The Lifeline Signal

by RoAnna Sylver

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Chance said with a slightly awed shake of his head. “So, uh, you want a campfire or something? Looks pretty wildernessy, probably nobody around to see it. I’m actually pretty good at making—”

  “No fires,” Annie said flatly. “Really don’t like them.”

  “Oh—that's right, I’m sorry,” he stammered, seeming to realize what he’d just suggested, and to whom. “Um, never mind. I’ll just—can’t believe I said that. Like you’re gonna want to roast S’mores, what am I thinking…”

  But Annie didn't seem to be listening. She stood up and headed back to the bike, opening its trunk and taking out an object about the size of her head. But it wasn’t her helmet; it was the jar again. “Won’t get far without a shield,” she murmured, staring into it as if it were a crystal ball that might solve her dilemma. “Hope she won’t mind me dropping in.”

  “Who?” Chance asked, seeming eager to make up for his mistake. "Are we seeing a friend of yours?"

  “I have a contact at Radiance headquarters in Chicago,” Annie replied, but didn't look up from her jar, seeming to find the bizarre object comforting. “When SkEye cuts off Parole's water shipments, or food, supplies, anything, Lakshanya Chandrasekhar’s always been the one to get them through. I've never actually talked to her, Kari or Ash handle—handled—that, but she should still listen to me.”

  “Uh—Radiance HQ? We’re stopping there?” Now Chance looked up sharply from placing the perimeter alarms, voice a good half-octave higher than normal. Shiloh glanced up at the interruption and paused briefly, but soon went back to xir project, turning the dial with steady determination.

  “Yes,” Annie said slowly, turning to face him just as deliberately. This gave him and Shiloh a very clear view of the jar she hugged to her chest. Shiloh looked long enough to confirm that yes, it really was a disembodied pancreas and then looked anywhere else. “Is that a problem?”

  “Well, no, but aren’t they—I mean, we should really just be getting right to Parole, huh? Why take a detour? We should just—”

  “Chance.” Annie shot him a look. “Why are you acting so weird right now?”

  “I’m not acting weird!” he folded his arms. “Anyway, how would you know? We just met, this could be how I always act when everything's trying to kill me.”

  “Our bodies just met, but our brains didn't. But I don't even have to know you to know you're really bad at lying.” Annie replaced the jar and opened another compartment, revealing a large radio with headphones connected. "And you're acting weird."

  “Am not,” Chance insisted. “I'm just saying, we are on a mission, to get an important thing somewhere, and this is not—important!”

  “A shield that protects us from deadly toxins and keeps us alive isn’t important?” She picked up the headphones and held one to her ear as she switched the radio on.

  “But aren’t your friends coming to meet us halfway? I dunno, I say we keep going, right for Parole.”

  Annie put down the headphones and stared at him. “We need shields if we want to survive. I don't have one. Radiance HQ has one. How aren't you getting this? Am I saying it wrong?”

  “No,” Chance looked slightly confused. “I don't think so. I just think it's a bad idea.”

  ”It's not,” Annie said, turning back to the radio as if that settled everything.

  “Then maybe I'm the one hearing it wrong!”

  Shiloh suppressed a sigh and wondered exactly what xie was in for. It was only the first night, and already the potential for misunderstandings and bickering seemed high. “We all seemed to get each other pretty well in the dreams. After that, basically being able to hear each other's thoughts, no wonder talking's hard.”

  “So, what then, we go back to sleep and talk it out in the tree?” Chance gave a skeptical shake of his head but Shiloh just shrugged in reply.

  “Couldn't hurt. Understanding everything seems easier there.”

  “I hear that,” Annie muttered. She was turning the radio's tuning dial now, slowly cycling through the frequencies. But from what Shiloh could hear from the headphones, each one was nothing but static. “I hate words sometimes. And they hate me.”

  “Yeah, but we're still connected,” Shiloh gestured to all of their heads. “You guys already understand me better than just about anyone else.”

  “Why do you say that?” Chance looked caught between vague suspicion and intrigued curiosity. Curiosity won out, and he seemed to lose some of the defensiveness he'd acquired over the last exchange.

  “Xie,” Shiloh said at last, simply. “I knew your faces the minute I saw you. But when you said that, when you called me ‘xie’ without being told—that’s when I knew it was real. It wasn’t a dream, I wasn’t making it up. This was really happening. And it was a good thing.”

  “Wow,” Chance said quietly, eyes widening. Annie stopped tuning and looked up as well. “It’s that important, huh?”

  “Yeah. More than anything in the world.”

  “Even superpowers?”

  “A lot more.” Shiloh smiled. “So thanks for getting it. And you didn't even make me explain anything. I think that's the best part.”

  “Yeah, sure, uh. No problem.” He shook his head, looking a little downcast instead of awed now. “People suck. In lots of ways. I’m glad we didn't.”

  “I knew you wouldn't," Shiloh shrugged. “I told you about it in the tree, so I knew you got it. I could feel you get it. If you hadn't, I wouldn't be here now. But then, I’m lucky. If someone has a problem, I can shoot lasers from my hands.”

  “Always a good thing,” Annie nodded. She'd put the headphones down and stepped away from the radio. Nothing in range, Shiloh guessed. “Someone doesn’t like it, blast ‘em.”

  “Yeah.” Xir heart was pounding again, but not in a frightening way. “I know it’s easier when we just know things in the dreams—but some words are still really important.”

  “Shiloh,” Chance reached out to touch xir shoulder, brought xir gaze down—to xir hands. “Look.”

  Xie didn't even have to look to know they were shining. The warmth came with every warm, galvanized, brave, alive feeling, and being called by the right words, being heard and seen, made xir feel very alive. A soft glow suffused every finger, shining through the skin, brighter at the tips. Shiloh drew in a slow breath, holding up xir hands and turning them, staring at the golden glow. The veins in xir wrists lit up the brightest, branching strings of light under xir skin.

  “How does it feel?” Annie asked quietly. She didn’t look shocked. Instead, on her face was something like confirmation, something like hope.

  Shiloh’s answer came in a faint whisper. “I think I leveled up.”

  Then, a strange noise broke the spell. Nearby, the radio hummed faintly, lights flickering as if it were trying to turn itself on. Static issued from the headphones again, but the signal remained faint and sputtering, lights flashing like Christmas tree bulbs that weren’t screwed in all the way.

  “The heck—are you doing that?” Chance stared at it, then back at Shiloh.

  “You said you couldn't get a signal to Parole?” xie said to Annie at almost the same time.

  “No, not for weeks.” She shook her head as she unplugged the headphones so the audio would play through the speakers. “It's never done this before, though. If I find the channel I need, can you boost it stronger?”

  “Worth a shot,” Shiloh nodded, then put one hand on the radio. The volume increased sharply and the display needles on the front jumped at the contact, but still no coherent sound above the static. Annie went back to her slow frequency-search, while Shiloh frowned at the radio, certain xie was forgetting something. After a few seconds xie almost laughed, then held xir free arm up straight in the air. “There, now we got an antenna.”

  The static ceased immediately, and at first Shiloh thought xie'd done something wrong. A broken radio was the last thing they needed. But then xie realized the radio wasn't silent at all. I
nstead of the static, they could now hear a human voice, very faint, but clear. And familiar.

  “Hi, babies…dio Angel…” it said, sounding like it came from farther away than any broadcast in the world, maybe from another planet. “Don’t kn…if you…me at all…”

  “Holy crap.” Chance stared. “How are you doing that? What are you even doing?”

  “Signal boosting.” Shiloh grinned, excitement flowing like the humming, crackling energy. “Did this all the time in my mom’s lab. A lot more practical than laser beams.”

  “But I’m gonna keep talking anyway,” said the voice as Shiloh concentrated, turning dials with xir mind’s eye instead of xir fingers and tapping into stronger signal. “Just in case. It’s what I’m here for. Oh, Celeste, I miss…”

  “Kari?” Annie called, crouching down in front of the radio as if to speak to it on its own level. “Hello? I’m here! Can you hear me?” A burst of static crackled through the air, and Annie gave her head a frustrated shake. “We're losing her!”

  “Let me give it some more juice.” Shiloh shut xir eyes and focused harder, tried to reach into the static and pluck the voice out like a shiny pebble in thick mud.

  “...Only took out the rider.”

  It was not Radio Angel's voice. It wasn't clear who was speaking; the signal was so distorted and static-filled the words were barely intelligible. It sounded like a man, but anything beyond that was impossible to say.

  “Moving target's a hard one. Messy job, no clean wrap-up. Loose ends. But that's a temporary problem.”

  All three of them looked up at each other with surprise. Shiloh started to ask what they were hearing but held very still and stayed quiet after xie saw the look on Annie's face. It wasn't surprised anymore; instead her expression was one of absolute horror.

  “Mission still accomplished. Ten years' worth of headaches, gone in one shot. Would've liked to get an interrogation in first, but we can still salvage something useful. Dead men tell no tales, but their bones might.”

  Annie mouthed something but no sound came out.

  “The other one got away. Almost pursued—but no target's a higher priority than Price. Besides, there were extenuating—"

  “Turn it off!” Annie got the words out at last, voice higher and more urgent-sounding than ever before. “Just—just make it—”

  Shiloh pulled xir hand away from the radio like it was a hot stove. Immediately the static stopped and the lights went out, but all three of them kept staring at the dormant radio as if it were still going, unable to look away.

  “That was him,” Annie whispered, breaking the shocked silence. She repeated the words a few times, more mouthing than speaking them, then started to pace around the edge of the campsite, just inside the perimeter lights. “Sharpe, that was him, he was talking about me, me and Ash, that's what—bones? Their bones, what does—”

  Annie's sudden panic was almost as alarming as the frightening voice and its chilling words. Shiloh's dumbfounded brain searched words that would help, but xie still couldn't speak at all, much less offer any coherent comfort.

  “And nobody knows,” she continued, finger twisting rapidly at her hair. “Nobody knows but me, everybody thinks we're coming back and he's not coming back, nobody knows we were both supposed to die but I didn't, or what he—the only ones who know are SkEye, they shouldn't know, not when even—not when we—”

  “Maybe they do,” Shiloh thought xie grasped her trauma-jumbled meaning and knew that words had little chance of helping. But xie had to say something. “Your friends might have heard somehow—”

  “That's worse!” she snapped. “They hear about it from Sharpe? No! No, they should hear it from me, but they can't. And now that bastard is talking about it—bragging—”

  “Annie, it's not your—”

  “Maybe there's nobody left to tell anyway, maybe Parole’s burned up completely or collapsed into the ground,” Annie shot back as if she hadn't heard, pacing faster and kicking at pieces of gravel. “Maybe everyone I love is gone and I'll hear about them on the radio next. Maybe this is a dream and I’ll wake up and I’ll be falling too!”

  “You're not gonna fall,” Chance spoke up for the first time, though he didn't sound convinced; as her nervous energy increased, he sounded more desperate too, like he could see this was headed somewhere bad, but didn't know how to help. “And I'm sure everyone in Parole is fine, they can take care of themselves, right? We just have to get there and then everything will be fine.”

  Annie said nothing. Instead she held perfectly still, staring at him. Then, with a sudden explosion of movement, she turned and ran a few steps in the other direction. She stopped a small distance away and kept her back toward them, then threw her head back, letting out a half-strangled scream. “God! It’s not fair!”

  Stricken, Chance turned to look at Shiloh, whose only answer was a firm shake of xir head. They both remained silent and still.

  “We were supposed to be safe out here!” Annie screamed at the vast night sky. Mercifully, it stayed silent. No horrors emerged, no searchlights or flames or monsters. Instead, her voice was swallowed up in an infinite darkness. “The night Gabriel found me, the ground crumbled! People were dying—we’re still trapped inside! And then the wall came down, and I finally escape and—I’m free, I can go as fast as I want! But there’s monsters out here too!” She kicked at a rock on the ground, missed, stumbled, almost fell. “Ash is dead and I left him behind just like I left everybody behind in Parole and—I’m still trapped! And we’re still! Falling! Into! The fire!”

  Slowly, Shiloh took a tentative step forward. “We just need to get some help—”

  “I had help! An actual adult, who knew what he was doing—Ash had this all figured out, he was supposed to protect me—but he died!” She turned around, and her face was the palest xie’d ever seen, standing out blood-drained and stark like a ghost in the inky dark. “He died, okay? I wasn’t supposed to be the leader here, I don’t shoot guns, I don’t have superpowers, all I do is drive—I drive a bike, okay? I get us places, and I drive the bike while…” She caught her breath, shoulders dropped. “I wasn’t fast enough to save him either.”

  “Annie, it’ll be—”

  “Don’t tell me it’ll be okay! It’s not!” Annie’s voice cracked. She went to kick at another rock in a frustrated jerk but overstepped; her foot shot out from under her and she fell, landing hard in a heap on the pavement. “It’s gone! Everything’s gone, it burned up and sank into the ground, and everybody’s waiting for me, and I have to tell them—that I’m sorry—about Ash—aggh!” She slammed her fist on the ground, letting out a shout that was more of a sob. “THIS. IS. WHY. WE. NEED. A. SHIELD!”

  “Hey, Annie, I’m…” Chance started to say, uncharacteristically quietly. He moved closer to her, reaching out.

  “No! Don’t touch me!” she gasped, flinging out one arm to stop him, turning away from him and choking back tears. It sounded like she was having a hard time getting a breath. Shiloh and Chance exchanged an apprehensive glance as she scrambled the short distance to where her helmet lay on the ground and jammed it back onto her head, swiping the visor to black it out. Then she seemed to cave in on herself, curling her knees up to her chest, sucking in deep, fast breaths, forcing oxygen into her lungs.

  Holding up his hands, Chance took a few steps backwards to where Shiloh stood. Xie hadn’t moved from beside the bike or shut the still-open trunk, figuring movement or sudden noise might startle Annie and make everything worse.

  “She’ll be okay,” Shiloh said, hoping it was true. The two of them waited, trying not to intrude, while Annie sat curled around herself on the ground, one hand clutching the shark tooth around her neck, other arm pressed against her helmeted head like she was trying to shut out the light.

  After the second minute, Shiloh glanced down into the open compartment, hoping to see some water or maybe a blanket in easy reach, anything that might help. Xie didn’t find either, but there was so
mething helpful inside.

  Gingerly, and trying not to look too closely, Shiloh picked up the pancreas jar. It was heavier than it looked, the glass probably protectively reinforced. Still, the thought of it breaking and Annie being crushed beyond recovery made Shiloh treat it with extra care as xie took the first step toward her. Its importance was still a mystery, but its clear significance to Annie wasn’t.

  She looked up sharply at the quiet sound of Shiloh placing the jar on the ground beside her. She didn’t move away, or say a word, or seem to notice Shiloh quietly backing away. She held perfectly still, staring at the jar and disembodied organ—until all at once, she grabbed it up, wrapping both arms around it like it was a treasured childhood stuffed animal. Now she did start to audibly sob, but at least she wasn’t shaking so violently anymore.

  Slowly, Annie relaxed by degrees, muscles gradually unclenching. After several more minutes, her rocking and sobs finally stopped. At last, she got up and walked back to her friends, still cradling the jar close to her chest.

  “I’m good now,” she said, placing it back in the trunk and shutting it. She passed a hand over her visor and it lightened just enough so they could see her eyes. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  “Listen, um…” Chance said haltingly. “Just forget what I said. About Radiance, and the shield. It’s fine, we can—”

  “Okay. Great.” Annie swept her hand back over her visor, darkening it again.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Shiloh attempted as she turned away again. “What happened to Ash. They’re not—”

  “You weren’t there.”

  “Didn’t have to be,” xie called as she disappeared into the treeline, head hanging low.

  She didn’t come back until some time later that night, but she did come back.

  * ☆ *

  The next day was a long one and the air grew hotter and drier with every mile. Annie put the pedal to the metal and kept the bike screaming down the empty highway and, slowly, the world around them began to change.