Shutdown

by Heather Anastasiu

  I felt like all the breath had been knocked out of my lungs. “How many— I mean, do we know if…” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the thought.

  “From what Ginni can tell with her power,” Henk said, “Jone is still alive. When his pod leader saw the armada of transports waiting, they surrendered and landed without a fight. They were taken prisoner. Tyryn’s pod too.”

  Xona looked away at this. I reached out and put a hand on her arm, but she kept staring stonily at the ground.

  “What about the rest?” I squeezed my hands into fists, trying to prepare myself for the worst.

  “There were a lot who never made it out of the Foundation.” Xona looked back up. “Ginni did an inventory of the survivors who were transferred to the Chancellor’s personal prison. Jilia, Saminsa, and Molla and the baby were captured. Cole was with us, but the other two ex-Regs, Wytt and Eli, were killed in the fighting at the Foundation.”

  “Who else?” I knew Ginni’s power would show her who’d died—they’d blink out from her vision.

  “The Professor didn’t make it. Beka and Shaun either,” Xona said quietly. “But the rest of our team came with us. City, Ginni, Rand, Juan, Amara, the techer; they’re all safe, along with a half dozen Rez fighters.”

  In spite of the list of those who were safe, I still felt sick to my stomach. Professor Henry had been such a kind and good man. I hadn’t known Beka and Shaun well other than seeing them use their Gifts in training. But still, they were both so young. Far too young to die.

  Henk looked over at Adrien, his eyebrows heavy. “And I’m so sorry ’bout your mother.”

  Adrien looked down, his face contorting as if he was trying hard not to cry. In spite of all he’d said, had some part of him harbored hope that she’d survived the attack? I wanted to go hug him, but I wasn’t sure he would welcome it.

  My lip trembled. The tears I’d been managing to keep back so far finally brimmed to the surface. Jilia had been like a second mom to us. And Tyryn was Xona’s brother and my friend. I hugged her hard again. She didn’t cry, but she held me while I did.

  “What now?” Adrien asked several long moments later, running his forearm roughly across his eyes.

  “Now we regroup,” Henk said. His jaw was tight. “And then we go to that prison and get ’em back.”

  Chapter 20

  WE PACKED UP THE FEW bits of our unused supplies and followed Henk and Xona back out of the cave.

  It was nighttime, but I could still see the outline of the impressive vehicle in the moonlight. It was even bigger than the large group transport we’d had at the Foundation.

  “Where did you get this?” I asked.

  “It’s why we couldn’t come sooner,” Henk said. “I stashed this baby away right before my cover at the transport factory got cracked last year. It’s got all the newest tech, designs I kept just for the Rez—antigravity hover based, complete day and nighttime cloaking tech, and solar-celled engines. We can fly for days before we gotta stop and let the engine cells refuel.”

  “So why didn’t you come earlier?” I asked. Adrien stood beside me, but was silent, staring at the ground.

  “Because genius here stashed it halfway across the country,” Xona said, cuffing Henk on the shoulder.

  “Hey, how was I supposed to know when the time came, I’d be in a transport meant for four that we had to stuff sixteen people into?” Henk looked back at me.

  “Seventeen,” Xona said darkly. “Don’t forget the traitor stowaway.”

  I looked at both of them in confusion. “Who?”

  “That crafty little shape-shifting bastard,” Henk said. “He knew we’d ’a left him behind if we could see him. But he made himself invisible and must’ve run with us down the tunnel, then he stuffed himself in with everybody else on the transport. It was so tight and we were all so cracked with everything happenin’, we didn’t even realize.”

  It sounded exactly like something Max would do. It was horribly unfair that he of all people was safe when the Professor was dead. But, weasel that he was, he always managed to survive.

  “With so much weight, we had a right hard time liftin’ off and stayin’ in the air. Engine trouble stalled us out after we escaped from the rendezvous site. I’d pushed it too hard trying to get us out of there as fast as possible. We were grounded for days before I figured out how to rig some power cells to get her up in the air again.”

  “And we could still only manage short hops and then had to stop for half a day to let the solar cells refuel,” Xona said. “Ginni told us you and Adrien were alive and hadn’t been captured, so we didn’t worry. We figured you’d found out that the rendezvous site was a trap and were hiding out.” Then she frowned, looking around the cave. “Where’d you hide your escape pod transport?”

  “We didn’t have one. Long story.” I waved a hand. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

  “I was so worried about you.” Xona’s eyes were uncharacteristically soft, her eyebrows drawn together. “Ginni said you’d stopped moving and I was afraid you’d been hurt. After Tyryn and Jilia…” She looked away.

  “I’m fine now.” I squeezed her hand back. “I’m okay.”

  Henk had already jogged over to the jet and pulled open a door on the side. It released with a hiss, and a small stepladder dropped out.

  Adrien shouldered our packs, and I climbed up and stepped inside. Everything was pristine and white. A short aisle ran between four rows of plush white seats.

  “The Uppers thought I was designing ’em a luxury flier.” Henk smirked.

  “Where are the others?” I asked. I’d half expected to find them inside.

  “Left ’em at the bunker where I hid the jet,” Henk said, climbing up into the front navigation chair. “They’re all safe and sound. I never told a livin’ soul ’bout that place. Not even Taylor knew.”

  Adrien joined him in the front seat. I watched the back of his head. Everything that had happened over the last week seemed suddenly surreal. Now it was back to real life.

  Adrien asked Henk questions about the bunker. His voice was calm and even, but I could hear how the words caught in his throat every so often. Was he just asking questions to distract himself from thinking about his mom? Xona strapped herself into one of the overstuffed chairs and tilted her head back against the headrest. She let out a slow sigh. Her eyes were puffy and red, and there were bruiselike shadows underneath her eyes.

  She looked as tired as I felt. I sat up suddenly in my seat. “Wait, so if you guys didn’t leave in a pod transport, you don’t have the supply packs.” My entire body slumped with exhaustion. “That means you don’t have any spare biosuits. Our packs didn’t have any and I’ve barely slept this week.”

  Xona’s eyes widened, but Henk looked back at us. “I stocked a med container at the bunker,” he said. “You’ll be able to sleep right when we get there.”

  I laughed with delirious relief. Finally! I’d be able to sleep! I looked back at Xona. “When was the last time you slept?” I asked.

  She cracked a tired smile. “A while,” she said. “But you’re safe now.”

  “I’m sure we’ll be able to rescue Tyryn and Jilia and all the rest of them too.” I meant it to be comforting, but Xona frowned deeply.

  She looked up at Henk. “That’s what Henk wants.” The way she said it made it sound like she didn’t.

  “Don’t you too?” I asked, confused.

  “Tyryn made me swear,” her eyes dropped, “that I would never try to come for him if he got captured. He made me swear it on our mom and dad. Said they would want one of us to survive if it came down to it.”

  “But still, if we could contact some of the other Rez cells—”

  “There’s no one left,” she said, her voice distant. She stared out the window, even though it was too dark to see anything. “We haven’t been able to contact any of the other Rez cells. Some of the Rez fighters at the Foundation knew where a couple of the other Rez command posts were locat
ed. The Chancellor must have compelled them to tell her. We don’t know what happened to the rest. From everything we can tell, there’s no one left but us.”

  I swallowed hard, trying to absorb the news. It was exactly what Adrien had guessed, even without a vision. I hadn’t realized just how thin a thread we’d all been hanging by. Hadn’t wanted to realize. Or maybe Xona was wrong. Maybe she didn’t have all the information.

  Xona looked back at me, her dark brown eyes intense on mine. “And I swore, Zoe. Swore I wouldn’t try to rescue him.” She sighed. “It’s been a long night, I’m gonna catch some sleep, if you don’t mind.”

  I nodded, trying to process what she’d just told me. “Get some rest.”

  In a few minutes, she was asleep. I unstrapped myself and made my way to the front of the jet. I leaned in over Henk’s and Adrien’s shoulders. “How bad is it, Henk? Xona said we’re the only ones left. But that can’t be true, can it?”

  “It’s bad,” he said. He adjusted the driving stick and we dipped gently to the left. “I’m sure some of the folks went to ground and hid. We’ve all been at it so long. We know the deal when we’re cracked. But from what Ginni reports, not many escaped the last round of raids. Not nearly enough.”

  “But the Rez has bounced back before, right? We can come back from this.”

  Henk’s eyes met mine briefly. “Zoe, there’s no Rez left to speak of.”

  My mouth dropped open. I still couldn’t believe it. “But the Rez has been operating for over two centuries. It can’t just have—”

  “We never had an enemy like Chancellor Bright before,” Henk said. “Don’t know how she cracked all the cells, but she did, first in the northern quadrant, then in the south. They’re all gone.”

  “But how?” I asked, still flabbergasted. “No one knew about the location of the cells led by Garabex and Sanyez.” I bit my lip as I thought. “Maybe that new weapon the other Colonels were talking about helped her find them all. The Amplifier. Or maybe somehow they were able to crack all our com codes?”

  “The techer boy says it shouldn’ta been possible.”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t think they had cloaking tech that could fool his equipment either. He was wrong about that.” But then I stopped talking. There was no use guessing what might have happened, at least not right now.

  I gave Adrien a quick glance. He’d been watching our exchange, but looked away out the window when I turned to him. I wished so bad he’d tell me what he was thinking. I sighed and went back to my seat.

  Adrien didn’t say anything to me for the entire ride, but he did glance back my way a couple times. Not that I could read the expression on his face. Was he upset about his mom? Or was he just glad now that he didn’t have to be saddled with my liabilities anymore? After all we’d been through together … after last night …

  “How fast are we going, anyway?” I called back up to the cabin. Anything to distract myself from thinking about last night.

  “This baby can go up to a steady fifteen hundred miles an hour,” Henk said. “I’m just keeping it slower while we maneuver around the more populated areas. We’re cloaked, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

  I sat back and tried to relax without getting too relaxed and going to sleep. I’d had enough practice over the past few days that I was able to calm every muscle of my body and let myself sink into the plush seat completely without falling asleep. I kept my eyes wide open and my mind calmly concentrated on my mast cells. I could almost do it without specifically focusing anymore. It was becoming instinctual, like the way people don’t notice breathing or blinking because it’s something they just do.

  A couple hours later, the jet decreased speed and started to drop altitude. I looked out the windows even though I still couldn’t see much in the nighttime. We’d passed by lit-up cities occasionally, but there hadn’t been any lights below for at least half an hour.

  I leaned forward in my seat restraints. “Where are we?”

  “Southwest part of the Sector,” Henk said.

  Our forward motion stopped, and then we dropped directly down. “Don’t need runways with this dove.” Henk patted the console deck appreciatively.

  He held his hands back from the controls completely as we touched down gently to the ground.

  “She self-parks too,” Henk said.

  “We get it.” Adrien managed a half smile. “You built a good transport, Henk.”

  Henk stared at him for a moment. He seemed as surprised to see the smile on Adrien’s face as I had been a week and a half ago.

  The outer door released and slid up in its tracks.

  Xona woke up the moment the door opened. “Don’t forget coolant harnesses,” she said, stopping me from stepping out of the open hatch. “Out here there’s nothing to cover you. Can’t take any chances.”

  We all draped the harnesses around our shoulders and waists without bothering to clip them in, then headed down the short ladder one by one.

  I jumped down the few steps and landed on the ground. Adrien was waiting there for me, his mouth tensed and his gray eyes dark. For one tiny second his mask slipped and I could see the grief written on his face. He was thinking about his mom. I stepped as close to him as I could without touching him. He might push me away if I reached for him, but maybe if I just stood by him he could soak up some comfort anyway.

  Henk clicked a button on a remote thumb-sized device, and a tarp lifted out and over, slowly covering the jet.

  The morning sun peaked over the horizon and I could see for what felt like forever in every direction. The landscape was so flat and, other than a few giant rock formations jutting up out of the ground, almost nothing seemed to grow in the arid plane. Just a few scrub plants here and there that looked like they barely managed to eke out an existence. The earth underneath our feet was strange too. The ground was dry and cracked, a sandy red orange color I’d never seen before. Out of everywhere I’d been on the Surface, this felt the most alien.

  “What is this place?”

  Henk laughed. “Welcome to the desert.” He led us to a small outcropping of rocks. I frowned, having no idea where he was going. I stayed close to Adrien as we walked. There didn’t seem to be any structures for miles around. But I did notice that my mast cells weren’t as active. In such a dry climate, there were far fewer allergens to set them off.

  Henk kicked at the ground in a few places. I didn’t know what he was doing until he kicked at a slightly different spot and I heard a hollow thunk.

  He reached down and cleared away the dust and sand with his hand until I could see a small circular hunk of metal with a handle in the middle. Henk grabbed hold and twisted. With a few grunting tugs, he got it to twist open.

  “This bloomin’ thing was near impossible to open when we first got here, but we been workin’ her in.”

  After a few more twists, the metal plate came off completely. Henk dropped it to the ground and gestured toward the hole. “Ladies first.”

  Xona dropped down inside, nimbly climbing down the ladder through what looked like a long tube. I looked down after her but couldn’t see anything below.

  “What’s down here?” I asked Henk.

  He grinned. “Generations of us Kioleskis have been paranoid bastards. My great-great-great-great-great grandpappy had this place built. Said he’d survive the end of the world down here if he had to. Everyone thought he was crazy,” Henk turned his head sideways, “till D-Day happened and some of the big cities got hit. Him and his kin hunkered down here for years during the takeover and the first waves of drone implants. Eventually he hooked up with some other survivors and they were the first generation of Rez fighters. Me mum thought it was crazy when she married into the family and heard all the stories. Took me to live with her family across the ocean in Sector One when dad died, but I lit out back here just as soon as I turned eighteen.”

  I looked down at the dark hole. “So was this place like a headquarters or something?”

 
; Henk laughed again. “Naw, great-grandpappy didn’t trust anyone, not even his new freedom fighter mates. Never showed this place to anyone ’cept his family and made his kids swear to do the same with each new generation. No matter what, he wanted his line to survive.”

  “But you brought us here?”

  He shrugged. “Eh, great-grandpappy was a crazy ol’ bastard. And I’m the last of us, so it’s my legacy now. It’s the only place I could think of that the Chancellor won’t be able to compel someone to tell about, ’cause no one but me knows.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  He waved a hand. “It’s nothin’. Now get yourself on down there. I can already hear Ginni shrieking about you getting back.”

  I listened and he was right, I could dimly hear Ginni’s unique high-pitched squeal. I smiled and started down the ladder. In spite of all that had happened, so many of my friends were still safe. I would take the moment to enjoy it before letting all the other worries settle back in.

  Ginni all but tackled me when I finally stepped off the ladder. She half strangled me, her arms were so tight around my neck.

  “I was so worried!” she said.

  “It’s okay, Ginns. I’m safe.”

  I looked around at the other familiar faces packed into the small six-by-six-foot chamber that made up the entryway. Rand clapped Adrien hard on the back, pulling him into a half hug. “Good to see ya, man.”

  Juan gave me a hug too. “Glad you’re safe,” he said when he pulled back. He used to be so ready with a smile, but even though he looked glad to see me, his face was subdued.

  I looked around. The concrete walls looked like they hadn’t been scrubbed down in a very long time. A layer of orange Surface dirt coated them, heavier along the bottom near the floor. We set our coolant harnesses on a hook in the entryway, then Ginni ushered me through an arched concrete doorway into a larger room. It was about twenty feet wide and maybe fifty long. The walls were also curved, like a giant animal had burrowed a large tunnel through the ground.

  Cots hung from the walls all the way up to the ceiling on the right side of the room, stacked four high. Lots of people were sitting or lying on their cots. Others milled around the room. Some I recognized: City, Rand, a dark-haired boy who seemed vaguely familiar, Cole, and Amara. Max sat alone in the corner. He stood when I came in, but I looked away from him. The rest wore the distinctive Rez fighter garb.