Here

by Zolendz, Christine

  Silence falls around us for a few heartbeats before I spin on my iron heels, arm drawn.

  Rune stares back at me, the flickering of the fires behind me reflecting in his eyes—fury written all over his face.

  A sharp explosion of adrenaline blasts across my chest—but this time it’s not from a weapon.

  “Kate,” he greets.

  “That’s the third time you saved me,” I breathe. “I’m really starting to think you might like me.”

  31

  Kate

  I hate it, but I’m wondering what would have happened if Rune hadn’t found me exactly when he did.

  Disintegration?

  Torture?

  Whatever it was would have definitely ended in my death.

  My body trembles. Maybe it’s shock—I just almost died—again. Plus, I’m on an alien aircraft in space and for the past few weeks I’ve watched the annihilation of the only home I’ve ever known and most of the human race.

  Being in shock seems the least of my problems.

  I burst into tears.

  Angling my body away from Rune and the others is the only thing I can think to do. There’s no way I’m going to humiliate myself with a face full of tears in front of them. I wipe at my cheeks frantically.

  But I can’t seem to get myself to stop.

  I grit my teeth and rummage in the small aid station through blurry eyes. There’s not much here. It’s mostly vials of dark gray liquids. But luckily, I find a kind of thick gauze that would be perfect for cleaning the wounds, if I could just figure out where they keep their disinfectant. It’s too hard to see through tears.

  A few feet away from me Tore clutches at his shoulder and his breath hitches. I move to him quickly, glad to have something to focus on besides my current situation.

  I crouch in front of him. There’s blood smeared over his chin and one of his eyes is swollen shut. I try my best to give him a reassuring smile, but it comes out more like a silent sob. “I’ll try my best to help you.” My voice breaks over each word.

  “I can’t believe you’re real,” he whispers.

  My hands freeze over his shoulder plate, realizing for the first time what the weight of me being here is to them. I’m extinct. This makes me cry more.

  His eyes shift to Rune and Jex across the room then back to me. When I pull his armor off, he hisses out a painful noise and tears fill his own eyes.

  I pat the area with the dry gauze, but it does no good. The wound still leaks too much blood and I have nothing to stop it. I need a tourniquet because even applying pressure is not enough. “Do you know what this gray liquid is?” I ask, holding up one of the small canisters I found.

  “Alloy compound. Put it…put it…cover the cut and put my armor back on.”

  I do as he says, and within moments his painful expression seems to ease into a more comfortable one. “Thank you. Thank you,” he whispers.

  “Kate,” Rune is suddenly next to me his tone, tight and sharp. “Get up.”

  I stand slowly and turn to face him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” His words are vicious, accusatory.

  “What does it look like?” I ask, breathlessly. “He’s hurt. I’m helping him.”

  He leans closer to me, jaw set, lips tight. “These Caelum are traitors to me. All of them turned on me for Pious.”

  “Really? It didn’t look like any of your men had much of a choice or even their own free will while wearing that puppet armor you were all manipulated into thinking you couldn’t live without. And it’s not okay to let them die. They were tricked and thought you were dead.”

  “These are the same Caelum that came to your planet and destroyed it.” His words are harsh, his shoulders bunching up with tension.

  I bark out a laugh. “It’s really no wonder that your own men tried to kill you.”

  Rune straightens, his eyes dart quickly down to Tore then lock back on mine.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asks, clenching his fists.

  I shift closer to him, leaving only an inch of space between us. “I think you should ask yourself why your men were so easily brainwashed, why they would so easily fight against you. Because to me, it certainly shows what a shitty ruler you are when you walk away from your own men when they need you the most.”

  Rune looks stunned.

  “You could go. Go and have your pissing contest with Pious. I’ll stay here and help them.” My voice sounds steady, considering the fury of anger that’s building deep inside me.

  He suddenly looks younger, self-conscious—like I’ve given him something to think about.

  “Jex,” he calls out, but his glaze is still fixed on mine. I can tell I’ve bruised his pride, by the furious glare he’s giving me.

  “Sir?” Jex says, stepping closer to us.

  Rune clears his throat. “Help these men to safety. We will wait until they are fully healed for our next move.”

  “Yes, General.” Jex’s glance darts back and forth between the both of us. “Sir,” he whispers low, “the Core would be the best place. We wouldn’t be found.”

  For a heartbeat Rune continues to stare at me, then his attention flicks to Jex. “Take them. Set them in the Main Gate of the Core and have them upload with their sensors off. Let’s be careful not to alert Pious to our whereabouts for as long as we can.”

  Silence falls over us as we watch him gather the wounded and help them back into the sliding walls.

  When there is no one left but me and Rune he asks, “Do you truly think so poorly of me?”

  I move away from him, toward the sliding wall. “I don’t know what to think about any of this, least of all you.” I slip back the secret panel, but he softly places his hand on my arm, stopping me. I hold my breath as he leans in.

  “There’s something I don’t understand—and I need to.” When he speaks it’s in soft quick whispers, so close his breath fans out against my cheeks. “Why did you help them? Why would you do that after everything they’ve done to your world?”

  I pull away, meeting his gaze. Would he understand? I’m honestly not sure, but I tell him anyway. I don’t even know why, maybe I want to give him a small piece of the humanity he’s been missing.

  “When I was little, my dad was a soldier.” I shake my head, remembering. “He was never home, he was always overseas, fighting for things I never fully understood. Not until now, I guess.” Once again, my vision blurs. “There was this one time Claire and I were on a video call with him and as we were talking,” I took a deep breath, “some gunfire or explosion blasted out behind him and…well, he thought he ended the call with us…but he didn’t.” I look up at Rune, trying to see if he understood.

  “What happened?” he asks.

  “I saw everything. My dad clipped his phone on his shirt and he went to help. The thing was—this wasn’t someone on his side—it was just another human being in pain, suffering—and my dad, without even thinking about it, he just saved him.”

  Rune watches me quietly.

  “That’s the kind of human being I want to be. A kind one.”

  Suddenly his fingers, free of armor, touch my cheek, and his thumb softly wipes at my tears.

  32

  Kate

  Rune slides the wall closed behind us, taking the soft glow of the Lower Hangar with it. Up ahead of us in the vastness of the tunnels I hear the others moving slowly through the passage. There’s a dim halo of light above them illuminating their path.

  “What’s this Core place we’re going to?” I ask.

  Rune stares down at me. It’s hard to see his expression through the darkness.

  “It’s the middle of the ship. Its insides, if you will. Where the reactors are stationed—the brain of the aircraft.” His palms flatten against the small of my back, and even though I wear their armor, I feel his fingers like tiny pinpricks of heat against my skin. He leads me by the warmth of his fingertips down the hidden hallway.

  “And we’ll be sa
fe there?”

  He stills for a moment and I feel him look down at me. He’s hesitating, like he’s trying to figure out the right words. “From what I know of you so far,” he says, with a long sigh, “you’re not the type to believe in shallow assurances.”

  “You don’t really know what’s going on, do you? You’re as much in the dark as my planet was.” I’m glad for the darkness of the tunnel we’re in, because I’m sure he’d be able to read the terror in my expression if it were visible.

  “Once we make it to the Core, I’ll be able to update and run diagnostics. We’ll all need to update or we’ll starve.”

  “And you’ll tell me what you know? You won’t hide anything from me?” Even though they were meant to be questions they sound like demands. My patience has run out and I’m too overwhelmed to deal with anything but the reality of the situation, no matter how bad it seems.

  “You have my word,” he says softly, “Now release your hand and arm shield, right here—” His voice is lower, much closer to me now, and he touches the small levers along the inside of my wrist that slide open the armor that encase my hands, freeing them.

  I want to ask why, but then I feel him, in the dark, sliding the palm of his hand over my palm and braiding his fingers through mine. My heart speeds up, and bursts of heat spread across my chest in rapid fire.

  He’s holding my hand.

  He’s holding my hand and pulling me forward, leading me through the secret corridor. Once again, I’m glad for the cover of blackness making him blind to the blush that lingers for far too long on my cheeks.

  Deep inside the walls we travel through the maze of twists and turns. Smaller vents branch out from the narrow walkway, a vast network of ducts and swooshing walls that open and close with the press of a finger.

  I get more lightheaded with each step.

  Rune doesn’t let go of my hand until we reach the others, and he doesn’t wipe his palms on something in disgust when he lets go.

  Now I’m not just lightheaded, I’m dizzy.

  Way too dizzy.

  The space they’re in seems too small to contain us all and I suddenly feel the weight of walls crushing against my chest. Even the air seems different here. There’s either too much of it or not enough.

  I can’t breathe.

  I grab at my chest, clinking my armor—this stupid suit is too tight, too hot—I’m suffocating. I stumble against a wall. My throat is closed. Something blocks my airways. There’s an image that flashes in my mind—me as a little girl in a YMCA swimming pool. I’m not sure how old I am, but Claire is beside me wearing floaties on her arms. She’s bouncing on the surface of the water laughing as I dunk my head under and try to breathe through one of those toy scuba diving masks. One of the neighborhood boys jumped on top of me and stuck his finger in the tube and I couldn’t breathe. His weight pressed me down, and no matter how much I struggled I couldn’t find enough air.

  It was a long time ago and the memory is fuzzy—but it’s the same feeling.

  Pressure on my chest.

  Sharp stabs of pain in my lungs.

  I can’t catch my breath and my head spins wildly. Confusion and disorientation cloud my head. What the hell is happening to me? The grates in the floor come at me quickly.

  “Kate!” Rune’s voice shouts as I slam into the floor.

  “She needs to update. The armor needs to regulate the area for the correct amount of oxygen. Jex,” he says, tilting his head away from me. “We need to get her uploaded. Regulate the air. Hurry.”

  Hard metal ridges press into my back. The faceplate is attached to my face and the sting of the metal pours through my skin. Flashes of light and sound stream past the view field.

  “Once it regulates the space, she’ll be at optimal health.” It was Jex’s voice.

  “Yes. Yes, I know,” Rune snaps. And even though my vision is blocked by the faceplate’s little laser-light display, I can hear the emotion in his voice.

  “Well, you looked worried,” Jex responds.

  I hear Rune shift away mumbling something about the wounded men and what their upload time is for completion.

  The viewer on my faceplate turns a pale eggshell blue. It’s the exact shade of my favorite color and I can’t help wondering is this armor somehow knows this as one of the images that would be calming to me.

  Within seconds my muscles loosen and my breathing evens out and I feel like I’m in that half-asleep state—the one where it’s a Saturday morning just past eleven, and you’re cocooned in a soft blanket waiting on another dream.

  The wait isn’t long either.

  My dreams are full of blue skies and fields of wildflowers, the warm sun on my shoulders and the scent of freshly cut grass in the breeze. In the distance thunder rumbles, but I know the storm will pass right by. Rune’s there in the field with me, looking up at the sky. When he turns and sees me, his smile is an ache in my chest. He’s closer now, his hand reaching up to cup my neck, to pull me in. His skin is warm and his thumb brushes over my bottom lip, soft and slow. His eyes stare down at mine. They match the sky.

  The rest of my body aches and he leans in closer.

  Suddenly the field of vision on my faceplate whooshes open, jarring me. Inside the armor my bones jump and twitch, and I’m jolted awake—agitated and unsettled. I was dreaming Rune was about to kiss me.

  The armor pulses over my skin and releases me with a loud embarrassing suction sound, and I stagger out of the small dock.

  It’s unnerving how much I didn’t want that dream to end.

  This is a line of thought I would have to come back to. It’s something I have to settle with myself. I want to believe their armor makes me feel these things—puts these thoughts in my head and for now that’s what I’ll keep telling myself.

  “Do you feel adjusted correctly now? You’re calibrated to the Core’s oxygen and gravity levels, you should be more comfortable.” Rune sits across the small space, watching me through narrow eyes.

  I feel momentarily paralyzed with humiliation as if he knows what I just dreamed. My breathing feels very shallow once again.

  He watches me in silence, rising slowly. “Do you feel calibrated?”

  “I feel out of sorts, mostly.”

  He stands slowly and takes a step toward me, and I can’t help but search his eyes. Did he know what I was just dreaming?

  He hesitates a moment before he continues to move closer, and for a quick second I expect him to rethink his position and put as much space as possible in this small enclosure between us. Instead, he sits down next to me, so close the hardness of his leg touches mine.

  Jex sits across from us, watching.

  I can suddenly hear my heart racing in my chest.

  “Sentinel Jex, tell us everything you know,” Rune commands.

  In the dim light, Jex’s eyes widen and dart back and forth between us. He probably can’t believe Rune wants me here for this conversation. Then again, I can’t pretend to know anything of what goes on in the minds of these people. So I lean back against the wall and ready myself to listen.

  “Sir,” he gives a curt nod. “Your death was posted, downloaded onto everyone’s mainframe.” He points to me, “That human, taking your mask and you on the ground of that planet covered in blood.”

  “After we were separated, I was attacked by Orb, Stol, and Barq,” Rune says, shifting away, angling his body to face both of us.

  “Those are the three I ran over with the van,” I swallow, and my voice cracks with a small tremor.

  Rune levels an annoyed look in my direction. “Don’t let your emotions blur the fact they were trying to kill us both. Besides, they didn’t die then, remember? Sentinel, please continue. What else do you know?”

  “Pious has taken your place. He’s extracting an unknown number of females for egg retrieval, following the plan as before.”

  “What is the—”

  “Hold up, hold up a second,” I cut in, raising my hand up in front of h
im. “Following the plan as before. Like when you were the General? This was your original plan? The decimation of my planet? That was all your idea?”

  A hint of anger tinges his voice as he glares at me. “No. My intention was to extract only a handful of females and leave. Not this destruction.” The weight of his stare makes me question my accusation. I hate him for being the reason for all of this, but on the other hand he’s literally saved my life on three different occasions.

  I have the sudden urge to slap him.

  “And I’m supposed to just believe you because—”

  “Kate—” he says

  “Asshole—” I reply.

  “There’s more of a pressing issue, if I may cut back into this conversation, General? Female?” Jex growls out.

  “What?” we both bark out.

  “When we entered the Earth’s atmosphere, General, the year was 2136.”

  I snap my mouth shut, remembering what Jex had told me about the difference in the years before.

  “Yes? And?” Rune’s eyes are still fixed on mine, still full of fire.

  I soften my words, “2136 is definitely not the year you came to my world.”

  His face drains of all color and his eyes flash toward Jex.

  “If what she says is true,” Jex says, “we somehow traveled back in time.”

  “How far back?” Rune asks.

  “Over thirty years before our people first left the planet,” Jex replies.

  33

  Kate

  “I need air,” I blurt out. I know it’s pretty much impossible up here in this metal can, but I feel like this low dark ceiling is a crushing weight on my chest and each word in this little time-warp discussion is making it worse.

  “I could open one of the airlocks—”

  I let out a small gasp before realizing Rune is playing with me.