He was armed, of course, but I didn’t recognize the weapon. It was some kind of oblong metal box that came to a point at one end. One side had a flip-button labeled with letters etched into the metal by hand. “D F¯ DEW…” I looked up. “What the heck does that mean?”
Eren looked at the weapon, avoiding my eyes. “Deuterium Fluoride Directed Energy Weapon. I’ve actually seen that one in action. It concentrates a stream of infrared chemicals—heavy hydrogen, for example—and neutralizes the target via plasma breakdown.”
“Plasma…” I muttered. “Hang on. Are you telling me he made a real-life laser gun?”
“Yeah,” said Eren. “Pet project of his.”
“Aren’t they all.” I turned it in my hand, thinking, and aimed it at Adam’s head. “So let’s see how he did.” My thumb hadn’t quite caught the flip when Eren knocked into me, throwing the blaster into a wall.
Speechless, I watched it fall before turning back to Eren to stare a death-ray of my own straight into his face, which was inches from mine. “You have got to be kidding me right now.”
“Charlotte. You can’t kill him.” He had the tone of a man trying to talk a cat down from a tree, but there was a sense of urgency he was trying to subdue. So maybe the cat was dangerous, like a lion. Or maybe the tree was on fire.
Either way, I found it annoying.
“Eren, get off me. And let’s test that theory, shall we? Move.” I shoved him as hard as I could manage, and he moved back a fraction of an inch, mostly out of courtesy.
I leaned over, reaching for the blaster, and he caught me by the wrist again. His voice remained soft, in sharp contrast to mine. “Listen, you can’t. Life support is wired to his vitals. If he dies, we all do.”
He paused, watching me. When he was sure his words had sunk in, his grip relaxed.
A moment later, I let some of the tension fall from my own stance. “Okay. Let me go,” I said, more calmly. “All the way.”
He backed up, looking pained, and took a seat in the chair again. His shoulders slumped a little, and he leaned forward, looking up at me from a much lower vantage point. It was about as non-threatening a stance as any I’d seen. He still made me nervous.
“Sorry,” I said quietly.
He nodded. “Me too.”
“Can we switch it to someone else’s vitals? Maybe someone can hack in.”
He shook his head. “The system is keyed to his heartbeat. No one can replicate that.”
Adam was always a step ahead. “We’ll never be safe while he’s alive, Eren,” I said.
Eren didn’t hear me. “So how did he attack you? Not that it matters, but shouldn’t he have been more like a puppet?”
I shook my head. “He wasn’t in stasis. That’s for sure. You can’t make decisions in stasis. You can remember feelings, like fear or sorrow, but nothing concrete, like needing to attack someone.”
“The Lieutenant would beg to differ,” Eren said dryly.
“I don’t know how she did that, either. Adam must have some kind of automatic antidote. Or he saved the heavy doses just for me. Or he’s engineered a formula that only he’s immune to,” I mused. “There’s no telling. Anyway, he’s definitely out now.”
Eren nodded, staring at the floor, the wall, Adam’s sleeping form, and finally, me. “Good. Because there’s something I need to tell you.”
Five
Eren yanked a stick-like gadget from Adam’s jacket and turned to the comm panel. I’d seen it once before, when Adam had used it to steal an Arkhopper. The panel hummed to life, and Eren pulled the comm device toward his mouth, keying a code into the board. A moment later, it lit up. “Everest to Tribune. Come in, Turner.”
I stood straight, electrified.
Eren looked back at me and grinned. I continued to gape until my voice bubbled up, and suddenly, I was shouting. “Dad? Dad, are you there?!”
Eren held up a hand to quiet me.
“You,” I hissed at him. “I have questions for you.”
“He’s been in touch a few times a year. Keeps this line open. But he couldn’t get to you. Adam’s always watching.”
“And you decided to keep it a secret? Of course you did. Dad! Where are you!”
“We were trying to protect you, Charlotte. Just until we could get you out. And believe me, we have tried everything. It’s more complicated than you realize. We tried getting to her,” he nodded toward the Lieutenant, “but Adam must have kept her on a tight leash.” He shook his head a little. “We figured she was loyal to him. We tried constructing our own antidote, but he just changed the formula. Nothing ever worked.”
The comm popped, and my father’s voice filled the room. It was intensely familiar, unchanged in the five years since I’d heard it. “Turner to Tribune Liaison. What’s the news, Eren?”
“Dad!” I shouted. “Where are you?”
There was a pause, then my father made a sound I couldn’t identify. “Charlotte,” he said slowly. “Eren, is that—is she—?”
“She’s out of stasis,” said Eren. “And Adam’s down. For now.”
“Dad! Where are you?” I repeated. “Did you make it to Europe?”
“I’m here, Charlotte. I never left.”
“But, how?”
“I called in every favor I had,” he said. “Every last one. That’s the short version, anyway.”
He sounded like there was more to say, but Eren interrupted. “Sir, we need to move. We have to assume that Adam set traps. There’s no time.”
“I’m ready,” my father answered. “Meet me at the dock in ten minutes sharp. Don’t be late.” There was a pause, and another sound, this one like a half-laugh. “Charlotte. Welcome back. It’s good to hear your voice again. It really is.”
“You too, Dad,” I said. “We’ll be right there.”
“Turner out,” he said, and the mic turned black again.
I stared at the empty panel. My father was alive. We were going to be together. I took a deep breath.
My father hadn’t left me.
I angled toward the door, catching Eren’s eye. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “We should go.”
I followed his frowning gaze to the Lieutenant. She was peacefully asleep, mere feet away from the most dangerous person I’d ever known. “I mean, it’s not the worst idea, you know? Leaving. Escaping. Staying alive.” I bit a lip. After all, she had chosen to work for Adam, hadn’t she?
“We have no antidote,” Eren said. “She’s gonna stay in stasis until he comes around. Although, he is tied up.”
“I guarantee that’s not gonna hold him once he’s awake. We could try to give her someplace to hide.”
“There is no hiding on this ship, Char.” Eren sounded irritated. “Certainly not on the Guardian Level. Besides, she’s barely conscious.”
“She’ll slow us down,” I said, but Eren just stood there, waiting.
Finally, I sighed. “You’re not going to leave her, are you.” It wasn’t a question.
He shook his head.
I smiled in spite of myself. Maybe he hadn’t changed as much as I’d thought.
“You get this side,” he said, putting her left arm around my shoulders. He ducked to lift her the rest of the way to her feet. “Perhaps it won’t be so bad.”
I stood, supporting her. “Or perhaps she was acting on some kind of stasis-induced hallucination, and as soon as she snaps out of it, she’ll kill us all.”
“Ever the optimist.” He returned the smile. “Let’s go. Watch the doorframe.”
But something held me back. I stood there for a moment, trying to think, then slowly let go of her arm. “Hang on. We need a better plan.”
“How did you put it? Escaping? Staying alive? This is a very good plan.” Eren made a face from the hallway. “Brilliant, even.”
“No, it leaves us open. We need protection, Eren.”
“Char—” he said softly.
“Here’s the thing. If we take her
—” I waved at the Lieutenant—“we save one person. It’s the wrong play.”
Eren looked from corridor, to me, to Adam’s chair. “Oh, no you don’t. Now that is a bad plan.”
“Hear me out,” I said hastily. “We can’t kill him. Not yet. And he controls everything on this Ark. So we can’t lock him up. Not here. It’s the right move, Eren. It’s checkmate.”
“No, it’s stalemate at best. It’s nuts, is what it is. Do you have any idea how strong he is?”
I swallowed. “None of us does. That’s the problem.”
I waited while he considered that. A moment passed, and he laid the Lieutenant down with a pointed sigh.
“Good. You get that side,” I said, popping the cuffs off Adam’s wrists and shoving them into my pocket. As soon as they clicked open, Eren was at my side, ready to fight again. But Adam didn’t move. I pulled his arm over my shoulder.
“This is insane.” He made an angry grunt and hefted Adam’s remaining weight off the chair.
“Your objection is noted,” I said cheerfully. It was about time we got the upper hand around here. “Come on. Let’s do this.”
We stumbled into the dock with about a minute to spare. “Dad?” I called around the room in a half-whisper. I had never taken the Guardian entrance to the hangar before. It was imposing even when sealed shut. I turned to Eren. “You got the control stick-thingy?”
“Yes.” Eren looked around. “Did you feel that?”
“Feel what? Do you think he’s on the other side already?”
“Your dad? No. He couldn’t be. He’s got the skins—the suits. I think the Ark just moved.”
“It’s your imagination,” I said. Eren looked pale. Well, paler than usual. “The skins?”
“They never repaired the seal in the hangar. Without skins, we die.”
I swallowed against the dizzying feeling that the only thing separating me from the vast vacuum of space was a sheet of glass. “Dad!”
“Hey, keep it down. He has ears everywhere.” Eren laid a hand on the window, as though steadying himself, and laid his half of Adam gently on the floor. He looked sick.
I nodded. “Yeah, but be careful with the glass, okay? I’m not looking to take the quick way out.”
Eren stared down at Adam’s limp form, then looked back at me. “It’s fused silica,” he said.
What did that have to do with anything? “Silica. Great. Congrats on reading the pre-flight materials.”
Eren made a face like he wanted to laugh, but couldn’t, and slid down to sit next to Adam. “Fused. With titanium, too. Like the k-bands.” He waved a wrist at me, and his kuang band glinted in the bright light coming from the hangar. He had a strange look on his face.
“Hey. You okay?”
He looked down. “Char. I’m sorry.” His hand closed around the metal band on his wrist, and it hit me that he’d been wearing it for the last five years. I guess life hadn’t been so great for either of us.
“For what? Hey, get up. You’re kinda scaring me. Eren. We gotta find my dad.”
“Sorry it took five years. Sorry I couldn’t get you out of this any sooner.” He slumped forward. “No matter what, you leave. Don’t stay here.” His forehead touched the concrete, and his shoulders relaxed.
“Eren. Eren. Get up. Please get up. Wake up.” I shook him as hard as I could, but he only flopped onto his back, eyes closed.
“Charlotte?”
The sound jolted through me, and I whirled around. “Dad? Help! He’s—”
My father came running out of a shadow, and I had the absurd thought that exactly ten minutes had passed since our conversation. To the second.
He pressed a hand into Eren’s neck. “He’s breathing. Pulse is—fine, probably. Put this on,” he said, shoving a skin into my arms.
I wasted no time in getting the rubbery material over Eren’s feet. “I’m gonna need help lifting up his hips.”
Dad was glancing around the ceiling, a gesture that seemed out of place for him. I’d never really seen my dad get nervous. “No, Charlotte. Not on him. On you. Hurry up.”
My lips froze, mouth open, and I took a second to steel my spine. “I’m not leaving him,” I said quietly.
“It was always the plan. He has to stay here, Charlotte. There’s a chip in his k-band.”
“Then it doesn’t matter whether he stays here or not. He’s…” I trailed off, unable to finish the thought aloud. He’s dead either way.
Dad chose that moment to wrap an arm around my shoulder, a second gesture I couldn’t quite place with him, and squeeze.
I returned the embrace, surprised. We hadn’t hugged much during our last few years on Earth. He added his other arm, and for the moment, I had the irrepressible feeling that things would be okay. That no matter what, my problems were no match for my dad.
His eyes traveled down my right arm, to the place where my wrist should have been, and he hesitated before speaking. “I know. I know. But Eren knew the risks. He was very clear.”
“Are you worried about being spied on? We’ll just wrap the band up with aluminum, like you did mine.”
“It’s worse than spying, Charlotte. He’s been drugged. He could easily be dead before we get him on the Arkhopper.”
I shook my head, frustrated. No way was Adam going to win this one. “How many skins did you bring?”
“Two.”
“Two.” I said, hopping up. “So we need two more.” I trotted around the area, tapping on wall panels. A few held emergency supplies, including a military-grade first-aid kit, which I ignored, and a pressurized flare gun, which I grabbed out of habit.
“Charlotte—” he said gently.
“We can’t leave Eren. And we sure can’t leave Adam. So two more skins.”
His eyes widened. “That’s Adam? Charlotte.”
I whirled around, halfway to the other side of the hangar door, and filled my voice with lead. “Dad. I am not leaving them.”
“Well, we’re not staying here. I can’t let you—” Dad stopped, recognizing my tone, and gritted his teeth. Then he took a breath, regarding me with a measure of thoughtfulness. “I suppose it does give us some leverage.”
“Right?” I breathed a sigh of relief. At least one person didn’t think my plan was insane. I returned to my search, whacking the next panel I came to. The compartment opened to reveal one skin. One.
It was better than nothing. I lifted my chin and knocked open the rest of the panels, but it seemed that Adam had stored only enough for himself.
I turned back to Dad. “Okay. Three skins. Not ideal.”
Dad shook his head. I slid down next to Eren and began to work the skin over his boots again. “How far from here to the bay?”
“Ten feet, maybe? It’s the first ship in the hangar. Only ship, actually.”
“And Adam hasn’t disabled it?”
“We think it’s his getaway vehicle. I’m sure he’s got some trick or another up his sleeve in case someone else takes off with it. But he’s in stasis, right?”
My hand had wandered to the back of Eren’s head, and I pulled it away as casually as I could before my dad noticed. “Nope. Good old-fashioned knockout.”
Dad nodded. “That works, too,” he said slowly.
Too slowly.
He laid a hand over mine, and I stopped trying to secure the skin on Eren’s hips.
“What?” I said impatiently.
He gave me a slow look. “Charlotte.”
“What?”
“We have three skins.”
“I know.”
“We can’t leave Adam. You and I are agreed on that point.”
I pulled Eren’s head onto my legs without really thinking about it. It filled my entire lap. His face was completely relaxed. He was so helpless, in spite of his size. In that moment, there was no one but me to protect him. “I’m not leaving Eren. He never left me.”
“Eren’s unconscious, sweetheart. He can’t fly the hopper.” He lowered his voi
ce. “You need to understand. There’s so much we don’t know about stasis. He may not wake up.”
“I’m not leaving him,” I repeated stubbornly. “I’m taking him to the doctors over there. Who knows what Adam’s done to him?”
It occurred to me that my father was as strong-willed as I’d ever been. At least I got it honestly. “Charlotte,” he said gently. “One skin for you. One for me, to fly the ship. And one…”
I pursed my lips, understanding his point at last. “For Adam. Because if he dies in the vacuum, we all do.”
Dad nodded.
“So take them. I’m the only one you don’t need. And I’ll be fine. No k-band or anything.”
“I won’t do that, Charlotte. Whatever you think you’re capable of, you’re not safe here. I’m not leaving you again.” His voice took on its own kind of strength—not anger, as I’d heard in the past, but something closer to resolution. “That’s the deal. Either you come with me, or no one does. Besides,” he smiled strangely, “if Adam didn’t kill me, Eren would.”
“So maybe we’re not going anywhere, after all,” I said. Stalemate again.
Dad looked at me, then back to the wall. “What do you want, Charlotte?”
“What do you mean?”
“What is it that you want? You’ve been fighting against things all your life. What are you fighting for these days?”
“I want—” I stopped, thinking. “I want my family back. I want the ships to be safe. All of them.” I took another long pause and leveled my gaze with his. “And I want Adam dead.”
“Then we have to get on that hopper. We have no allies here. This entire Ark is rigged to kill dissenters. Anyone who stands up to him. That’s why he’s lasted so long.” There was a change in his tone. “And your brother is on the European Ark.”
“Then Eren is no safer here than anyone else. Even if we leave him.”
He looked out the window. “Once the door is open, that’s it. The air will be sucked out of the area. Our intelligence is that the seal to this door will blow. A secondary seal will engage around the loading dock. He did that in some other areas so that he couldn’t be followed. This entire room will likely become a vacuum. There may be other tricks as well.”
The Fall Page 4