"I tried." My brother scowled, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning against the far window frame. "He just hounded me for my answer to his question. You got farther with that than I did."
"I beg to differ; you caught it was the water."
He shook his head. "You're remembering wrong. You guessed it was water, and you figured out the rest. The whole thing bothered me, and tried to explain that to him, but he wouldn't listen."
"Donovan, you can't blame yourself. You shouldn't even blame him. Be mad at the Seekers."
"There's anger to share with them, too." He let out a long breath, the kind you do when you're trying to calm yourself. "Plenty for them." He turned his gaze to me. "But you two brought this one on us. Inadvertently, maybe, but you still did it."
"Blaming me for this isn't going to make it any better," I whispered, looking away from him and out the window. "Nor will it bring any of them back."
"They aren't coming back." He clenched a fist. “Unless we find them ourselves, they’re gone forever.”
He said it with such finality. A weight settled down on my soul, a statement of fact my heart didn't want to acknowledge. To distract myself, I tried to find something out the window to focus on in the dark settlement. I blinked, easing myself up.
"It's time."
All things considered, the actual act of sneaking out of the settlement to the outlying relay station proved uneventful. Moving under cover of core-night, we encountered no one as we made our silent way out into the desert. Maryn slept the entire way, carried on Donovan's back and tied on just to be safe. We carried no packs or anything that might tip off the random person looking out a window at that hour to our intentions. Not that we needed to have worried. The settlement slept soundly.
I'm sure they must have noticed we disappeared. Maybe that's what drew the Seekers back. Maybe it was Donovan’s meddling, a point of contention between us as he persisted in pursuing his theory after we moved. Still, I had not proof it was his fault. To this day we never figured out who was to blame, if either of us. What I do know is that, for several days, we lived in that relay station, thinking ourselves very clever. Our supply gathering had been thorough, thanks to Donovan's foresight despite his misgivings. He and Maryn continued to spend most of their time roaming the desert. Worry twisted at me that they might draw attention to us, enough so that one time I attempted to follow them. I lost them five minutes out of the station and stopped worrying. A little.
And what did I spend my time doing, when caring for my two brothers didn't fill my time? I tried to resist the puzzle, to follow my father's last bit of advice to us. I couldn't do it, however. Arguing with myself over my actions, my reasons, trying to rationalize what needed done, only helped so much. Part of me said someone needed to make sure my father's program continued to operate and remain hidden from prying eyes. The settlement needed the water, after all. Part of me wanted to know who was doing it and why. Yet another part hoped the answer to where my father had been taken could be found.
So searching the database occupied my attention during those days alone. I made sure my research remained hidden and diverse, hoping it might throw off any prying eyes. My research included everything from current events to folk tales to cooking recipes. I got myself lost in the vast network of information on purpose, all the while trying to search for the necessary data. Research of current water usage got buried in historical reports on how the water system came to be. Events of modern interest in the Colberran main city swamped my work in hopes of discovering more about the Seekers and what they do. I brought up cultural studies of the Outer Dominances in order to study population and water usage trends there. It was tedious work, and it had to be finished whenever my siblings returned.
Oh, I thought that was being clever. My work had to have remained hidden. Oh, how naive I was.
#
The Seekers returned less than a month after our move to the relay station. Inconveniently for me, they arrived during one of my trips back into the settlement. In order to at least hold off the citizens' curiosity about where we had gone, Donovan and I took turns every few days sneaking back during core-night to our old house and being seen doing business during the day. We never did figure out if it did any good, but we were young and full of our well-conceived plans.
One day as I strolled back to our house, a sack full of foodstuffs on my arm, the telltale cloaks of the Seekers one street over greeted my eyes. I looked away and, once out of sight, hurried my pace. It was impossible to tell if they had seen me or not, nor was I even sure they were looking for me. Still, the risk was too great to take a chance on either. I rushed as discreetly as possible back to our house and once inside, locked the door. Core-set stood several hours away. To keep from worrying, I busied myself cleaning dust off the furniture and re-situating my travel sack over and over. Cleaning enabled me to peek out through the window sheers drawn closed throughout the house. My efforts to look outside revealed no sign of the Seekers. Gradually, as the day passed, I began to relax.
As core-set came and the settlement went to sleep, I made my way back out into the desert. To be safe, the route I chose left the village heading west, the central mountain range to my right, the edge of the shell to my left. I traveled almost a chron before doubling back around to the north. Even in the dim core-light, the water pipe dominated the skyline stretching from the mountains to the settlement. Once under it, I made my way along the pipe toward the relay station.
When I arrived, however, the Seekers were already there. I huddled near a rock outcropping, looking down at two of their mounts. The front each the long, thin, single-seat hover-bike formed a bulbous nose, with a swooping tail. The machines floated a few feet off the ground just under the tower, their riders nowhere in sight. I stared down at the station at a complete loss as to what to do, when something moved just over me. I rolled to my right, but something leapt atop my body and pinned me on my back, an air pulse gun aimed at my face. Beyond the weapon stood a Seeker, cloak shifting in the swirling desert winds, dark face mostly concealed behind a cowl.
"Do nothing sudden and I won't have to discharge this and carry you," a calm, male voice said to me in an unrecognizable accent.
I nodded, and he moved off, allowing me to stand. He waved the gun toward the relay station, and we made our way there in silence. At his signal, I entered to find Donovan and Maryn sitting on the entry level against the wall to my right. Another Seeker stood guard over them, his white face also mostly concealed. My captor pointed, directing me to sit next to my siblings.
"Found her on the rise coming from the settlement," my captor muttered, stepping near his counterpart.
"Out a bit late, aren't we?" the second Seeker asked me. I kept silent. "Talks as much as these two. See anyone else?"
"No, she's the one our sensor picked up," my captor answered, shaking his head. "Been tracking her since she left."
I glanced at my brothers, and Maryn moved to sit in my lap. The Seekers ignored him.
"If we picked her up, you know the rest did," the second Seeker muttered. "They'll be coming our way soon."
My captor shrugged. "Or expecting us to bring her in." He pointed at Donovan and Maryn. "They won't be expecting them, though. Only what their sensor told them: a lone person sneaking off into the desert."
The second Seeker eyed my brothers, his blue eyes not moving from us. "If we take her in, they'll find out about these two soon enough."
I glanced at Donovan and mouthed the word "if." He shrugged and nodded at the Seekers.
"If we stay out here too long, they'll start wondering anyway and come looking." My captor pointed at me. "She fits the description of the woman they're looking for." He nodded at my brothers. "And she has two siblings."
Unable to stay quiet, I asked, "Who's looking for me?"
The two Seekers stopped talking and looked at me, neither speaking at first. The second Seeker nodded at my captor and stepped forw
ard. My captor left the building, leaving us alone with the other Seeker. He stepped nearer and squatted down before me.
"They're looking for you...Micaela, is it?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. I nodded in answer. "And I guess this is Donovan?" He waved at Maryn in my lap.
"I'm Donovan," my brother piped up from beside me.
"Oh, my apologies," the Seeker said, looking at my other brother. "So you must be Maryn."
We all remained quiet, uncertain about what to do or say.
"As I was saying, the Seekers are technically looking for all three of you. They were quite bothered when they couldn't find you in the settlement." His eyes glanced at the ceiling. "Ingenious little place to hide. Maintenance crews won’t be by here for another, what, quarter of a cycle?"
"They just came here a couple of weeks ago," Donovan said.
The Seeker looked at my brother. "Ah, so a half cycle." He looked back at me. "As I said, ingenious."
"Not nearly so, if you found us."
He chuckled under his cowl. "That was random chance." He nodded at Donovan. "Your siblings here led us on a wild hunt tracking them. My partner outside even had a bit of a challenge at some points, and that's saying something for him."
"Couldn't you just use your tracker to follow us?" Donovan asked.
The Seeker nodded. "Sure, but my partner doesn't like those machines. Avoids using them when he can." He shrugged and turned his gaze back to me. "He does what he wants. He's survived on this shell long enough to earn that much."
I opened my mouth to ask a question, then stopped. What did he mean, survived on this shell? I was about to ask when the door opened and my captor returned.
"They're coming."
Chapter 7 - Hard Truths
"How much time?" the second Seeker asked.
"A matter of minutes." My captor exited, and the door closed.
"Right, we don't have much time." The second Seeker knelt before us. "I need to know one thing before the Seekers get here."
"You keep referring to them like you aren't one of them," I commented.
His eyebrows raised in unison, eyes locked on mine. "I'm not, but that's not important right now. What is important is who you are." He looked at each of us in turn. "Which one of you has been accessing the water usage data on the network?"
Donovan jolted next to me but kept his mouth shut.
"I'll judge by your reaction you at least know what I'm talking about. Was it you?" he asked my brother. Donovan shook his head. "You?" He turned his gaze to me. I held my tongue. "Fine, keep your secret. From everyone. Don't trust any of the Seekers. They'll just as soon kill you as take you to join your father."
"What do you know about our father?" I asked.
"Enough to know he's probably the brains behind your little water stealing program."
I shook my head. "We weren't stealing water. Someone is stealing it from us and we were trying to stop it."
"Be that as it may, the Seekers coming don't agree with you." He looked over his shoulder as my captor came back inside, two fingers held up. The second Seeker nodded, then looked back at me. "Don't volunteer any information. And do your best to play along."
"You expect me just to lie to a bunch of Seekers?"
"Not lie. Equivocate. Dissemble. Dodge. Just avoid the truth."
I frowned. "That can't be as easy as you claim."
He reached out, patting me on the shoulder and said, "Don't sell yourself short."
A cold chill rushed down my back at his words. My father's words. Words he'd been saying to me for years. I glanced at Donovan, who shook his head and shrugged.
The second Seeker stood up, made sure his cowl and hood remained in place, and then took a position standing over us. We all sat or stood for a moment before the door slid open and three more Seekers walked in, pulse guns drawn. They scanned the room; one signaled for the other two to search above as our captors stood watching. After a few moments, the two Seekers returned from their search, shaking their heads. The third Seeker stepped partway out of the door and signaled to someone outside.
Two more Seekers walked in, but only one drew my eyes. He stood a head taller than the rest and his cloak, while the same silver as the others’, had solid black trim along the edges. The cowl covering his face was striped gold and black, and he had eyes of solid black, visible through a small cut in the cowl. When those fell on me, another shiver went up my spine. Only when he looked away did I start to breathe again.
"Ah, our two outlanders beat you here, Squad Leader," the man said, his voice rough, though muffled by his cowl. "How disappointing."
The man standing next to him lowered his head, shoulders bowing.
"Still, you're not a complete waste," the man with black eyes muttered, stepping in to the center of the room. "Outlanders, are we to assume three children are enough of a threat to warrant you standing guard over them?"
The second Seeker, Blue Eyes, shook his head. "One is a child, the other two are adults." He pointed at Donovan. "This one is old enough for conscription, unless I miss my mark."
"Bah, these three weaklings hardly warrant both of your attention," Black Eyes stated, not even bothering to look at us. "Why didn't you send someone back to get us?"
"We've hardly been here long enough to do that." Blue Eyes held his head up, staring into the hard, cold black eyes of the Seeker in charge. "This one," he pointed at me, "was in the settlement. You can imagine Suyef’s and my surprise she made it out this far."
The squad leader jerked his head up, eyes flaring. "I've had enough of your insolence, Outlander!"
Black Eyes raised one finger and the squad leader fell silent. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"As you already know, our sensors aren't functioning inside the settlement. Squad Leader Pollan here decided to take the initiative and leave the settlement to see if they would work in the desert." Black Eyes moved to stand over us. "Needless to say, they did."
"We were just about to bring them in," Blue Eyes said, shrugging. "Figuring out how to mount two speeders with five riders would have proven...difficult."
Black Eyes held up a hand. "Enough of your excuses, Quentin. I don't really care. You're only here because your orders protect you." He glanced over his shoulder at our captors. "Be silent, for once."
Blue Eyes, or Quentin, as his name appeared to be, opened his mouth to reply, but Suyef, my captor, touched his arm and Quentin's mouth snapped shut.
"So," Black Eyes said, squatting down to stare at me. "These are the progeny of our leader's current distraction." He chuckled. "I'm sure it will lighten your hearts to know your father is alive and well. For now."
He stood up, glowering down at us from behind his cowl. Beside me, Donovan jolted, bumping against me. The Seeker glanced at him, then back at me.
"Cross me,” he continued, “and I can assure you, his Eminence hears my words. I can make your father's stay in the Central Dominance quite uncomfortable."
I stared up into those cold, black eyes, waiting for him to go on. He looked over at Donovan and Maryn and then back at me.
"Which of you is most likely to talk?" he asked, turning and walking away.
The three Seekers that had investigated the tower before Black Eyes arrived remained positioned around the room. The squad leader, Pollan, stood before the door, and Quentin and Suyef remained off to my right. Black Eyes clasped his hands behind his back as he came to a stop before the network terminal.
"Better yet, which one of you will show me what it is your father's been up to out here?" He looked over his shoulder toward us. "We know you've been meddling in things you shouldn't.”
I gripped Donovan’s arm and dug my fingers in for silent emphasis to let him know what I thought the Seeker meant. He shook his arm free and I could feel him looking at me.
“We know your father is the guilty one." He turned to face us, and a small smile danced across those eyes. "An
d we hardly want to make you children...uncomfortable. A journey to Colberra City will be difficult, for sure. Being from out here, the altitude in the Central Mountains might be a bit much for you. And the city itself." He looked at Donovan. "Have you ever been?" We shook our heads. "Well, it might be worth going just to see it, but you won't be tourists. You'll be Seekers’ guests until his Eminence has what he wants from your father." He stepped away from the terminal and stopped a few paces from us. "So, will you tell me what I want to know, or shall we go north?"
I glanced at Donovan. He glared at the Seeker, his jaw set in a very familiar way: stubborn defiance. I looked back at Black Eyes and shook my head. The tall man looked at the ground.
"Outlanders, did you find out anything before we got here?" His voice turned hard and cold.
"As I said, sir, we arrived just before you," Quentin repeated. He pointed at Donovan. "The two males were out in the desert when Suyef spotted them on our patrol. We tracked them to this station. I took charge of them while Suyef conducted a search for anyone else. I wasn't in here very long before he came back saying he'd spotted movement west of here." He pointed at me. "That was her."
Black Eyes turned to face Suyef. "Let me guess, refusing to use our sensors again?" Suyef shrugged. "I'm telling you, Outlander, you keep this up and we'll ship you back to your own shell."
I tucked that bit of information away for later. I knew something had seemed different about him the moment I saw his dark-skinned face. For his part, Suyef remained quiet, standing close to Quentin. The pair seemed an odd set, facing the imposing figure.
"Someday, you'll cross that line enough for me to do something to you," Black Eyes growled. "Both of you." He turned away from our two captors. "Squad Leader," he barked out, "secure this facility. You two"—he pointed at Quentin and Suyef—"take the prisoners upstairs and put them in one of the sleeping quarters. Since you caught them, you get to guard them all night. We'll take them north tomorrow."
#
An upheld hand stopped Micaela.
"Am I to assume this Quentin is the same one the Queen mentioned?" I asked, tapping a finger on the piece of paper I'd jotted down the names on earlier. “The one you said was dead?”
Rise: Tears (Future Worlds Book 1) Page 6