Strikeforce

by Nick James

  “It’s everywhere,” Cassius said. “Matigo had it buried on Earth during the Scarlet Bombings. The red mist may have covered the atmosphere, but it was black seeping in our soil. He can control it. Build weapons. Slice us in two. Anything. I’d step away if I were you.”

  She turned to glance at him, confusion on her face. “This is the substance that once formed your bracelet, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “And if there’s a Shifter around, we’re as good as dead.”

  Eva came rushing around the corner of the ship, careful not to get too close to the still-streaming Ridium. “I tried calling Fisher.” She glanced at the thick stuff, face souring. “What’s it doing now?”

  “Another Ridium deposit,” Cassius answered. “We shouldn’t stay in one place for too long, though. Remember what happened outside of the swarm?”

  Eva winced, glancing at the ground. “Black blades.”

  Cassius remembered watching Matigo’s son, Theo, summon the element from the ground, fatally stabbing a group of Skyship Agents in the process. “We don’t want to end up like them.”

  She took a deep breath. “Fisher wasn’t there, Cassius.” She bit her lip. “Nobody answered when I called.”

  “You try Avery?”

  “Nobody,” she said.

  “Skandar?”

  “I tried every line I could think of trying.”

  Madame backed away from the vessel. “They were on the Surface, at least. The Authority couldn’t have brought them down.”

  Eva shook her head. “You better be right.”

  As the last of the Ridium cascaded into the ground, everything fell still.

  Cassius balled his hands. “We’re not safe out here, but we can’t fly, either. We’re going inside.” He gritted his teeth and conjured fire. “Get behind me.”

  “Are you crazy?” Madame said. “It’s a shot in the dark, Cassius.”

  She was right, of course, but he’d learned never to assume he knew anything about how Haven or the Authority worked.

  Sparks along his fingers ignited into a small fireball, searing the air around him. A blast at this close a range might be enough to make a dent in the ship’s surface.

  He’d never find out. Before any fire left his hand, the wall collapsed in front of him.

  Or rather, it opened up.

  Metal folded on itself, though Cassius noticed no lines or seams as it moved. It was almost as if it disappeared— evaporated—right before their eyes.

  When the last of the metal had retreated, they were left with an oval-shaped opening, the size of a large door. Beyond that were a set of stairs, rising steep into the darkness of the vessel.

  It was too easy. A trap?

  He turned to Madame to ask her.

  He didn’t get a chance. An incredible suction issued from beyond the door, sudden and very powerful. It took Cassius off guard. Nobody could do anything.

  His feet soon left the ground, no longer under his control. One by one, they were sucked through the door and into the ship.

  16

  I muffle a scream as the stranger drags me through the sky, propelled so fast that my mind can’t keep up with the horror and adrenaline pumping through the rest of me. My stomach doesn’t even have time to be sick.

  He released my shoulder some time ago, and now grips onto my hand as he pulls me onward. Terrified of falling, I clutch both hands around his fingers. His grip is steel tight, unwilling to let me go.

  The world tilts and flips underneath as he brings us in a sudden loop, heading back down to the Surface.

  Three feet away, he releases his hold on me.

  I collide with the dirt, rolling on my side several times. When I finally settle, my clothes and hair are covered in brown dust.

  I lie on my stomach, exhausted both physically and mentally. The seesaw sickness of my sudden escape/kidnapping catches up to me and threatens to bring nausea with it. Instead, I cough, which only sends more dust up my throat as I gasp for air. By the time I work my way to a sitting position, the man is standing right in front of me.

  He stares down, intense curiosity in the one eye that’s not covered by the patch. After a moment, he offers a hand to help me up. When I grab hold again, I’m brought to my feet with a great lurch, faster and stronger than I would have done on my own.

  “What the hell?!?” I start shouting without even realizing what I must sound like to the guy. “You left Avery back there! She could be—”

  The man holds up a hand, palm out. I flinch. The gesture quiets me mid-sentence, just from the intensity of it. The next words come out far more reserved. “We have to go back and get her. She’s important to me.”

  Without a word, the stranger brings down his hand, then turns and moves away, feet tromping through the dust. I glance behind my shoulder. We’re surrounded by desert in all directions. I can’t even see hints of Fringe towns in the distance. Nothing but flat, brown land and equally brown hills, though they’re so out of reach I might just be imagining them.

  I shift my attention back to the stranger. “Hey!” I stagger after him. “Hey, what are you—?”

  He plants his feet and turns. He’s laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” I stare up at his face. The top of my head comes up to his shoulders. I feel like I’m standing in a hole. “This isn’t something to laugh at. Those things back there were gonna kill us. Avery’s still—”

  “You can take a moment to regain your bearings.” His voice rumbles through me, like he’s amplified somehow—wearing a mic. It’s not that he’s loud, because he isn’t. But there’s a presence in the way he speaks, kind of like Captain Alkine back home.

  “Wh-who are you?”

  His half smile settles into a frown.

  “You’re a Drifter,” I continue. “Obviously.”

  His expression remains fixed.

  I rub a cloud of dust from my shoulder. “And a totally psychotic one, from the looks of it.”

  He crosses his arms, appraising me for a moment before speaking. “What were you doing in that train?” He turns and continues to tromp through the desert.

  “I didn’t plan to be there.” I follow him. “We were kidnapped by the Authority.”

  He stops. “I saw what you did in that city, Pearlbreaker.”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t enough.”

  “It was something,” he says. “But you’re right, not nearly enough.” He resumes his pace.

  “Are you just gonna keep walking like this?”

  “We gain nothing by standing still,” he replies. “We need to find your brother.”

  “No,” I say. “We need to find Avery.”

  The man sighs. “I needed to get you away from those soldiers. There wasn’t time to carry both of—”

  “We go back,” I interrupt. “It’s not up for discussion.”

  “Do you suppose that train will simply stop? Your friend will be carried away with it, Authority or no Authority.”

  He’s wrong. I know Avery well enough. She won’t stay in that open train car, captive. Either she’ll bust through the door or jump out the back.

  “We need to find your brother,” the man repeats.

  I glance up at him, doing my best to match his pace. “Cassius? How do you know about him?”

  “Every Drifter knows about him,” he says. “And you.”

  “So you are a Drifter, then. With the Resistance?”

  The man laughs again. “You’re too trusting. Where is Cassius now?”

  “He’s on Skyship Atlas.”

  “Too trusting,” he repeats, shaking his head. Then he stops and points at the blanket of blue above us. “Look above you. Do you see anything in the sky? Your ships have been leveled—pulled to the ground. Defeated.”

  I bring my eyes away from the sky, looking up at him once more. “You’re here to help?”

  “I’ll do what I can,” he says. “But there’s only one way to end this for good. And I need the both of you together.”
r />   “You still haven’t told me who you are.”

  He frowns. “We can retrace our steps, if we must. Find your friend. Then, we need to talk about your brother. When I developed the Pearl technology, I allowed for a failsafe—”

  “Wait.” My head spins. I stare at his face, but his head’s bowed, obscuring much of it. “You developed—?”

  “Yes, Jesse.” He raises his head and his eye meets mine. “For my sons.”

  “Then you’re—”

  “It’s comforting to finally see you,” he interrupts, “after so many years apart.”

  We’re silent for a moment, which is fine because I can’t even form words. Instead, a chuckle spills out of my lips. I don’t even realize I’m doing it, and I’m not quite sure why, either.

  My father’s brows rise, and for a moment I think that he’s going to scold me. Then he smiles.

  I swallow. My mouth is dry. “You’re not serious. No way.”

  His smile fades. “I don’t joke about such things. Of course, you don’t know me well enough to understand that.” He pauses. “My name is Savon. Number three-thousand-thirty-eight. I’ve been waiting to find you. For as long as I can remember.”

  17

  The suction receded and Cassius found himself deposited in a dark, circular room. Whatever traction beam had pulled them into the strange vessel had known not to pull them too far. He landed feetfirst on the ground. Even so, he found himself crumbling under his own weight. He crashed to the ground before his body adjusted.

  Eva laid next to him, forcing herself up. “The gravity’s different. How’s that possible?”

  Madame straightened her back. She was the first to stand completely. “We’re inside of an alien ship. I’d think anything’s possible.”

  Cassius spun slowly around, taking in their surroundings. They’d landed in the center of a wide disc. On first inspection, the material below his feet looked like a simple, dull metal. But when he put weight on it, he found that it was somewhat pliable, conforming to his every shift in balance.

  The walls were of a similar material, lit by a dim ring that emanated from somewhere in the middle. Behind him, stretching into the darkness, was a ramp. No signs or symbols to tell him where it led, but the only other way out was the doorway they had come through.

  Madame moved to his side, struggling with the increased gravity. “We’d do best to escape while we still can.”

  “No way,” he replied. “We’re inside. We’ve got a chance to do some damage.”

  “Or get ourselves killed,” she countered. “An attack without strategy is a guaranteed—”

  “Then leave if you want. Doesn’t matter to me.”

  “Cassius … ”

  He stepped closer to the ramp, marveling at the cushioned substance under his feet. It felt like stepping on damp moss. He tapped his foot on the ground. The floor was hard. Foamy, but hard.

  Eva followed behind, cautiously glancing around. “I should’ve grabbed a weapon. We’re unarmed.”

  “I don’t see anything to fight against,” Cassius whispered as he took his first step onto the ramp. The metal became tough and unyielding. In a way, it reassured him. At least it didn’t feel like the entire thing was going to pull him in.

  He quickened his pace. The ramp provided no railings or edges to grip onto, but he managed to ascend its steep slope with ease. The extra gravity kept his feet stuck to the ground each time he planted them.

  The farther he worked his way up, the more the light behind him disappeared. Stretching his arms in front of him, he hit a corner, then turned to accommodate the twist. The ramp’s slope lessened until he arrived on a flat platform. A dim red light blinked several feet ahead, hanging in the darkness.

  Looking behind him, Cassius realized that turning the corner had disconnected him from the chamber below. He glanced back at the flashing red. It looked almost like a tiny Pearl, but from what he could tell it was flat—a circle affixed to a wall or door.

  Without hesitation, he moved forward and laid his hand over it. Nothing.

  He feared warmth or, even worse, electrical shock. Maybe a trigger for some kind of attack.

  Still …

  Taking a deep breath, he pushed on the red with the palm of his hand.

  Immediately, the wall crumbled before him, revealing cracks that expanded into a full, door-sized rectangle. He shielded his eyes from the oncoming glare. Compared to the pitch black around him, it felt like a sudden stab in the eyes.

  He heard Madame’s voice from far below. “Cassius, is everything okay?”

  He let his arm fall from over his eyes and peered into the corridor beyond. “I think so,” he muttered back.

  Chunks of wall laid in front of him on the floor. He watched in amazement as they began to tremble, then slink into the corridor. The pieces danced along the floor before they were sucked into the far wall, melting and disappearing into metal. In seconds, they were gone. The ship had fed on itself.

  He cautiously stepped through the opening. The corridor was remarkably silent—the kind of stillness that made him instantly anxious. Where were the people? Where was the rumbling of the temp control or the humming of onboard computer systems? From what he’d seen on the outside, the vessel was big enough to house hundreds. Yet there hadn’t been a single sign of life since it landed.

  He reminded himself of the streams of Ridium that had coursed into the ground from the vessel’s outer walls. Maybe that was its only purpose. But it didn’t make sense. There were already large deposits of Ridium under the surface of the Earth from the Scarlet Bombings long ago. How much did the Authority need?

  Someone grabbed his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts.

  He jumped, despite himself, and turned to see Madame. Despite clenching his shoulder with her hand, she didn’t make eye contact. She stared intently at the corridor beyond.

  “Last chance, Cassius,” she whispered. “The deeper you go—”

  He pulled forward, away from her. She followed into the hallway, along with Eva. The moment they had all safely emerged from the darkness, the opening behind them sealed.

  Beads of what looked like liquid metal sucked into place, like some sort of invisible vacuum had pulled them together. In less than a second, there was no door left.

  Eva banged her fist against the newly formed metal before turning. “It’s a trap.”

  Cassius shook his head. “If it was a trap, we’d be dead by now.”

  As if on cue, he felt his foot begin to sink into the ground. Unlike the strange gravity in the dark room, this time the metal came up at him, wrapping itself around his ankle. He tried to kick free, but the grip was too tight.

  “What the—?” Eva stumbled sideways before the ship cemented her in place.

  “It’s alive.” Cassius looked down at his feet, watching the metal fall still. He could see the tips of his boots, but nothing from there to his ankles.

  Madame grabbed hold of her knee and tried to pull herself up, to no avail. “That’s ridiculous. This can’t be—”

  “I was in a ship like this,” Cassius said. “Before Altair. Theo made it from Ridium. He could control the entire thing.”

  Eva wriggled her body, trying to break free. “But this isn’t Ridium.”

  The walls shifted sideways. At least that’s the way it looked to Cassius at first. The entire journey up to the corridor had disoriented his mind. It took a moment before he realized that the walls hadn’t moved at all. It was the floor.

  The ground shuttled them along, pushing all three forward through the corridor, their feet never leaving the ground.

  The floor slanted upward. They turned a corner. The metal underfoot shifted to accommodate every move, like a conveyer belt that wouldn’t let them go.

  “It isn’t stopping!” Madame held her arms out, afraid to lose balance.

  There were no windows in the vessel, and every corridor looked the same. They sped up. Soon, it became impossible to tell how far
they’d ascended.

  Cassius noticed the turns in directions become more and more frequent. Each level of the ship decreased in diameter until every move felt like part of a circle. Too much of this and he’d be sick.

  Finally, after several dozen of these loops, the ship released its hold on them.

  Cassius was thrown forward. He reached out his hands to break his fall. The corridor spun.

  Eva brought herself to her knees, rubbing her bruised shoulder. “And the point of that was … ?”

  “Disorient us,” Madame said. “We’ve no weapons, and now we don’t even know which way is which.”

  “All of these corridors are identical.” Cassius stood, closing his eyes to catch his bearings. Then, he strode to the nearest wall and laid his hand against it. Immediately, the entire thing gave way. Beads of metal dripped in a crater around his hand and spread quickly until he’d carved a large opening.

  He stepped back, eyes wide. “It’s responding to my touch.”

  Eva moved to his side. “It didn’t do anything when I banged against it.”

  “You’re from Earth,” he replied. “It must be designed to—”

  “Watch out!” Madame grabbed his arm and forced him to the floor, just as a missile launched from somewhere beyond the opening, straight at them.

  They hit the ground as the dark missile blasted into the wall behind them, shattering into a thousand black daggers.

  The pricks of Ridium rained down, clinking against the metal floor like broken china.

  Cassius pulled himself forward on his belly, past the opening, before any of the knives could lodge themselves into his body. Eva rolled to the side, evading most of them.

  Madame didn’t have time.

  Cassius heard her cry out in pain as one of the daggers connected with her leg, slicing through flesh on its way to the ground.

  Frantically, he pulled her forward, away from the chaos. Rushing to her side, he watched the last of the Ridium wriggle from her wounded leg and melt away from her, leaving a trail of dark blood.

  “Cassius!” she cried.

  “Your blazer.” He motioned for her to hand it to him, keeping one eye on the blood now gushing from her leg. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Madame bleed before.