by Eric Warren
“Do you think there is any way you could get the technology back here? I would love to work on it. Well, Dad would. He’s the engineer. I bet he could figure out something easily,” she said.
“I doubt the gate will be stable enough to maintain any kind of consistent contact,” Arista said. “We’re not even sure if it’s going to open for us again. We might be stuck here forever.”
“Would that be so bad?” Blu asked, her eyes hopeful.
Arista caught Frees’ glance in the rearview. “No, I’m sure it wouldn’t. But there are people we care about on the other side. People we have to rescue.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Blu said. “I wouldn’t want to be stuck over there if Dad was over here. That would be torture.”
Frees leaned closer to the center console between the two seats up front. Arista noticed Blu shifted away slightly. “Blu, I just wanted to say again how sorry I am for earlier. I shouldn’t have been so brash with you. Did Arista tell you I’ve been having problems?”
“What kind of problems?” she asked, tilting herself toward him.
“I’m not sure. I think it’s a malfunction deep within my cortex somewhere. It’s been causing me to act erratically lately.”
“You should feel lucky he only snapped at you,” Arista said. “He tried to kill me.” She had to stifle a laugh when she saw Blu’s face. “Well, he was also trying to rescue me at the same time. So it wasn’t all bad.”
“What the hell?” Blu asked.
“I threw her on my back and jumped out of a hundred and fifty-story window,” Frees said. “We never even had a chance at making the next building.”
“Because of your malfunction?” Blu asked.
Frees nodded, sitting back in his seat.
Blu leaned over to Arista. “How did you survive? What went through your head? Were you all like ‘How could he do this to me’?”
Arista laughed. “No. I had a weapon at the time that produced a concussive blast. I fired when we were in midair and it knocked us far enough to the next building. But I wasn’t happy with him for a while.”
“I wouldn’t be either.”
“But, we worked it out. I trust Frees more than anyone else. I trust him with my life.”
“Even after that?” She turned around in her seat to look at him.
“Even after that. We’ve been through too much,” she replied.
Blu’s brow furrowed. “When we get back let me see what I can do. I might be able to help,” she said to Frees.
“Do you have any experience with central cortexes?” Frees asked.
Blu only smiled and turned back around, watching the city pass by underneath them.
“We’re almost there,” Arista said. “Are you both ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Frees replied, positioning himself beside the door.
“I’m more excited than I should be,” Blu said. “I know this is serious business, but who said you can’t have fun doing something serious?” She pulled out a small, silver rectangular device Arista hadn’t seen before.
“What’s that?”
“My interface. It will make this a lot quicker.”
Arista pressed the descent pedal and the van slowly dropped between the low buildings until it had been obscured in an alley close to their destination.
“Nice job,” Blu said. “Perfect landing. I thought you were just kidding when you told Dad you could drive.”
“I’ve had some experience,” she replied, cutting the engine and stepping out into the warm evening air. She caught the whiff of garbage in the breeze. It wasn’t overpowering, but it was present. They were close to the water. “Are you two good?” she whispered, coming around the front of the van to face them.
Frees nodded. Blu glanced at him and relented, nodding as well.
“We’re going to be quick. In and out. No problems, right?”
“Right,” Blu said, holding up her interface.
“Okay, Frees, go check out the street. Let’s make sure we can get in there without a problem. I’ll be right behind you. Blu brings up the rear.”
“Blu is the tail,” Blu said, seemingly to herself. “Got it.”
***
Exactly forty-seven minutes later they were out of the building and trotting back across the street to the van.
“That was so awesome!” Blu said, leading the way. “I can’t wait to do this again.” She practically skipped on her way, while Arista and Frees followed close behind, checking the streets for any activity. It seemed this part of town was dead at night. But she wanted to keep a sharp eye. Jennings’ warnings wouldn’t go unheeded.
They made it back to the van and Blu unlocked it with her thumbprint. The back gull-wing door opened for Frees while Arista and Blu climbed in the front seats.
“Wasn’t that great?” Blu said, grabbing Arista’s arm and shaking her with excitement. “In and out! You had the cameras, took them out easily,” she said back to Frees. “And you navigated us through the building like an expert. We were like a perfect machine, all working together.” She squealed. “I can’t believe how cool that was!”
“To hear you talk it’s like you’ve never done that before,” Frees said.
“I haven’t!”
“But David said—” Arista began.
“He said I was capable. He knows what I can do.” Blu gave her a wink. “Is this the kind of stuff you guys do all the time?”
Frees shrugged. “Kind of. Lately anyway.”
“We need a team name. Something badass. Like…”
“Midnight Marauders?” Arista smiled.
Blu gave her the side-eye. “No, something like The Blackout Crew or…I dunno. Just something so people know like who we are without actually knowing who we are. And what we’re capable of. We should have left a calling card.”
“No, no calling cards. No traces. Echo is too clever for that. We need to catch her off-guard.” Arista started the van and pushed down on the ascend pedal.
“Oh,” Blu said. “Right. Well, still. A reputation is better than nothing. And even after you guys leave I could still operate as a one-man Blackout Crew.”
“What about your dad?” Arista asked.
“I don’t think he needs to know. There’s plenty he doesn’t know about already.” Arista glanced at her. “What? I’m a teenager. You think I’m going to share my deepest secrets with the one parent I have? Weren’t you a teenager once?”
Arista pulled the van away from the buildings, allowing it to hover a couple of hundred yards away from the building. “Once upon a time. But it was a lot different where I’m from.”
“How so?” Blu asked.
Arista took a breath. Now wasn’t the time to get into it. They needed to finish this. She nodded toward the production plant, which sat directly in front of them. “Hit it.”
Blu pulled her interface from her pocket, apparently undeterred from the change in topic. “You sure?”
Arista nodded, catching Frees’ eyes in the rearview. One blue and one orange. Mismatch.
Blu tapped a button on the interface. “Dropping the magnetic fields now.”
Nothing was happening. The building remained quiet. “I thought you sai—”
A gigantic crack reverberated through the air, followed by two more, then a series of explosions amidst the cracks. Arista threw the van into reverse and backed away from the building as the explosions reached into the sky.
Over the vast noise of the explosions Arista caught the sound of cackling and realized it was coming from Blu.
“Holy shit! Did you see that?” she screamed. “That was so much bigger than I thought!” She continued laughing.
Arista had seen enough. The explosions were plenty big enough to have decimated the entire building. A couple of surrounding buildings would suffer damage too. Those large cracks must have been the magnets smashing together at high speeds, just like Blu said they would. She turned the van around and headed back for David’s, pushing the thro
ttle faster than she needed to.
“Wow, sorry, I am usually not this all-over-the-place,” Blu said. “I’m just a little excited. And nervous at the same time. I just can’t believe it worked!”
“I thought you were sure it would,” Frees said.
She turned to him. “I was pretty sure. I mean is anything ever one-hundred percent guaranteed?”
He didn’t reply.
“How long until the police arrive?” Arista asked.
Blu opened her interface again. “Thirty-seven seconds. They heard the explosion from the 109th precinct.” She squinted out the window. “I can see them now, off in the distance.”
Arista slammed the throttle forward, giving the van a jerk.
“Hey, don’t panic. They can’t detect us, remember? As long as we’re moving. And they’ll be focused on the scene anyway. It will take them hours to figure out it wasn’t an accident.”
Arista eased up. She was probably overanxious because she hadn’t slept in who knew how long. Or eaten.
“What do you guys have for food?” she asked as soon as they’d settled back into a reasonable speed.
“All sorts. Mostly freeze-dried. It’s what’s available. Sometimes we get fresh but it doesn’t make it out here often. And most people can’t afford to pay for it.”
“I’m starving,” Arista said. She turned to Frees. “How are your power levels?”
“Holding steady at twelve percent.”
“Twelve percent! What happened? You just got a new energy drive before we left!”
“The wounds drained a lot of power,” he replied. “I’ll need a permanent recharge soon.”
Blu tapped at something on her interface, not looking up. “He’s lucky Dad got his levels up as far as he did. When we found him, he was hovering between one and two percent.”
“You ventured out, didn’t you?” Arista asked.
“You told me to!”
“I was under duress!” she said. “But you wouldn’t have stayed even if I had told you to.”
He crossed his arms. “Nope.”
“Stubborn ass.” She smirked.
“One of my more redeeming qualities,” Frees replied, smiling himself.
Just as Arista thought things might get awkward, especially with Blu there, David’s place came into view. “Thank goodness,” she said under her breath.
As she pressed the descent pedal the van slowly glided toward home.
SIXTEEN
“THEY’VE GATHERED.” David stood at the door to “her” room as Arista sat up and blinked away what few dreams she’d had.
“Who?” she asked.
“Onlookers. Police have set up a perimeter. It shouldn’t be much longer.”
She nodded, snapping out of her sleepiness. She didn’t want to be off-guard with David around. She scanned the room. Where was Frees? He’d been here when she’d gone to sleep. “I’ll be there in a second.”
David left, leaving her alone with her thoughts. As soon as he was gone she let out a large yawn. She’d slept in her clothes, not wanting to inconvenience them any more than she’d needed to. Her room wasn’t much larger than a dorm with one bed and a few other pieces of old furniture. It was clear they didn’t often have guests as Blu had needed to fetch a spare set of sheets. She hadn’t even remembered falling asleep. Just lying down with Frees standing in the corner. Finding him a new power source was their new priority; if he experienced body lock here he’d be done for.
Arista stretched out, her back and shoulders popping, and stood, hoping she hadn’t missed breakfast. As soon as they’d returned Blu had led them to the kitchen where she’d had a few dried food packs before hitting the sack. They hadn’t tasted the best—certainly not on the scale of what the colony offered—but they were better than nothing. And much better than the machines’ food.
When she reached her door, she caught the sound of laughter from Blu’s room. The door was wide open and she couldn’t help but saunter by and take a look.
Inside Blu had some complex computer program pulled up on one of her many screens and Frees was bent over her shoulder inspecting the program, making references to things he saw on screen.
“Morning,” Arista said.
They both turned at the same time. “Arista!” Blu said, “Frees has been helping me with my…project. I hope you don’t mind. I’ve never had a central cortex to consult with before.”
Arista eyed Frees who only shrugged.
“You two are…okay now?” she asked.
“Sure,” Blu said. “I don’t like to hold grudges. Sometimes people snap. Under a lot of pressure. He’s been telling me all about what you guys have been through. It’s no wonder he was irritable.”
“Has he?” She crossed her arms.
“Before you start,” Frees said, holding his hands out in front of him. “It’s nothing she wouldn’t have figured out anyway. And I figure, what can it hurt? She might as well know.”
A shot of adrenaline burned through Arista’s chest. Had he told her about their David? About what he’d done?
“Your world sounds fascinating,” Blu said. “All those machines. It would be great to see it one day.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible,” she replied. Please don’t let it be possible. The last thing this girl needs is to be exposed to a planet full of machines that want to dismember her.
“Yeah, I know,” Blu said turning back to the screen. “Would just be cool is all.”
David’s earlier message about the gathering crowds came back to her. “We’re up,” she said to Frees. “Better get going if we don’t want to miss the guest of honor.” Breakfast would have to wait.
“Yep,” he said, ducking under some streamers Blu had hung from her ceiling. “Are we taking the van again?”
She nodded. “I’ll keep it on the ground this time.”
“You guys be careful,” Blu said. “And don’t forget to radio us if there’s a problem. David can monitor you remotely, but the van only has a limited range. If you get outside what it can see he won’t be able to tell what’s going on.”
“Got it,” Arista said, leading Frees back down the hall to the garage. She could only hope they weren’t too late.
“You sure I can’t go?” Blu stuck her head out of her doorway as they made their way down the hall.
They’d already discussed this last night, but she couldn’t blame the girl for wanting to tag along. “It’s better this way. You’re the infiltrator. We’re the muscle.”
Blu laughed and disappeared back into her room.
“You really think Echo will listen? Assuming she hasn’t been replaced already?” Frees asked, his voice hushed.
“I hope so, because if not I’m out of ideas.” She turned and put her hand against his chest, stopping him. “What did you tell her?”
His head wobbled back and forth. “Nothing! Nothing crucial anyway. Just about how our world was full of people like me. How you and I had gone around giving people freedom. How we had to take down the Cadre. Well…Charlie.”
“Nothing about David? Or me?”
“Nothing you wouldn’t want me to tell her.” His eyes narrowed. “Wasn’t it you who just last night said you trusted me with your life? Was that just bullshit?”
“No!” she whispered. “I do trust you with my life. It’s just sometimes you let things slip. By accident.”
“Like what?”
“Like when you told her about Echo in the first place. We didn’t have to involve them. We could have done this ourselves.” She dropped her hand, shoving it in her jacket pocket.
“Oh, come on, I was trying to get my captors to trust me. I thought they were part of some shadowy government cell. And I figured the best way to protect this Echo was to tell them. I had no idea it was a kid and her father.” He smirked. “Your father.”
“Don’t,” she said, turning and continuing to the garage.
“Or what?” he teased.
She stopped again. �
��You know, this isn’t the time. But we really haven’t gotten a chance to talk about what happened right before we came here.”
He grimaced. “What do you mean?” he asked with an uncertain tone.
“You know. What Max said. About your feelings.”
His face lost all trace of any humor. “I don’t want to talk about her,” he said, pushing past Arista.
“Yeah,” she said to herself, watching him stroll down the hallway. “We’ll table that for another time.”
***
When they arrived on the scene giant pillars of black smoke still billowed from the continuing explosions. David had been right, a crowd had gathered, undoubtedly most of them there to see if the rescue workers pulled any bodies from the wreckage. But Arista knew better, they’d double-checked to make sure the building had been clear of any people before setting everything up the night before. There hadn’t been anyone there when they left.
Arista and Frees tried their best to blend in the with the crowd, pushing further to the front to see if they could catch a glimpse of Echo when she arrived. They were prepared for a long wait; but three news crews had already arrived on the scene and were reporting from their respective mobile camera units.
They didn’t have to wait long. After they’d arrived a long, black mag-car descended from one of the overhead lanes inside the police perimeter.
“This has to be her,” Arista said. “Remember, look for the scar.”
“Trust me, it’s burned into my memory,” Frees said. It hadn’t been disfiguring, but Echo’s facial injury had been noticeable. Even from this distance there should be no problem telling which Echo this was.
Three men in black suits stepped out of the car first. Arista couldn’t tell if they were personal security or sponsored. Regardless, following them, in a smart dark-gray business suit, was Echo. She moved with grace, yet determination, and Arista had to remind herself that this could be the same woman who she’d spoken to face-to-face only days before.
“I can’t tell, her hair is blocking her face,” Frees said.
“Me either, wait until she gets close to the cameras.”
Echo seemed to survey the area while the guards stood close to her and the police kept the area clear. When she turned to face the crowd and the media, Arista finally let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.