AQUA (The Elements Series Book 1)

by Korn, Tracy

  "He did, but I didn't hear it. I saw him arguing with Rheen, but there wasn't any sound. When is Jazz coming out of the med-bay? Maybe she heard it," Liddick says.

  "Karo said she'd wake up around meal time. We'll need to tell her about all this," he says, sinking back into his chair wondering if he has ever been this tired in his entire life.

  "After dinner then," Liddick says, sliding back from the edge of his seat as they both stare into the dark blue depths just a dozen feet away.

  CHAPTER 23

  Aligning

  Everyone is surprisingly quiet as we finish dinner, or maybe it's just that I'm not really paying much attention to them as I watch Liddick a few tables down. My head still feels like it's pressed in a vice, but I notice Liddick making eye contact with Arco, who hasn't mentioned anything about what I told him—or at least, what I remember having told him since he came to pick me up from the med-bay—but they must have talked.

  "You didn't eat much," Jax says, looking at my plate. "You look a hell of a lot better than you did, though."

  "I feel better, still just a little tired," I say.

  "That'll be gone by tomorrow," Ellis says around a mouthful of dessert. "Wave stabilizers are in the same family as the pressurization stabilizers they gave us, except their lifespan is finite whereas the pressurization stabilizers regenerate." Everyone stares at Ellis in silence as he stops his fork halfway to his mouth and meets everyone's eyes. "Seriously. One briefing. No one has read one of the briefings about nanites?" he asks, and everyone begins chuckling.

  "On that note," I say, trying to keep the laugh out of my voice, "I think I'm going to take a walk before heading back to my room to sleep off the rest of these things."

  "I'll go with you," Arco says, putting his hand on my shoulder after he picks up my tray along with his and stands. Out of the corner of my eye I see Liddick nodding to Jax, then, both of them falling into stride behind Arco and me, which can only mean that either Arco or Liddick must have said something to Jax about me seeing our father, and I can't decide if I'm happy I didn't have to tell him, or angry that I never had the chance.

  Arco leads us to the Records room, though I'm not sure why he chooses this incredibly public place over some remote corner of the student center. He steers us toward the far corner of the room to what the tutorial I just watched called an interview station, which looks like it's already being used by someone.

  "Someone is already on this one," I say to Arco as he takes a seat at the station. "And it's broken. There's no voice."

  Arco presses buttons on the control panel, and a blue light falls all around us. I look around frantically to see if anyone is watching. "It's just a program so they can't monitor us. I launched it just before I came to get you so no one would take the station," Arco replies.

  "You did this?" I ask, looking around at the light and the gesturing, silently speaking Lincoln. Arco nods as Liddick and Jax take a seat on the matching soft brown couch.

  "No one can see it, and they can't hear us now either. Well, they can't hear us in here anyway, but now they can't monitor us either," Arco explains, and Jax and I exchange surprised glances, but Liddick doesn't seem terribly impressed.

  "You knew about this already?" I ask him, then look over at Arco. They both exchange glances, then look back at me.

  "Jazz, do you remember what you told me when you were going under?" Arco asks as Jax leans forward in his seat.

  "Mostly, you talked to Liddick, too, didn't you?" I ask. He nods.

  "There might be some things you and Jax need to know about what you saw in the advisor session," he says, then passes the floor to Liddick, who explains everything about my father being some kind of molecular Coder guru like Jax's advisor—who is also, apparently, Ms. Plume—said he was slotted to be, and then finishes the rest of the scenario from where my feed cut out with Lyden. By the time he's finished talking, Jax and I look at each other like we've both nearly drowned.

  "I know it's a lot to take in, but there's more you need to know. After I uploaded the algorithm that traced the message from the marlin back to Liam—"

  "What message from the marlin?" Jax interrupts. "The marlin from the port-festival?"

  Arco and Liddick exchange glances again, and Arco sighs, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the ground. Liddick explains what really happened that night, how he covered for me because he didn't want to have people remember me as some tweaker, which I actually didn't consider until he explained it just now. He had me thinking it was to protect everyone else, but he was really protecting me? My chest aches with this realization just as I notice Jax, who sinks low in his chair with this news and wraps his arms over himself, gripping his elbows.

  "I knew it. I knew you wouldn't have acted like that over a tunnel rat," he says, looking up at me through narrowing eyes. "You could have told me," he says, and the ache in my chest sharpens. I lean forward.

  "Jax…"

  "It wasn't her fault. I made the call. She wanted to tell everyone, but it wasn't the right time," Liddick interjects, though Jax's eyes just narrow even more. "Look, I'm sorry. We didn't even know what was really happening, so I made her promise to keep it between us until we could figure it out later that night."

  "Then how did Arco know?" Jax asks, sitting up and bracing his elbows on his knees. I raise my eyebrows at this, surprised.

  "Arco, how did you know?" I ask, and Jax's eyes soften.

  Arco sighs. "I followed you that night because I was worried. I didn't believe the rat story either, and…I just didn't trust him," Arco says, darting a glance to Liddick, whose jaw flexes. "But I was wrong."

  Liddick's face relaxes as his eyebrows quirk, surprised. He nods, and gets Arco back on track after another second.

  "So you traced the code back to Liam, and then…" Liddick says.

  "And then I could only get so far before I had to kill it because we were getting ready to board the relay vessel. That's why I was late. I started to run something similar to trace my sister's last port-call when I figured out that Liam's was fake, but I ran out of time for that one too." He looks away and shakes his head. "The pings were coming back the same up until that point, though, and what I could eventually pull from Liam's looked like it was coming from somewhere in the core," Arco says, and my stomach hitches like I've just jumped from a high place.

  "Wait, you traced that fish message to the core of the earth?" Jax asks, his expression contorting in disbelief. Arco pushes his hands into his pockets and nods.

  "It's a long story, but that's what the algorithm reported. Jazz, can you remember anything specific that your father said? I may be able to trace it back like I did with Liam's message," Arco asks, turning to me.

  "He could really be alive?" Jax asks, looking at me, astonished. I can hardly believe the possibility myself, but I saw his face. I heard his voice.

  "He said, I never saw it coming when I refused the stipend," I say, closing my eyes to hear his voice again. When I open them, Arco is keying something into his bracelet cuff.

  "The stipend for what? For Gaia?" Jax asks. "But that would mean that he turned down Gaia at our age. Why would he do that?" Jax looks over to me, then his eyes widen in realization. "He wouldn't leave…"

  "Mom…" we both say together.

  "That's why she always felt so guilty…it wasn't because of her parents, it was because she blamed herself for his death at the hydrogen plant," I say.

  "Because if he just would have gone to Gaia…" Jax says to no one in particular as it all becomes clear.

  "But they took him anyway because the hydrogen plant accident happened after Liam left for Gaia in May, remember? The summer I got stung by the jellyfish. There's no way he already could have been there with Liam, Rheen, and Styx then, so the person who died at the plant really wasn't him," I say, turning to Liddick. He nods, and all the pieces begin falling into place. "It's just like Liam and Skyboard, and they must still have them all if they're still sending these messa
ges. They really did take them. Jax, he's alive…" I say, and for the first time it actually sinks in.

  "Jazz, did he say anything else? What did he tell you about pretending to be what they wanted? The exact words, can you remember?" Arco asks.

  "Liam said, if you're already there, pretend to be what they want you to be," I say. "Those were his exact words."

  "He has to mean here at Gaia. After what they made him do to Lyden…" Jax says, his voice trailing off as he looks at Liddick and winces. "They've all been warning us not to come—to turn Gaia down because they're experimenting on people somewhere. But why? And why them?" None of us know how to answer him, and he stands up, shaking his head. "This place isn't what we think it is. It's not what anyone thinks it is. We need to get the hell out of here."

  He pushes his hands through his hair as Liddick speaks again.

  "Can you start another trace? You said it takes at least a day to find where it left off, so we should start it again now, right?" Liddick asks Arco, who nods, folding his arms over his chest.

  "Not counting the camouflage, if I hack the mainframe from the Boundaries room it might not take as long since it's a larger processor. It moves information faster. Then I can sweep for echoes of these new messages, which I can then start to restructure and then ghost ping. I just have to extend this monitor mask to the room over there so they can't watch us, but that won't take long."

  "OK, do it. If you can ping those messages, I have an idea of where we can go from there. I just need to sort a few things out first," Liddick says as Arco types something into the Lincoln station. The blue light field turns green, and I shake my head, looking around us.

  "It's extended now? Just like that?" I ask. "This is incredible."

  Arco shrugs and raises his eyebrows with a smile. "All right, I'm going over to the Boundaries room. Meet me there in 20 minutes. If I can't get it uplinked by then, I'll have to go back through the side door with this bracelet cuff like I did the first time," he says, and we all nod.

  "OK, kill the interview program and we'll meet you there," Liddick says, and Arco shuts down Mr. Lincoln and the privacy field.

  ***

  We make our way across the commons area again and down the corridor that leads to the Boundaries room after giving Arco a head start. It's abandoned with the exception of a few people moving to and from the Records room.

  "So you saw him. You actually heard him?" Jax whispers at my side. I look up at him and nod.

  "He was just the same, Jax. Nothing had changed about him at all," I say. Jax's throat moves with his effort to swallow, the line of muscle in his jaw pulling with his small nod.

  "So we'll go in and get them all out. We'll find a way to get them back," he says, nodding more intently now. I interlace my fingers with his.

  "I know we will," I say, and he grips my hand in his.

  Our moment of conviction jostles when we arrive at the Boundaries room, which is empty except for Arco and…Vox? I stop in my tracks when I see her sitting sideways on his lap in one of the chairs, her tattooed shins moving back and forth as they hang off the bend of her long, pale legs. I blink hard a few times. Her arms are wrapped around his neck, his around her waist, and she's moving in to kiss him. What?

  Liddick starts laughing out loud next to me, but I suddenly feel sick, though I'm not sure why. I look over at Jax, whose eyes are wide as he releases my hand and covers his open mouth. I look back over at Arco and Vox while clearing my throat, and all the blood runs out of Arco's face when he sees us, quickly unseating Vox as he stands and pinches the bridge of his nose.

  "I—OK, so this is—hang on," he says, his hands taking turns reaching and pushing at the air like he's trying to stop our thoughts before they fall out. "I'm not even sure how this started because I was talking, and then we were sitting, and then—"

  Vox is smiling so widely that it has to hurt, and I don't need anymore explanation than this. I wave my hands out in front of me to stop Arco's babbling.

  "OK, just stow it. Did you manage to do what you came here to do before she hijacked your face?" Color runs up his throat like hands reaching from under his collar and blotches his cheeks as he scrounges for words. Liddick still can't get his breath to regulate between hysterical convulsions, and nausea gives way to a fire in my chest.

  "I…didn't actually get to that part. I started to tell her what we were doing because…uh," Arco stops mid sentence and looks quizzically off to the side as if the answer could be there trying to get his attention. "Actually, I don't know why I started to tell her, but she knows most of it, and she'll help us," Arco says, hopefully.

  "Help us do what? Reproduce?" Liddick is able to get this out around another cascade of laughter, and Jax finally loses whatever composure he's been holding in place behind his hand. Liddick smiles at Vox once he gets control of himself, then lets a long, low whistle escape his lips as he winces and rubs his chest with his hand, "Hey, just kidding there, killer, take it easy…" he chuckles, and I look from him to her. Her eyes are narrowed, and I can see the muscles working in her jaw.

  "Vox!" I start, but Liddick puts his other hand on my shoulder and squeezes reassuringly.

  "She can't push me," he says, "don't worry."

  "But you're grabbing your chest—" He turns to me and flashes a wide, white, Liddick caliber smile.

  "Just being a gentleman. She's trying so hard, after all."

  I look back at Vox, now three shades darker red than Arco, who looks completely confused.

  "How?" Vox asks Liddick from under a fiery scowl. "I pushed you in the galley."

  "Well, no, but I wasn't going to bring that up."

  "How?" Vox repeats through her teeth.

  "Well," Liddick says, thinning his lips and extending a hand toward Vox. "I learned a long time ago that my father is like you—a pusher—and that my mother can pick up on people's feelings. Apparently, I got the best of both worlds, so I guess that somehow neutralizes it, I don't know," Liddick answers, raising his hands out to his sides and shrugging.

  "She can't make you feel things—I mean, she can't manipulate your feelings, but you can feel her try?" I ask, wondering if it's possible to learn this trick. He smiles to one side and shakes his head apologetically at Vox, who is only slightly less red in the face now. Jax crosses his arms and returns his hand to his mouth to hold back his smile.

  "What's going on?" Arco interrupts, then rounds on Vox. "You make people feel things?"

  Finally, her anger gives way to a smirk. "I can't make anyone do anything they really don't want to do," she lifts her chin and tilts her head, eyeing Arco up and down as she trails her index finger down his chest. I feel a stab of anger and want to rush forward, but then notice his face contorting as he huffs out an exasperated breath and moves her hand away, taking a step back from her.

  "Don't touch me," he says to her, then presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. "OK, so for the record," he starts, then shows us his palms as if to keep our thoughts at bay again as he meets my eyes, "I am not interested in Vox like that. I don't know what just happened here," he says, turning to Vox, "but I know I'm not interested in you like that, OK?" He punctuates his words with an extended arm to keep her away. "I'm sorry, but I'm not, and I didn't want to do that. I mean, I don't know why I did that, but I guess it's probably because you did that?" He looks at her half pleading for an answer, and half to confirm what actually just transpired. The ridiculousness of the whole scene comes together, and the odd heat I've been feeling cools to a flutter of laughter that I can't keep inside. "This is funny to you?" He stops all at once and looks at me in disbelief, which triggers another giggle that I try to stifle like Jax is doing. "Oh, nice. That's great, Jazz. So Wright, since you're the best of both worlds, did you do that? Or was it you again?" Arco asks, looking from Liddick back to Vox as he gestures to me.

  "Don't look at me, man," Liddick says, starting to choke on his laughter again. "You're doing a pretty good job of busting everyone up all b
y yourself."

  "Crite, all right, can we all just get serious for a second here? We have work to do,"Arco says, his throat and cheeks flushing even more with color as he turns to the transmission station behind him.

  Liddick casually throws his arm around me as we walk toward Arco and Vox inside the perimeter of the station, and after a few steps inside, I see the blue light of the privacy field that Arco extended from the Records room. As my laughter subsides, I start to feel warm again, comfortable while standing next to Liddick, and for an instant, I let my head rest against his shoulder. His arm tightens around me, and Arco looks up at me from the keypad, then does a double take, his mouth frozen in the middle of a word. He looks to Liddick and back again to me as the warm feeling drains away. At first I'm confused, and then I'm not. I push away from Liddick, realizing he's no better than Vox.

  "Stop," I say, and cut him a sharp eye.

  "What?" Liddick's dark brows arch in surprise as his eyes flit from me to Arco, then back again to me, genuinely confused until understanding spreads across his face. "Oh, you actually think—?" he starts defensively, even offended, but then lets the sentence fall apart. "You know what, think what you want…" he sends it off in an exasperated sigh and takes a step back from both of us, his hands in the air in front of him. "Hart, did you sweep for those message echoes or not?"

  Arco blinks away his confusion and answers. "Yes, but like I said, with all the camouflage I have to add to the code, it's going to move a lot more slowly when we try to ping the origination."

  "How will that work then? How do we get to everyone?" Jax asks, all traces of humor gone.