AEGIS EVOLUTION

by S. S. Segran

  Reyor chuckled softly, then reached into a pocket and withdrew a small violet sphere. “Oh, I know.” The lathe’ad rolled over smooth fingers. “You never cease to speak of it. And I see you’re yet to outgrow the colors of our forefathers. That gaudy hue hurts my eyes.”

  “I will let that quip slide. This Tyrian purple is a nod to our heritage, Reyor, and a noble heritage it is. It is us, after all, who brought the alphabet to the world. And if not for us, the ancient Greeks would have been letterless! See how revered they are now, even to this day.”

  “The world has much to thank us for and soon, when it has been cleansed, it will thank us again.” Reyor turned to the digital clock on the desk at the far end of the room. “I have a meeting with Tony in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, then.” As the old man left the room, he added over his shoulder, “Go easy on the young man, Reyor. He is entirely devoted to you, and you know it kills him that he’s let you down. A good leader knows when to swing hard and when to give their people breathing room.”

  Once he’d left, Reyor turned back to the window and raised the lathe’ad, watching the sun refract in the sphere, then said, “And sometimes, a good leader knows that fear and an iron fist gets the job done.”

  43

  Mariah readjusted the ear-loops of her disposable surgical mask. “I hate these things,” she muttered. “They feel so flimsy compared to the full-faced ones Danny gave us.”

  “Those are military grade,” Marshall said. “Just hang tight. We’ve already cleared immigration and got our bags, so all we need to do is get through the health screening and you can use your personal masks.”

  “Is Dominique here yet?” Tegan asked, sounding eager to see the African Sentry again.

  “She’s making her way to the arrival hall as we speak.”

  Aari looked at his watch. “Midnight on the dot. I’m surprised she managed to get to Cairo on such short notice.”

  “Helps when you’ve got friends who can fly planes.” Marshall slapped Kody’s back. “Just like someone we know.”

  Kody staggered forward a few steps before Tegan caught him. “Whoa, hey, good sir,” he said, brushing himself off. “I’ve only logged about two hundred hours on a single-engine Cessna. Now if we’re talking gliders, I’ve got that locked down.”

  The friends and Marshall stood in a lineup of nearly two hundred people from two separate flights, waiting to be transferred to the screening area. They all wore masks that airport staff had distributed before they’d boarded their planes to Egypt. As far as Mariah could tell, most of the passengers were Egyptians returning to their country before flights were grounded. At the very front of the queue, security personnel in white uniforms and full-face masks with assault rifles slung over their shoulders ushered the travelers into the arrival hall. Other armed guards were positioned at various entranceways.

  Marshall cocked his head. “Hm.”

  “What?” Mariah asked.

  “I was just remembering the last time I was here, a few years ago. Security was shamefully lax. Sure feels different now.” When his gaze drifted to a passenger a few rows ahead of them in the lineup, Mariah saw his face tighten slightly.

  A disgruntled young woman in a mint-colored hijab sat on her suitcase. She seemed irritated. An older lady standing in front of her, most likely her mother, looked down at her miserably. She extended a hand to the young woman but it was angrily swatted away.

  The passengers were soon led into a cordoned corner at the farthest side of the arrival hall. Rows of chairs had been divided into three sections by stanchions to segregate passengers from different flights. At the end of each section was a long table, two of which were occupied by nurses in hazmat suits ready to take blood samples and cheek swabs. The passengers from Tel Aviv were assigned to the center section marked ‘B’ while those who’d arrived on the flight from Jordan sat in Section C. Just as the first passengers were called up to the tables, the flight crews from both planes arrived, taking their places with the others.

  One by one, every person gave the necessary samples, flashed their passports, and returned to their seats to wait for the results. The friends did some people-watching to kill time, all of them impatient to get going.

  “This shouldn’t take long, right?” Aari asked. “We were screened before we got on the plane, anyway.”

  “It still might take a while,” Marshall said. “There’s a ton of people to go through and only a couple of nurses this time of night.” He looked over to the exit behind them where fully armed military personnel were now posted.

  “Guess we can’t make a break for it,” Tegan said, seemingly half-joking.

  Kody prodded Aari’s knee. “Hey,” he said, “wasn’t high fever one of the symptoms of the Omega strain? The violent one?”

  “Yeah,” Aari replied. “Why?”

  Kody surreptitiously indicated with his chin. “You see that girl there, with her head in her hands?”

  Mariah scanned the crowd from the Jordan flight until she found the passenger—the young woman in a mint-colored hijab holding her head tightly as if in pain.

  “I see her,” Aari said. “She was ahead of us in the queue.”

  “I just did a thermal scan of the crowd,” Kody murmured. “Everyone’s body temperature is normal… except for hers and the older woman beside her, probably her mom. Her mother’s is elevated a little bit, but the girl? She’s off the charts.”

  “What?” Mariah hissed. “How did they get past the health screening in Jordan?”

  Dread flashed in Marshall’s eyes. “Maybe they didn’t screen their passengers at all.”

  “The girl’s all the way over there,” Tegan said, her hand pressing her mask flatter against her face. “And everyone’s covered up, so we should be fine. Right?”

  “Guys.” Kody’s voice shook. “There’s blood dripping from the corner of her eyes.”

  The young woman suddenly screamed. She fell off her chair onto her knees, banging her fists against her head. Her mother crouched next to her but was roughly shoved onto her back. Scarlet leaked from the girl’s nose, staining her clothes even as blood trailed down her face from her tear ducts. She bashed her head against the ground over and over, wailing.

  All hell broke loose as terrified passengers made a break for the exit. The soldiers standing guard reacted by pointing their rifles at the approaching crowd and shouting at them to stay inside. The passengers screamed and begged to leave, some even falling to their knees with their hands raised in supplication, but the armed men forced them back into the screening area. Some retaliated but were struck with batons and shoved into the cordoned area. They gathered behind the seats, putting distance between themselves and the sick girl. A few wept openly. Marshall stepped protectively in front of the friends.

  The young woman turned to see two nurses escorted by airport security approaching her; one of the nurses had a needle in hand. She scurried backward on all fours, quivering, her eyes darting from one person to the next.

  Chains of distress wrapped around Mariah’s heart, pulling tighter each second. She pressed her hand against her chest, looking on helplessly as the young woman backed away like a terrified child. She felt arms slide around her as Tegan and Kody held her from either side. Aari, standing beside Tegan with his hands tucked firmly under his arms, could barely watch.

  “Ummi!” the girl cried, reaching for her mother. Blood dribbled between her lips. “Ummi!”

  The older woman ran to her despite the guards’ efforts to hold her back and knelt beside her daughter. The girl suddenly bared her teeth, ripped off her hijab and threw herself at her mother, fingers curved like claws, sweat dripping from her head. She screeched and swung at the older woman but missed, her sharp nails striking the ground.

  The guards and nurses moved in but the girl must have sensed their approach. She leapt off her mother with a snarl and was rapidly circled by the workers. They spoke in soothing tones as they orbited her, th
e guards with their hands on their holsters, the nurses holding up sedatives. She twisted around to keep an eye on all of them as they got closer, her body heaving with ragged breaths, her dark hair covering half her face. She’d started to bleed from her ears, and the whites of her eyes were almost completely covered in stark red veins.

  What can I do? Mariah thought, gripping Tegan’s and Kody’s arms tightly. There has to be something. I can’t just… just stand around!

  The girl stomped her feet, warning the workers to keep away as terror returned to her eyes. But they only moved closer. One of the nurses approached her from the side but the girl saw the oncoming threat. With a bellow she hurled herself onto the woman, throwing her to the ground and savagely beating her with her fists.

  The guards yelled for her to stop as they swung their guns up. Mariah frantically looked from the men to the girl beating and clawing at the shrieking nurse, weighing her options. As the guards’ fingers slid to the triggers, she focused on the weapons.

  But she was a half a second too slow.

  Two reports sounded. The girl froze for a moment before slowly slumping onto the nurse. A sickening silence followed as though all the air had been sucked out of the hall.

  Mariah dug her fingers into her friends’ arms. No.

  “She’s still breathing,” Kody whispered. “But barely.”

  Newly arrived guards in hazmat suits helped the nurses carry the young woman through a door at the back of the screening area behind the test tables. The girl’s mother sat on the ground, rocking back and forth, her lamentations echoing through the hall and her face soaked with tears. The guards returned and one guided her through the same door. The other addressed the passengers and crew in Arabic, then in English, “We will be moving everyone to a secure facility where you will all be tested again.”

  The passengers went into an uproar. They flooded toward the guard, shouting over one another in protest. Marshall headed over, signaling for the friends to stay put.

  Tegan pulled Mariah close. “Hey, come here.”

  Mariah nestled into her friend’s warm hug, feeling drained. “How are you so calm?”

  “Because losing my head isn’t a reasonable option… but it doesn’t mean that that wasn’t one of the hardest things I’ve had to watch.”

  “That woman could be dead.”

  “She was already dying, ’Riah. We need to remember that. She could have seriously harmed, maybe even killed, the nurse. And it really sucks, I know, because we have these gifts, these abilities, and we’re powerless to do anything. But the only way we can help anyone is by finding the seeds.”

  Kody sunk into a chair. “It’s hard to keep that in mind when something like this happens right in front of you. At the Battle of Ayen’et—yeah, we saw good people die, but at least we were able to help some others right then.”

  Mariah reached down to clasp his hand and he took it gratefully. Marshall returned a while later, grim. “There’s no way they’re letting anyone leave after what just happened,” he said. “We’re all quarantined. They’ve got buses coming to pick us up.”

  “Even if we by some slim chance got it,” Aari countered, “we can’t pass it on to anyone.”

  “Try explaining that to the health authorities,” Kody said.

  Tegan folded her arms. “Then we have to break out of here.”

  “Okay, Shawshank,” Marshall said. “Got a plan?”

  Mariah looked up at the Sentry. “You mean you’re okay with this?”

  “You guys call the shots, remember? I’m here as support.”

  “Alright, then,” Kody said. “Anyone got any ideas?”

  Tegan did a head count of the military personnel at the exit. “You said buses were coming to pick us up, right, Marshall?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  Tegan started to nod slowly. “Then I might have a plan. And it all rests on you, ’Riah.”

  Mariah groaned inwardly. Somehow, I don’t think I’m gonna enjoy this.

  * * *

  “Ready?” Tegan asked.

  Mariah scowled. “Are you sure there’s no other way to do this?”

  “Unless anyone else has a better idea that doesn’t involve getting in the crossfire of over fifteen military men, then yes.”

  “This is gonna hurt. A lot.”

  “I know, but you’ll pull through. I’ve also got some aspirin with your name on it.”

  Four red buses idled on the road next to the terminal, away from the main entrances to the arrival hall. The friends and Marshall made sure they were last in line as the passengers boarded with their luggage. Three buses were completely filled, but the fourth one at the back still had plenty of room. As the soldiers shepherded the teenagers and the Sentry toward it, a dark vehicle with its headlights off crept around the bend fifty yards behind the last bus.

  Good, Domi’s ready, Mariah thought.

  As the group neared the open door of the last bus, Tegan muttered, “Now!”

  The bus at the front of the line lifted off its two right wheels, tilting toward the road. The passengers trapped inside screamed as they fell against the windows; Mariah had to shut her ears to them.

  The armed men’s attention snapped to the front. They barked at each other in Arabic and two of them jogged to the first bus. Just as they arrived, the bus slammed heavily back onto the road, making them stumble back.

  Mariah jammed knuckles against the sides of her head, her legs almost buckling. This hurts! she thought to Tegan. It’s like someone’s jackhammering into my skull!

  You need to do this! Tegan commanded. One more! One more and that’s it, I promise!

  Mariah’s teeth chattered. She could barely see through the haze of agony.

  Warm hands rested on each of her shoulders followed by a peculiar sensation against her chest as her Dema-Ki pendant pulsated, like a heart. Then, a sudden surge of energy like nothing she’d ever felt before nearly threw her forward. Whoa! What—

  Before she realized what she was doing, the first two buses started to rattle and bounce uncontrollably from side to side. More screams and wails of terror threatened to suffocate her but she stubbornly pushed on. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

  The hands lifted from her shoulders and it was as though her very bones had crumbled from rapid exhaustion. She heard Tegan say that she’d created the diversion they needed, but it sounded as if her friend’s voice was reverberating off the walls of a long tunnel. Excruciating pain shot through Mariah’s head, and the last thing she saw before the asphalt rushed to meet her was the unlit vehicle approaching from behind the buses.

  44

  From the back of the minivan, a groan sounded. “What the…”

  Aari, buckled in the center row with Kody, looked over just as Mariah groggily lifted her head from Tegan’s lap. He closed his eyes briefly. She’s okay.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living,” Tegan said gently.

  Mariah dropped her head back down, groaning again. “What happened? Why does my head feel like it’s been run over by a truck?”

  Tegan stroked Mariah’s hair away from her face. “You blacked out, munchkin. Those buses really took a toll on you.”

  “Blacked out? That’s new… explains why I feel so weak right now. How long was I out?”

  “Nearly half an hour,” Kody told her. “You also had one mother of a nosebleed.”

  “Ew. I must have looked like a mess.”

  “Without you we wouldn’t have gotten away,” Aari said, smiling over his seat at her. “We’re proud of you for pushing through.”

  “Everything okay back there?” Marshall called from the front passenger seat.

  “Yeah!” Mariah called weakly. “Hi, Domi.”

  The radiant African Sentry behind the wheel beamed into the rearview mirror. “Salut, ma chère! It’s good to see those beautiful brown eyes open.”

  “Mmh, thanks. If you guys don’t mind, I think I’ll lay off my abilities for a while. And I cou
ld sure do with that aspirin now.”

  Once Mariah gulped down two tablets, she said, “Hey, Marshall, have you ever heard of people being able to transfer their energy to someone else?”

  “Never,” the Sentry answered. “As far as I know, that’s impossible.”

  “Are you sure? Because I don’t know which two of you touched my shoulders earlier, but when you did, this fresh energy just flowed through me and I was able to keep rattling the buses. But when you let go, I was completely drained.”

  Aari looked down at his hand and then at Kody. Both of them were perplexed.

  “That was us,” Kody said uncertainly.

  Marshall twisted around to frown at the friends. “This is strange. First your pendants vibrated all on their own at Asa’s place, and now this. I’ve never heard of this before.”

  They drove on through the city, nearing the desert where three structure appeared. Aari knocked on his window. “’Riah. Sit up and look outside.”

  He heard her shuffling in the backseat as she rubbernecked around him. “Oh! Oh, my gosh. Is that—”

  “Yep. The Pyramids of Giza, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world that remains.”

  “Don’t feast your eyes just yet,” Dominique advised. “I’ll drop you off first and park elsewhere. Just remember to stay in the shadows away from the guards until I get back. And wear something warm—it can get chilly out here at night.”

  The van rolled to a stop by the closed ticket office to the north of the pyramids. Aari, with the canister holding Lucius’s letters, followed the group as they slunk into the shadows of the office’s extended roof. As the vehicle retreated, Kody grabbed onto one of the columns supporting the flat roof. “Hey Marshall, could you give me a hand?”

  “Gonna look for the security detail?” Marshall guessed, boosting him onto the ledge.

  “Yep.”

  As Kody scouted, Mariah sat heavily on the ground, still looking a little out of it. Aari joined her, distracting her by pointing out different constellations in the starry sky to marvel at.