The Gender End

by Bella Forrest

  It looked just like the ones we’d seen at the Facility and the Liberator base—both designed to keep out the toxic environment of The Green.

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  29

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  VIGGO

  I can’t see any cameras, I said after studying the intimidating airlock ahead of us, my voice instinctively down to a whisper even though we still spoke through the subvocalizers. Thomas shifted next to me, grunting slightly.

  I’m getting a reading for one. It could be inside the door. There’s a keypad, right?

  Yes, that’s the only thing that makes it different from the doors we saw in The Green. Why would it be down here?

  He gave me a look and shrugged. If this is supposed to be a last measure against biological attack, then the system would need to be enclosed and self-contained.

  It’s a lab, Ms. Dale said, as though the answer were obvious. It’s for keeping whatever they’re working on from getting out.

  So there could be biological agents in there, I said, and everyone fell silent.

  It’s possible, Thomas said. But we all brought masks, so we’ll just put them on in the airlock. He turned and fixed me with a look. Or do you want to come up with a better way to get into the palace?

  I still don’t understand why we aren’t just letting Alyssa handle this, Logan grumbled, and Morgan bit back a growl.

  Because my eight-year-old little sister is up there with Elena, she said, getting fed who knows what propaganda, and every minute Elena is given to run around and set her plans in motion is a minute that will cost countless more lives.

  Amber gave the man a look through her lashes and shook her head, joining in the argument, much less heatedly than Morgan. You know why we need to stop her. Your men are over there in Patrus getting ready to fire at the boys. You said you wanted to be here—are you having second thoughts? For once her voice was carefully modulated; she sounded more concerned than angry. I listened in mild surprise.

  Logan hesitated, and then frowned. You’re right. I’m sorry. I just… I don’t like this laboratory thing. No one knows what we’ll find inside.

  Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll be a fallout shelter, Violet commented, leaning forward again to check the door. For now, Thomas, I assume you have a way in?

  I do, I do, but I need Owen.

  Me? Owen looked up from the back of the line, and then shrugged. What’s up, Tom-Tom?

  Not you too, the short man sighed, but that was his only protest, and he was soon focused again as he pulled out a small flat box attached to several cables. At the bottom of the keypad will be a port matching one of these heads. Find the one that matches, plug it in, hit this button, and wait.

  That’s easy. Why can’t you do it? Owen reached for the device as he asked the question, and Thomas sighed.

  Because I’m not as good with the suit as you are, Thomas said simply, zipping up his bag. Owen smiled and unzipped a suit pocket, slipping the device inside and reclosing it.

  I always like hearing that, he quipped, and then he disappeared in front of our eyes.

  I always hate seeing someone do that, Ms. Dale said, and Owen chuckled through the comms.

  The reappearing is worse, Amber replied. One time Quinn got the drop on me—the little imp hung on some pipes for two hours waiting for me to come down so he could scare me.

  Did he scare you? Logan asked.

  He got a black eye, so what do you think? Amber retorted, and shared a smile with Violet.

  I smiled, easily picturing the scene, and waited, trying not to dwell too much on what was coming ahead of us. It crossed my mind that I should cut off nonessential little conversations like this, but I let it pass. The cave was dark and unknown, but we weren’t in immediate danger, and the talk helped take everyone’s minds off the fear of anticipation. Besides, if Ms. Dale was allowing the distraction to go that far, then there was a reason.

  It’s in, Owen reported after a minute, and I looked over and saw the device floating off to one side, seemingly suspended in midair.

  If the camera sees that… I trailed off, warning in my voice.

  The only camera is in the airlock, Thomas replied, his fingers on the handheld as lines and lines of code ran over it. I’m putting it on a loop, but…

  He fell silent, his brows furrowing while he read the lines of code as they drifted by. This system is hack-proof, he said. We all looked at him at once, and he blinked. No, I don’t mean I can’t hack it—what I mean is I can’t get into their system from here using what I brought. I need access to a terminal that’s hardwired in. I can trick the doors one at a time, but without that… I won’t know how to stop anything if it is used against us.

  Like what? Owen asked.

  Like, I don’t know, Owen! Thomas exploded irritably. For all I know, there could be man-sized murderous robots on the other side of the doors! That ride unicorns! And kiss you to death! That’s what I’m trying to say—there’s a computer system there, but I can’t crack the firewall without three days of prep. Each security system we run across I can jack into and take over, but without a direct line into their system, I can’t do it in a way that will let us know what’s ahead of us.

  Calm down, Thomas. No one expects you to be a superman, I said soothingly, and the little man seemed to deflate somewhat. Now, is this door hackable?

  Yes, they all are. The door’s already open, and the camera is now set on a loop. So if anyone’s watching, they won’t see us.

  Perfect. Owen, will you kindly open the door for the ladies?

  I heard the hand wheel spin and the door creak open, the hinges slightly rusted, before Owen’s hands began to appear again holding it open. I led the way around the corner, stepping inside what was, indeed, an airlock. Two doors that shut tightly enough to create an airtight seal, ventilation ducts in the top for pressurizing or detoxing the air, a panel with lights and buttons that controlled those ventilation areas. I’d kind of hoped never to see one of these again, after all the troubles we had gone through every time we’d gone into one… Maybe in another lifetime, I thought ruefully.

  A sign on the opposite door caught my eye. “Danger: Toxic Environment Ahead.” Several more signs were posted along the walls, all reminding workers to put their masks on.

  Well, Violet said wryly through the comms, it’s a good thing someone reminded everyone to bring their masks.

  I shot her a glance, and saw her smile as she pulled her own mask out of her bag. Everyone dutifully fished through their bags to find their own, and I saw Logan looking around frantically for a moment, and then reaching over and pulling one from a case on the side of the wall.

  Looks like they put some out for us, he declared triumphantly, slipping the straps over the top of his head and pulling it down over his face. He probably hadn’t thought to carry one in the pack he’d brought… Another good reason not to sneak along on sensitive missions, I thought to myself.

  When we were all geared up, I pulled my pistol out and began screwing the silencer in. Just because we didn’t see any guards outside doesn’t mean there aren’t any inside, I said, turning to face the group. Be careful and keep an eye out. Remember your suits will help hide you—we want to avoid detection for as long as possible. If we get caught here, the whole plan falls apart.

  If we get separated, fall back on our contingency plans, Ms. Dale continued for me from where she knelt on the floor, pulling grenades out of her bag and clipping them onto her belt. Logan, whoever you end up with, you’re following their orders, so try to stick close to Amber, or else there’s no telling where the two of you will shake out once things are said and done.

  Awesome, Logan replied dryly, bringing his rifle around to face forward. Behind him, Owen was slowly pulling the door closed behind us. He quickly turned the hand wheel, and there was a soft hiss that went silent as the seal moved into place. Flashing me a thumbs up, he pulled his bag back onto his shoulder and slipped his gun out of its holster.
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  Thomas, open the inner door, I said, and Thomas nodded, clicking a button. A red light next to the door began to flash, and immediately a white mist began to pour from the vents above, filling the room. I reached out and ran my hand through it, pulling it back to see if it would irritate my skin, but it didn’t.

  I focused on the flashing red light, waiting for the room to pressurize. It turned green a few short seconds later, and I moved to the door, cranking the hand wheel. The door swung open, revealing an interior just as foggy as the airlock, and I stepped in.

  Even though the suits regulated our temperature, I could tell the room was warm and humid. I stepped out of the airlock, my gun out but lowered, and was surprised to feel that the floor was… soft. Looking down, I frowned when I saw a blanket of thick green moss.

  Everyone followed me out of the airlock, and as Thomas closed it, I realized this side of the inside door was covered in moss too.

  This is… This is The Green, Violet whispered, her silver eyes darting around, searching the mist for any sign of life. Why is this here?

  Who knows, Ms. Dale said, her voice containing a brittle edge. It does no good speculating. Thomas? Do you detect cameras in here?

  No, and I doubt they would put cameras down in these areas.

  Why bother? asked Amber, seeming to understand. If they’re just studying the ecology, then they wouldn’t care. Maybe they were trying to figure out what was causing the poison or changing the atmosphere?

  At that moment my ears caught something, and I turned, taking a few steps forward with my flashlight held high. There was lighting overhead, but the mist obscured a portion of it. It was difficult to see how large the room was or what could be out there just a few feet beyond us, so I was relying mostly on my ears to tell me that things were safe… and this didn’t sound quite safe. The mist roiled angrily as I passed through it, following the sound.

  It was so soft at first, I couldn’t be sure I had heard it, but as I drew nearer to the source, I frowned at the familiarity. I waited for my brain to find the memory—and then, in a flash of adrenaline, I realized why the buzzing of thousands of wings was all too hauntingly familiar.

  I stepped forward, trying to wave tendrils of mist out of the way. There couldn’t be… Surely not here…

  I managed to blow some of the mist away enough to see the source of the noise: a huge glass tank filled with thousands of familiar insects, their red bodies pushing up against the glass toward us. Violet let out a surprised sound from behind me, and I turned to see her drawing close.

  Red flies? she whispered as she stared at the tank, and I could see the shudder running down her spine. She shook her shoulders, trying to clear the feeling, and I couldn’t blame her. The things had nearly killed me, Ms. Dale, and her more than once. How are they still alive?

  I swallowed, wondering if I should even mention it. Alejandro told me that they cannibalize their own when they lack food. The females target males first, mate with them, and then consume them, lay eggs, and tear each other apart. The new generation arrives to finish off the old, and the process continues again.

  Her eyes drifted down to the bottom of the tank, and I followed them, seeing there what was clearly the cannibalized remains of thousands of flies as Violet’s mouth turned down in disgust.

  Oh, she said after a moment. Are we safe?

  Perfectly safe, Thomas assured her through the comms. Except that their cage’s functions are controlled by a master computer.

  I’ve got another tank of red flies over here, but there are animal remains at the bottom of it, announced Ms. Dale from somewhere off in the mist.

  There’s another one down here, but these flies aren’t red. They’re green, added Logan.

  Green? I asked, turning around.

  Yeah. There aren’t very many of them, though. I can only see about seven of them in this thing.

  That’s nothing, said Morgan, her voice soft and low with something that sounded like awe. I just found the river.

  What? asked Violet, turning around and heading back into the mist toward where we’d last seen Morgan. I followed behind her, making sure not to lose her in the mist as we slowly pushed through it. And then suddenly the mist parted, revealing a tiny stream of the familiar bright blue, glowing water as it fed through a channel carven in the cave ground, flowing at a moderate rate. I saw Morgan standing a few feet away, moving up and following the small trickle.

  She disappeared into the mist, and a moment later, her voice was back on the line. It’s being fed in through a hole in the wall.

  They probably have it hooked up to a pump, Thomas mused.

  Let’s move on, Ms. Dale said brusquely, and I reluctantly admitted to myself that she was right. We couldn’t let our curiosity about this bizarre place keep us from the mission. Thomas, where are we going?

  Now that I’m down here, I can finally orient this map. I can’t believe they didn’t include a compass on this. One second. There was a pause. Okay, check your compasses and head northwest. Only one way in and out of this cavern.

  The horrible buzzing of the flies continued as we moved, growing louder as we approached more of the vats and quieter when we moved away from them, and I ignored it, focusing on the path ahead. This place was creepy, and I had a thousand questions about it, but we had a lot of ground to cover if we were going to get into the palace.

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  30

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  VIGGO

  Violet followed me closely, and every time I turned to look at her, I saw her eyes darting around, taking everything in just as I was, not missing a detail. The buzzing faded away after a while, and the passage narrowed considerably, until we were moving through it in single file. I was in the lead, with Owen bringing up the rear.

  The tunnel continued narrowing, forcing me to duck low to avoid scraping the top of my head, and then widened up again, admitting us to a new area—I assumed we’d found our way out of the first cavern into another set of rooms. The mist was continuous and thick, making it difficult to see, but I held my flashlight up, trying to illuminate the area. This chamber was quieter, and I heard the familiar trickle of water.

  There’s another stream in here, I announced. Be careful not to fall in—that stuff is concentrated.

  According to this map, there are several other doors ahead, Thomas reported through the comms. I’m trying to look for the right one now. It was hard to make out which dark form was his, but I thought he was standing next to the Owen-shaped blob, a few blobs down. This was beginning to grow ridiculous—but I had to wonder if the tainted water was the reason why the mist was so thick.

  All right, fellow non-scientists, I said as I pushed forward. Does this effectively confirm that the environment of The Green is caused by the river?

  It does and it doesn’t, Owen said. Because The Green is wide, and runs for miles in either direction on both sides of the river… but then we have Matrus and Patrus. Why would it be concentrated in one area but not affect things farther downstream?

  Two potential reasons, replied Thomas. The first is that the area The Green encompasses is actually a lower elevation than where we built our city. That creates a pocket just outside of the extreme cold of the mountains, and after years and years of being there, it has created its own thermal pocket to thrive within.

  What’s the second? Amber asked.

  That the area of The Green sits atop a water reservoir that has been contaminated so badly, that everything around the area is affected by it.

  Does that mean our water supplies will eventually be contaminated? I asked, mentally wondering if that was one more thing we needed to deal with in our countries’ futures.

  Well… maybe, but probably not. I, uh, I guess you didn’t see that report I left for you and Violet in your debriefing packets, huh?

  I blinked and panned my flashlight around, looking for a sign of something through all the mist. To be honest, I had focused on the overall mission, and
not the various technical details Thomas had included. He tended to over-report things, and at this point, it had become second nature to skim and move on. This particular packet had been thick, jammed full of reports that had been made in our absence, and I… I was a newlywed. Still, it bothered me that I had missed something, and I wasn’t afraid to ask.

  Sorry, Thomas. I guess we didn’t. What did I overlook?

  That King Maxen’s grandfather basically created a way of filtering out all the toxins in the water, and had been secretly using the river to supply all of Patrus with water for drinking, bathing, swimming, and growing our food. That was the real purpose of the water treatment plant. We only discovered it after the raid, after I recovered more information from the computers in the plant itself.

  Wait, so he could’ve—

  I shook myself, suddenly floored. That was a big shock—just one more thing to shake the foundations of our world. The implications were stunning; we would have to put some thought and effort into that when we got back from—

  I was so absorbed in what Thomas and I were talking about that I almost missed the trench that loomed out of the mist beneath me, glowing blue with the contaminated water. I would’ve stepped right into it, but Violet grabbed my arm and pulled me back before I could even contemplate how badly it was going to hurt. I stumbled back, a few steps away from the group, and my back came in contact with something hard.

  Whirling around, I saw fangs and an open mouth coming right for me, and I shouted and ducked down, raising my gun and freezing with my finger on the trigger as I comprehended the glass in front of me. I had run into a tank, and as I watched, the massive silver python hit the glass, its open mouth smashing into it with a thump. It reared back, black tongue flicking out to taste the air, and the huge head turned, its beady eyes spearing me with a look. It nudged the glass again with its nose, thumping against it, and I slowly straightened as Violet came out of the mist, looking concerned.