choice.” She set the bottle on the edge of the table.

  As she stood over me, I sensed extreme feelings of fear and guilt. It startled me, since I had never read her feelings before. It had to be the drug heightening my ability.

  “I’m sorry. I-I I’m sorry.” She brought the bottle to my mouth again.

  I took a few gulps and let my head drop back down. My strength to fight was fading. They’d control me soon and I would reveal information at Beacon’s whims. If I couldn’t stop Beacon, maybe Clare could. She had top level access. Water dribbled down the sides of my mouth. She took the bottle away.

  “You can do something.”

  She looked around, trying to find a listening device and leaned down next to me. “What can I do?” she whispered so softly I could barely hear her.

  I reached out with my mind, trying to find some sense of dishonestly or hidden motives, but I only found fear and guilt.

  “Get a message out to Vallar. Tell them Kayla and me are here.”

  Voices came from the hall. She straightened her lab coat and cleared her voice. “Our duty is to Marscorp. Have you forgotten everything I taught you?”

  Even though the tone of her voice and ridged face appeared resolved, I knew she only said this in case someone overheard. Being able to sense this sent a shiver through me. Clare touched my shoulder with a shaking hand. The vibrations of fear coming from her were intense. So much, that I doubted she would help me.