“What about Rune?” I ask.
“He is a traitor and sided with the grounders when they attacked. They have surveillance he was extinguished, but I hear some Caelum say he may have survived somehow.”
His head is still tilting down, watching my hands.
All of these Caelum are under the impression we attacked them, and Rune had something to do with it. Not one of them can think for themselves with those stupid faceplates on. “Have you ever taken off your face armor?”
“No,” his voice slices through the air.
“Will you be allowed to breed with one of the women?”
“No…I’m…only maintenance.”
I raise my arms and slide my fingers across the jaw of his mask, “Do you want to?” I step closer and lock my fingers into the locks of his armor just below his mask and slowly squeeze.
The gears hiss and scream out around his head as I toss his mask to the floor. He’s flawless, just like Rune. A perfect specimen of a human male.
Clear blue eyes widen in shock. “I will not live long without my—”
“That’s the first lie that was told to you. Now show me how to open these doors,” I say, touching the palm of my hand against his cheek. His skin is ice cold and pale white. “Rune is still alive. He’s been with me on the ground for days without his armor and he’s fine.”
His lips move to speak but huge gulps of terror steal his thoughts before they reach his mouth.
I reach my other hand and place it gently on his opposite cheek. “Show me how to open the doors.”
He flinches back, stumbling into the wall of buttons and levers. A bright silver flash of his hands move so fast they blur around me and I don’t understand what’s happening until I hear the thud of his gloves on the ground and his icy white fingers touch my face.
“You’re so warm,” he says, sucking in a quick breath.
“Tore,” I whisper with a smile, “open the door for me.”
One stark pale hand reaches away from me and grabs the lever on the console near the door. He presses in his code, TORE, and releases the lever back into its original position. The door slides open with a loud whoosh.
“Thank you,” I say breathlessly, reaching up on my tippy toes and planting a small peck of a kiss on the corner of his lips. “Don’t put that armor back on.” He draws in a sharp breath and staggers sideways, dropping to the floor.
I don’t stay to see if he’s okay. He’s stunned. These people have never been without that metal around their skin. They don’t understand touch or women. And that knowledge is my only weapon here.
My feet fly through the doorway, and canned, metallic air sweeps across my face. The hallways hum with whatever powers this ship, a constant stream of white noise that makes me want to tear at my ears.
I make it to the end of the walkway when the grates above my head vibrate and shudder. Within seconds darkness spills down as the lights flicker off around me. I crane my head to look around the corner, but there’s nothing but thick blackness and a strong smell of bitter disinfectant.
Through the darkness I slide my hands over the walls as I quietly jog my way through the maze of pathways. I have no clear view or any idea where I’m going but I know I can’t stay still.
Down another long walkway, this one carpeted with a metal grid that resonates with the sound of my footsteps, I stop dead in my tracks when I hear the first murmurs of shouting voices.
Red lights slash through the blackness overhead and blue lights pulsate along the edges of the grid under my feet. I follow the pulses of the light. They have to lead me toward somewhere big, somewhere so I can figure out how the hell to get off this metal canister.
My feet slip through another walkway and the voices become louder. My heart pounds in my throat, I need off this ship. It feels like the walls and the dark are closing in on me. The air seems thinner, hotter, and I can’t gulp enough in.
“Sir, the prisoner is gone,” I hear a voice say.
“That’s impossible!” Pious grounds out as I round the corner and see the chaos through the shadows.
“Sir, Tore—Unit 328 has malfunctioned.”
“Impossible!”
“See for yourself, sir,” the shadowy figure says, fingers and arms flying over a large keyboard. “His face armor has been corrupted.”
Above them a display of my small holding room opens like a 3-dimensional hologram. My face heats. They had cameras in my room?
29
Kate
I slip down another hallway before they notice me, and run like hell.
I hurry down a dark narrow stairwell until a solid metal body steps into my path, slamming me back hard with a grunt. I go sprawling down the rest of the steps on my ass. Clanking my metal-covered bottom over each edge.
Metal arms reach down toward my shoulders and I can’t move quick enough to get away. I raise the faceplate I’ve been carrying and try to slam it into the outstretched arms but my attacker blocks my strike and slams a knee into my stomach, pinning me to the floor.
“No!” I scream, swinging the faceplate at him. “Get off me.” I pound at him with my metal-gloved hands, but all he does is press his weight down harder.
“You’re the female grounder who took General Rune’s armor,” it grunts.
I swing my fist this time and he smacks my arm away faster than I can realize it ever happening.
“Stop fighting,” he grinds.
I twist my body and thrash around to no avail. “Get off me then.”
The thing hesitates for just a moment, regarding me carefully, then pushes back on his feet, freeing me.
Clumsily, I scramble away and fall down a few more steps I was unaware were under me. I let out a string of curses, disparaging all metal-headed, asshole-alien beings and their stupid womanless ships with douchy sharp-edged steps.
The thing in front of me laughs.
My eyes dart up to its faceplate. “Which alien asshole are you?”
I wait for him to pull out one of those binding cuffs Pious used on me before, but instead he reaches up and releases the lock on his face armor and pulls it off. “I am Jex, General Rune’s personal guard.”
“Well, then you suck at your job,” I say, climbing up to my feet. I try to grip the railing for support but find there is none. I end up leaning back on the wall and clutching my metal mask to my chest.
“Is he aboard this craft?” Jex asks.
“If he was, do you think I would actually tell you? All you assholes are trying to kill him.”
“Tell me where he is.” His tone is harsh and low.
“Disneyland.”
“Disneyland?” He seems to think this over, then takes a step closer. “It’s hard to tell when your kind lies.”
“You want real lies, then put your mask back on. Pious seems to be a very skilled liar.”
“Now, that I know is truth.” His expression is serious, his tone grave.
I don’t know if this is a trick or not—if he’s on their side or Rune’s. But even Rune’s side isn’t my side. I step back, head spinning. “Just let me pass.”
“And where will you go? This ship is riddled with a live feed. You’ll be caught within minutes if you don’t know where to hide.”
“And you do?”
“Well, these sirens aren’t for me, female. No one knows I’m aboard.”
I glare at him. “I have a name.”
“I’m sure it’s lovely.” His expression doesn’t change.
I can’t figure out what his deal is and I really haven’t got the time. “Then tell me how to get off this thing.”
“You won’t be able to do that alone,” he says.
“I have to get back home. I can’t—I’m not going to let that alien asshole touch me—” I swallow back a small sob, realizing how screwed I really am.
“And what of Rune?” His eyes narrow, waiting for my answer.
“If you think I will tell you where he is, I won’t,” I say, poking
my finger into his iron chest. “He saved my life too many times. I’ll find my way off this thing alone.” I back away, easing open the door to another long hallway.
“What a fierce little warrior my general has found,” he says sharply at my back.
I stop short and glance at him over my shoulder.
“You will die if you refuse my help.”
Oh, I dislike him so much. But I steel my nerve and walk back toward him, folding my arms across my chest. “Why would I trust you to help me?”
“Because I know you didn’t kill General Rune. You couldn’t have. He would have never been bested by a female.”
“Jeez, you are just as egotistical as Rune is.”
For some reason that makes him smile again. “A fierce little thing, indeed.”
“If you say the words fierce but scrawny, I will punch you in the throat.”
He ignores my threat with a small smile and gestures me toward a hidden door in the stairwell. Outside in the hallway, I can hear the stomping of metal feet as a slew of— “What are your people called again?”—rush pass.
We quickly step through the secret passage, and he slides the wall back into place and hurries me down a dimly lit narrow corridor. “We’re the Caelum.”
“And where do you come from? What planet?”
Jex stops short and I slam into his back hard.
I freeze, fearing I’ve said something wrong. “One of the maintenance guys told me you were from my planet, but from the future.”
He shakes his head, and rakes a hand over his head in frustration. “Come, let’s not stop,” he says, gesturing for me to follow. “What he said was true, but no one aboard this ship has ever stepped foot on your planet in their lifetime until now, the last generation to have lived there was my great-grandfather’s.”
“And that was in the year 2056?” I ask.
“That’s what our historical data says.”
“How is that possible? It’s nowhere near the year 2056. That’s like thirty something years from now. I’d be almost sixty years old then!” My pulse rushes in my temples and echoes in my ears.
Slowly he turns his entire body to face me. Even in the darkness of the hallway I can see his eyebrows rise up questioningly. “The year is not 2136 here?”
“That would be a hard NO. That’s over a hundred and fifteen years in my future.” I’m breathless, hovering somewhere between screaming and crying. This is all impossible. All of it.
He steps back, stumbling almost, and stands against the wall. “If you’re telling the truth—none of this makes sense.”
“Welcome to my world.”
His expression flashes to something between terror and disbelief.
From somewhere above us, metal gears move and grind. Jex’s eyes dart up quickly.
“What’s that?” Fear washes over me, and I cover my mouth with my hands to stop myself from crying out.
Jex grabs my arm and pulls me forward into a dead run. Wearing the Caelum armor makes it easy to keep up—the steel legs practically run for me—through twists and turns and a maze of hidden passages, until we reach a dead end and flatten ourselves against a dark wall, barely out of breath.
“Give me your faceplate,” he whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear.
I pretend I don’t hear him, because I don’t trust him. Not yet. And probably not ever.
He nudges me with a steel elbow and frowns. “Give it to me now.”
“Why?” I ask, cradling it against me.
“Because I need to override the control circuits. Unless you want to be one of the Caelum puppets, then by all means—” He leans back and folds his arms across his broad chest, waiting.
Just as I begin to consider all the consequences of handing it over, he swipes it from my grasp. Again, he moves so fast I don’t see it coming until the damn faceplate is out of my hands and in his. “Look, watch what I’m doing so you know how to do this.” He turns the armor over and just behind the top of the forehead there’s a small plate that slides to the right. Inside, he yanks out a blue pronged metal wire. “If you don’t trust me you could always plug this back in.” His eyes flash up to mine, “That is, if you ever want to be assimilated into the Caelum.”
Um. No thanks.
He shoves the faceplate into my chest. “Your choice.”
“Thanks,” I murmur back.
Jex waits and listens for what’s happening on the other side.
After a few quiet minutes, he slides open a panel in the wall, grips my wrist tight, and pulls me through.
The room blurs, and terror, hot and fast, slams through me. I squeak out a small scream and stagger back.
Three enormous Caelum are in the room, lunging forward, reaching out to grab me.
30
Kate
One of the Caelum falls against me, taking us both to the ground. My heart screeches to a stop and I let out a blood-curdling scream, only to be silenced by the weight of the thing practically crushing all the air out of my lungs.
Then I see his face—his face—pale and bleeding and without armor.
Jex is instantly by my side, easing the unmasked Caelum off of me, and helping him to sit on the ground.
The floors and walls are covered with red smudges and fingerprints. There’s blood everywhere, coming from each of the three Caelum—all unmasked and looking bruised and beaten, and absolutely terrified. One Caelum has an especially deep gash across his forehead and half of his metal armor looks ripped to shreds.
“What is this? What happened?” Jex asks, dropping to his knees in front of the one with the deep head wound. I watch quietly as the Caelum takes shallow breaths and tries to answer.
But he’s too weak.
“You’re the prisoner,” one whispers, and when he speaks, I realize it’s Tore, the maintenance guy.
“Tore?” I shift over and kneel down and put my hand to his face. He’s ice cold. “What happened?”
He doesn’t respond. He just stares at me with wide blank eyes.
“How do you know his name?” Jex asks me.
“He was the one that opened the door to my cell,” I say, flicking my glance quickly toward Jex then and back to Tore.
“We’re going to be executed. Our punishment for speaking against Pious. For questioning what we had seen,” the third Caelum says. He’s slumped against the wall, but looks to be the one with the least amount of blood on him.
“And what did you see?” I ask, watching the same question flashing in Jex’s eyes.
“I was from Pious’s unit. I was the one to take General Rune’s face armor to Pious when we found it, and I know it didn’t come off on its own, it was ripped from his body.” All the breath seems to leave his body in a deep sigh then he coughs and a large crack in his shoulder armor wells with blood.
“It was,” I say quietly. “I watched it happen and it wasn’t me who did it, it was three of your guys.” I wish I had something to clean their cuts with. I move closer to the Caelum and pull back on the armor to see how badly he’s hurt. Blood pours from a hole in his shoulder. “Jex? Is there a hospital on this spaceship?”
“We have an infirmary, but taking them there will get them killed faster.”
“But they need help. We need something to stop the bleeding. Bandages and whatever it is you alien assholes use—probably giant, penis-shaped Band-Aids.”
“There’s an aid-station in the lower hangar. It’s close to airlocks—if you’re trying to escape—” Tore grunts out. His metal hand reaches out and touches my arm, “I helped you—”
“Now, it’s my turn to help you,” I finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to try and talk me into it—I couldn’t just let him die—without his faceplate, he’s just like me—a prisoner here. “Can you walk? We’re going to need all the help we can get to take the three of you there without being seen.”
Jex looks concerned. “This isn’t a good—”
“If you’re about to say idea, don’t. And do me a fav
or,” I say to Jex as I help Tore up, “show me how to shoot lasers out of my fingers in this thing.”
He blinks at me and a ghost of a smile flashes over his lips. “Then put on your faceplate.”
* * *
We sneak our way to what Tore called the lower hangar, or what I’ve recently renamed my worst nightmare. Smoke and flames billow out around strangely shaped aircrafts. In front of the largest airship, there are two women, clutching each other crying. They’re dressed in loose tattered shirts and stand barefoot and scared.
A Caelum, larger than any I’ve seen before, is looming over them, his fist pointing at both women.
I grab Jex’s arm, because I know what that Caelum is about to do. Jex just showed me how to work the armor’s weapons. In a blast of sound and heat, a bright ball of fiery light slams into the women. The impact disintegrates the both of them into a shattering of glittery particles like a firecracker, leaving nothing but a small charred line on the floor where they once stood.
“No!” I scream, slamming my body into the Caelum only to realize he’s not alone. Four more rush toward us, arms out ready to end me.
I blast first, close range, right against the Caelum’s chest. The force of the explosion throws him back, against the four incoming aliens, and they drop like bowling pins.
I lift my fist again, aiming. But more come in through the smoke behind them.
A flash of white-hot light, and my body is airborne, slamming violently against a wall. Pain is searing through my suit. A tickertape warning runs along the bottom screen of my faceplate. My stats. Where I’ve been hit, and the damage I’ve incurred. What the fuck? This is too distracting to read when you have a bunch of aliens charging at you.
My pulse is roaring through my suit, my heart screams against my ribcage. I lift my arm again and decide not to aim. I just blast three rounds into the middle of the Caelum hoping I hit at least one of the fuckers.
Then the air charges and flares out heat behind me, and I stiffen waiting for impact. But nothing comes. Instead, the Caelum in front of me all straighten and arch backward, trembling and convulsing then collapse like ragdolls to the floor where they flop around like fish out of water.
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