The Extinction Trials

by S. M. Wilson

  All of the survivors just dragged themselves from their beds, ate on occasion, then went straight back to sleep. The whole ship had a strange aura about it. Maybe it was because it was so quiet. Their first time on the ship there had been a hundred Finalists buzzing with excitement at the thought of what lay ahead. Now, they just seemed to be surrounded by emptiness.

  It was the beds that haunted her. Turning over at night and seeing the raft of empty bunks next to her made her squeeze her eyes closed. Ninety people. Dead – or as good as.

  In a way she hoped they were dead. Blaine might have survived on Piloria but she doubted any of the other Finalists could manage so well if they were wounded.

  Some stories had come out. One Finalist told them about being stuck in a swamp for two days while his teammates were devoured by a creature that lived there. He’d finally realized that the creature detected motion and only escaped being eaten by keeping completely still in the mud while he watched the horror play out around him.

  Another Finalist had been attacked by the velociraptors. Her three teammates had died and she had a broken arm and ugly wounds across her face. Those scars would last a lifetime.

  But what if they’d left someone behind? Someone like Blaine who would have to learn to survive on the dinosaur continent?

  Even the thought of Blaine made Storm wince. How would he react if another person was left on Piloria?

  Lincoln and Leif thudded down at the table next to Storm. Both had platefuls of fish. Lincoln nudged it with his cutlery. “We’ll probably never get a plateful like this again once we get back to Earthasia. I may as well eat it while I can.”

  Leif looked up. “You don’t know that. I’m sure the Stipulators get fish. Once we get back we won’t be on rations any more. Chances are we’ll never be hungry again.”

  A strange expression flitted across Lincoln’s face. He fixed his eyes on his plate. Storm’s stomach gave a little lurch. In all the time they’d spent together, she still hadn’t found out why he was there. He’d never mentioned his family. He’d never revealed much about himself at all. But he’d saved her life, and she’d saved his. Things like that couldn’t be forgotten. Couldn’t be undone. She’d be connected to him for life. He’d be someone on Earthasia she could rely on. She was starting to believe he felt that way too.

  She set down her fork. “Should we tell them?”

  Lincoln looked up. “Should we tell them what?”

  “The Stipulators. Should we tell them that we met Blaine?”

  Leif choked. “Not if you want to stay alive.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Lincoln nodded. “I think he’s right. I think the less we tell the Stipulators the better. Blaine said himself that he usually hid from the Finalists every year. I doubt anyone else knows that he’s there. And if the Stipulators thought you might announce that someone had managed to stay alive on Piloria for nine years, despite the ferocious dinosaurs…” He shook his head. “I don’t think that would fit in with their plans.”

  “But what happens if Reban Don questions us when we get back?”

  Leif shot her a suspicious glare. “Why would he question us? What is it with you and that guy?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Leif pushed his plate away. “It means that I think you know him. I saw the way he looked at you during the Trials. He was constantly watching you.”

  She shifted in her seat. “I don’t know him. I don’t know him at all. I’ve never even spoken to him.” Her voice stopped dead.

  Lincoln tipped his head towards her. “What?”

  She’d tried to push it out of her mind. But it was still there, lurking away in the back corners. “Before we came here, before the announcement. Dell and I had to deliver something to parliament. He spoke to me then.”

  Leif raised his eyebrows. “What did he say?”

  Her mouth was dry. She reached out for her glass of water. “He asked me what my name was.”

  “And?” Leif wasn’t going to let this go.

  “Then he asked me what my mother’s name was.”

  Lincoln took a deep breath and glanced over at Leif. “Did you tell him?”

  She shook her head. “No. I just told him my mother was dead.”

  Leif closed his eyes for a second and then spoke carefully. “How did he seem when you told him that?”

  She threw up her hands. “I don’t know. Upset. Angry. Surprised. I just wanted to get out of there. My mother never liked me talking to Stipulators. We always avoided them.” The questions were making her uncomfortable.

  They did it again. Exchanged that look.

  “What? What is it?”

  Lincoln put his hand on her arm. “Did he ask you anything else?”

  She racked her brain. “He asked where I stayed. That was it.”

  Leif bit his lip. “Storm, have you ever noticed anything unusual about Reban Don?”

  She was getting more frustrated by the second. “Unusual? He’s a Stipulator. They’re all unusual. They wear black cloaks for a start.”

  Lincoln turned to face her. “The first thing I noticed about you was your eyes. I’d never seen eyes that colour before. They’re really striking.”

  “So?”

  Leif leaned forward. “Did your mother have violet eyes?”

  She shook her head. “My mother had brown eyes.”

  “Who else do you know has violet eyes?”

  It was like a wave of fear and emotion hitting her all at once. She hadn’t seen it. She hadn’t seen it at all. But as soon as Leif said the words, she knew exactly who he was talking about.

  Everyone said she was the spitting image of her mother. Was that why Reban Don had asked? He’d known her mother? Had he recognized something of her mother in Storm?

  Her reaction was instantaneous. Her stomach heaved. She leaped to her feet and dived towards the nearest waste bin, retching up every bite of fish she’d just eaten.

  Lincoln appeared at her side, standing for a few moments and rubbing her back.

  When the retching finally stopped she straightened up and Leif handed her a glass of water.

  All the hairs on her arms stood on end. The ship was warm, but she was freezing. “You can’t…you can’t think that…”

  Lincoln’s low voice was calm, reasonable. “Stipulators aren’t allowed families. But he could be a relative. An uncle. A cousin. Or…something else. Could that explain the questions he asked you?”

  She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  Leif led her back over to the table, taking the seat opposite. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you anything about your father?”

  She shook her head. She’d asked. She’d asked a thousand times. But her mother had been resolute. Her father wasn’t up for discussion. “She wouldn’t talk about him at all. She just said he was dead. She wouldn’t even tell me his name.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes. She hated this. She hated all the thoughts she was having. She’d been devastated when her mother died. There was no other family to go to. She’d spent the last five years alone, in a Shelter. Learning how to survive on her own. Dell really had been her only friend.

  But this? This was bigger than she could ever have imagined.

  She’d always known her eye colour was unusual. All her life people had commented on it. She’d never seen anyone else with eyes like hers. Why hadn’t she noticed Reban Don’s? The others obviously had.

  Was there a chance that Reban Don was her father? Why had he never come to find her? Had he even known she existed? And if he did, why on earth had he left her alone? To live in that horrible Shelter.

  It was almost as if Lincoln could read her jumbled thoughts. He put his hand on hers. “He’s a Stipulator, Storm. If he had family…and they found out…”

  “What? He would end up like Blaine? So he sent me to Piloria to die instead? Is that what he wanted? What kind of a person i
s he?”

  She stood up again, her plate crashing to the floor. The tears that had been brimming in her eyes were threatening to spill over.

  She would not cry.

  She would not cry over someone who’d selected her for a suicide mission.

  There was a surge of anger. Reban Don had sent them to Piloria for the eggs. Eggs that had cost two of her teammates their lives. Why should he get what he wanted? He didn’t deserve them. He wasn’t worthy.

  Lincoln stood up next to her. “Storm, wait.”

  But she couldn’t wait. She had to get out of here. “Leave me.”

  And she rushed out of the door before the tears really fell.

  The noise was incredible. Music was playing, people lined the streets cheering. Coloured foil streamers flew through the air.

  The Stipulators in their ominous black clothes were walking on all sides. Keeping them away from the waving crowds. Stopping them from talking to people they recognized.

  The parade finally came to a halt in front of the city auditorium. Lorcan Field was practically bubbling with excitement, presumably at the thought of finally getting his hands on some real dinosaur DNA. It chilled her to the bone.

  The two pale eggs were sitting on display on the table at the front of the auditorium. They were surrounded by glass, but that wouldn’t be hard to smash.

  The eggs wouldn’t be hard to smash either. She should have listened to her gut instinct sooner. She should have acted when she had the chance. Instead, she’d allowed herself to be overwhelmed by fear, the judgement of others and her own indecision.

  She glanced nervously at Lincoln and Leif, who were next to her. The rest of the surviving Finalists were behind them – they didn’t have any bounty to show. They’d all been made to change back into their stained and ripped clothes before they marched from the ship. The Stipulators hadn’t wanted them to look primed and polished. They didn’t want the people around them to know that they’d eaten more on the journey home in the last week than the rest of the population would eat in a year.

  But Storm wasn’t interested in the promise of health care, food or energy. She wasn’t interested at all.

  Leif seemed overwhelmed by the spectacle. Lincoln just had that glassy expression. The one he wore when he wanted to block out everyone and everything around him.

  They entered the crammed auditorium, walking along the side and up the steps onto the stage.

  Reban Don was staring at her again, muttering to someone under his breath. Adrenaline surged through her. Being in this man’s presence made her mad. Was he really a relative who had abandoned her? Could he really be her father? Even she was starting to suspect it was true, and the thought made her sick to the pit of her stomach.

  How had he felt when he’d seen her? But for her eyes, she was the living image of her mother. If he’d really had a relationship with her mother, it wouldn’t have been hard for him to put two and two together.

  All she could feel was rage. Rage that he’d abandoned her. Rage that he’d known what she’d face in Piloria. Rage at the death of her teammates for a cause she didn’t believe in.

  If he’d known she existed, at any point in her life he could have approached her. Could have talked to her.

  But he wouldn’t have wanted her to get in the way of his role as Chief Stipulator.

  So, he’d let her take part in the Trials and sent her to Piloria to die.

  Maybe she hadn’t even done that well in the Trials. Maybe he’d even fixed it so she’d qualify when she shouldn’t have?

  Truth was, she wouldn’t put anything past this man.

  The formal announcements started. “Three weeks ago we bid farewell to one hundred Finalists sent to Piloria on a quest.” Reban held out his hand to the small group on the stage. “Ten have returned.”

  Cheers erupted around them again. It was apparent that the relatives of the ninety Finalists who hadn’t returned hadn’t been allowed inside the auditorium. Although the anger was burning away inside her, the atmosphere in here was electric. If she wasn’t careful she would find herself carried away by it.

  “Two eggs were returned with them. The egg of a velociraptor and the egg of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Two of the most deadly creatures on Piloria. From these eggs we will be able to study the dinosaur DNA. We will be able to create a disease to kill these creatures, and free the continent of predators, so that we may spread out across the land.”

  There was hysteria. The shouts and cheers were reaching a crescendo. Just the thought of “spreading out” was causing mayhem. For families who’d lived in shared accommodation and people who’d spent their whole lives with no space to call their own it was as good as a miracle. The crowds were trampling nearer the stage, more and more people pushing through the glass doors at the back and crushing those at the front.

  She had to do this. She had to do this soon.

  Reban had stepped over to the exhibit table, lifting the glass covers and leaving the eggs exposed. He shot a glance at the other Stipulators and her stomach rolled over with unease.

  His voice carried across the crowd. “Previously, everyone on each team who’d visited Piloria and successfully returned was rewarded. However, our resources are dwindling all the time. Because of this, the government have made the decision that only one Finalist can claim ownership of each egg; only one person can claim the prizes that are granted with each egg. Specialized health care, preferred housing, power privileges and no limit on rations.”

  What? Since when had they decided that? She looked frantically from Leif to Lincoln. Neither of them seemed to be listening. She hadn’t told them what she planned to do, but she’d always assumed that the privileges for finding the eggs would be accorded to all members of the team. She’d hoped her actions wouldn’t affect the recognition of the others, and that she’d be the only one to lose her privileges.

  For the good of the people. For the good of the planet. For the good of mankind. The crowd started chanting the words around her, filling the room with their fervour.

  It was too much. It was too much for her. She had to do this now. She had to show them that this was wrong. The dinosaurs weren’t all unintelligent beasts. They deserved to keep their land for themselves.

  Reban pointed to the T-rex egg. “Who claims credit for this?”

  The egg she’d dived out of the cave for. The egg she’d risked life and all her limbs to help Lincoln grab from under the T-rex’s nose. She swayed a little. Remembering the smell of flesh and blood on the T-rex’s breath. The odour of death.

  She moved in the blink of an eye.

  She had to.

  She ran at the eggs, raising her fist ready to smash it down on them.

  Everything happened in slow motion.

  For some reason, Lincoln was right by her side.

  She reached the table in a few steps. Reban’s eyes – his violet eyes – were wide in shock.

  She thudded down with her fists.

  But the darn T-rex egg didn’t smash. Instead, it rolled to the side.

  “We have to stop this! This is wrong!” she screamed.

  The room erupted. People were shouting. Black cloaks were everywhere. She jumped onto the table. If she couldn’t smash the egg with her fists, she could stamp on it with her feet.

  But as she lifted her foot, two things happened.

  Lincoln moved so fast she couldn’t stop the downward stamp she’d already started. He snatched the egg from under her foot just as huge arms grabbed her around the middle and pulled her from the table.

  “This is wrong! This is wrong! We shouldn’t kill the dinosaurs, Piloria is theirs!”

  The crowd surged forward. They were furious. Furious at her. Baying for her blood.

  Lincoln threw her a glance then turned towards the crowd and lifted the T-rex egg above his head.

  “I claim credit for the T-rex and the raptor egg. I, Lincoln Kreft from Ambulus City.”

  For a few seconds there was silence.


  Then the crowd erupted. The Stipulators at the front of the auditorium seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Lincoln moved forward, keeping their attention and never looking back.

  Never looking back as Storm struggled and shouted in Reban Don’s arms.

  There was a strangled cry to her left. Leif was trying to battle his way through the Stipulators – trying to make himself heard above the cheering.

  But the crowd weren’t listening – they had what they wanted. They had a hero.

  Now, they could wipe out the dinosaurs. Now, they could claim the continent as their own.

  She watched as Lincoln was lifted up on the shoulders of some of the people who’d crowded onto the stage.

  It was done.

  It was over.

  She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think straight. All around her the crowd were celebrating, rejoicing. And no matter how much she wriggled and kicked and screamed, Reban Don’s arms held her solidly in place. Away from the eggs. Away from the DNA she should have destroyed.

  “I’ll kill him! And I’ll kill you!” Leif tried to push his way through the crowd but it was useless. His broad shoulders couldn’t find a way between the packed bodies. He turned to face Storm, his eyes blazing. “What were you thinking? What were you doing? And did you know? Did you know he would do this?” The blood vessels were pulsing on his face as he pushed it up towards hers, furious.

  “I needed this,” he shouted. “What about my family? What about Kronar’s? Or Rune’s? We made a promise to each other. A vow. Whoever survived would feed the other’s families. How can I do that now?”

  Her gut twisted. Hadn’t Kronar told her he had seven brothers and sisters? And what about Rune’s and Leif’s families? They were starving. What would they do now?

  She looked down at her feet. She couldn’t even look at Leif. She felt betrayed by Lincoln too but she couldn’t keep kidding herself. The decision she’d made would probably have had the same devastating effect, stripped Leif of the rewards. She would have left the Nordens’ families with nothing. She was no better than Lincoln.