The Amplified

by Lauren M. Flauding

  It takes a moment to catch my breath and reorient myself. I've never been afraid of heights, but I feel a little queasy when I look down and see all the many objects I could impale myself on. I shake my head to try to clear the thoughts running through my imagination, concentrating instead on the pipe in front of me. It does go up to the ceiling, and there is a narrow opening that a small person, or a little boy, could probably fit through.

  "Mari, climb the pipe."

  My amplifier takes over again. My arms grab the sides of the pipe and I shimmy up to the top. The opening is very narrow, and I barely squeeze through. It's dark and dusty in the ceiling, and I'm wishing I had brought a light. My eyes start adjusting to the dimness, and I see there's only enough room to crawl. It's slightly less dusty to the left, so I decide to head that way.

  There are a few signs that someone might have crawled through here lately; less cobwebs, a few broken capsule pieces — but I'm still unsure if I'm on the right track. Suddenly, I come upon an open space to my right and see him. For a split second we stare at one another. He does have a birthmark on his neck. The next moment he scampers back and climbs into one of several smaller tunnels leading away from the open space.

  I crawl after him, but I'm too slow. I can see that the tunnel he escaped into leads to a dead end, but it's so small I don't dare climb into it. I'll just have to try to talk to him from here.

  "Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here?" I call up the tunnel. All I hear in response is some shuffling. "I know you can hear me!" I taunt. Still nothing. "That's okay, I can wait."

  I glance around. The space is about 30 square feet and there are a few pillows and stray capsules scattered on the fragile floor. It's well ventilated thanks to the tunnels, but that might be the only feature that makes the otherwise uninhabitable area decent.

  After a few minutes I start to realize that this kid probably has far more experience than me with holing up and waiting it out in unpleasant places, so I try another tactic.

  "Listen, I've seen you before. I didn't tell anyone about you then, and I won't tell anyone about you now. I just have some personal questions I want to ask you." After a few moments I add: "and I won't ask you anything that could get you in trouble," hoping it's not a lie.

  Besides a muffled cough and a few scratching noises, the boy is silent. After about 15 minutes, I figure he's not going to give in so I start to leave. Then I hear a small voice echo down from the tunnel.

  "Are you Mari Quillen?"

  "Yes!" I respond quickly. I'm a little disturbed that he knows my name, but I'm eager to keep him talking. His next question comes after some hesitation.

  "Did you really save someone from falling off the air barge before you were Amplified?"

  Now I'm the one that hesitates. Some of the trainees here are still suspicious of me.

  "I did, but I-"

  "Wow! That's amazing! How did you know what to do?"

  "I didn't. I just ... followed my instinct."

  "Well, everyone in the Community is talking about it. Most people don't think it's true."

  "What?" I exclaim, a little too loudly. "How do they know?"

  "Things like that don't happen very often, so it gets around."

  This bit of information puts me on edge. I don't like the thought of a bunch of strangers discussing me. No wonder Governor Plenaris thought it necessary to pay a personal visit. He wanted to keep unusual circumstances like me in line.

  "What's your name?" I ask, wanting to change the subject. The boy surprises me by emerging from the tunnel, his face appearing first.

  "I'm Felix," he replies, extending his hand to me before he's fully out of the tunnel. We shake hands awkwardly and he sits in front of me, almost like a toddler waiting to hear a story. I guess he's warmed up to me now that he knows who I am.

  "How long have you been here?" I say, beginning my interrogation.

  "18 days."

  "How did you get on the barge?"

  "I climbed the cables when they were doing maintenance."

  I think back and remember that day. They had to land the barge at one of the maintenance stations. Felix must have known they would be there in advance. "Did you leave Intoxication capsules in someone's dorm room?"

  "Yes."

  "Why?"

  He grins impishly and shakes his head. He's not going to answer that question.

  "Fine," I concede. "Who left that recording on my device?"

  Felix scrunches up his face, apparently contemplating whether or not he's going to divulge that information. Suddenly there's a loud clanging sound below us. Felix snaps his head to the side and jumps into another one of the small tunnels, disappearing into the darkness. I move over to the tunnel he went through. I can't see anything, but from the air flow I can guess that there's a way out on the other end. I've lost him.

  Frustrated, I crawl out of the ceiling and back down the obstacle course. Liam is now hurling huge weights at an elastic wall and dodging them when they bounce back. I glare at him as I pass. He's probably responsible for the crash that scared Felix away. But deep down I know it's my fault - I should have asked about the recording first.

  Chapter 16

  Justin is halfway through his safety speech when Alia comes into the Coliseum. Her eyes are red and swollen and her hair is a mess. Now that I think about it, I never saw her come back to the dorm last night. She walks quickly over to the group, her head down, and stands next to me and Joby. Justin studies her for a moment, then resumes his speech.

  "Are you all right?" I whisper once everyone has stopped staring.

  "I'm fine," she bites back.

  I raise my eyebrows at her, but she continues to stare angrily at the floor. Whatever happened last night, she's clearly going to keep it to herself. For a moment, it looks like Joby is going to try to comfort her. He raises his hand and lets it hover by her shoulder, but then he abandons his intent and retracts his hand awkwardly.

  People around me start shuffling, and I realize Justin has finished his speech and dismissed everyone. Alia quickly goes to the Adhesive room, not saying a word to either of us.

  "Hey, what's Liam doing?" Joby asks me. I follow his gaze over to the pool where Liam appears to be doing intense water aerobics. He looks pretty ridiculous, actually.

  "He's exercising himself to death," I respond. "I guess he got permission from Talina to skip out on regular training so he could work out for 3 days straight."

  "Oh." Joby mutters, looking a little somber. "He told you that?"

  Joby's been acting weird ever since the bear attack. I know what it's about, but I just don't want to address it. Ever.

  "Yeah, I ran into him last night," I say impassively. "So what are you going to train on today?"

  Joby looks glad for the change of subject and I'm relieved he takes the bait.

  "Probably more weapons, I hear they just got new nunchucks. What about you?"

  "I'm going to try out the hover chamber."

  "Hey, I haven't tried that yet. Maybe I'll come with you."

  "Really? I thought I saw you in there last week."

  Joby hesitates. He knows I've called his bluff.

  "Oh yeah, you're right," He says, reddening slightly. "Guess I forgot." Joby gives me a small smile, then hurries off to the weapons wall.

  A surly looking girl appears to be guarding the door to the hover room. I try to get past her, but she stands in my way.

  "You have to wait for the next match," she informs me. I look around her into the room and see 4 people grappling with each other in the air.

  "What's the point?" I ask her.

  "Get everyone else to touch the ground."

  It seems like a simple task, but as I watch the mess of bodies as they flail at each other with perfectly executed hits and kicks while getting nowhere, I realize this is going to take a little more mental prowess than the Amplifier can offer. Or at least more than I'm willing to give it.

  "So, are you like, the all-time ch
amp?" I ask her.

  "No," she responds, confused.

  "Did you make up the rules?"

  "No, why?"

  "I was just wondering what you did to earn the honor of monitoring this room."

  "Jaren put me in charge."

  "Of course he did," I say bitterly. I scan the Coliseum and spot him on the field, flirting with a tall, dark-haired girl. I guess this might be the reason Alia is so upset. On top of being angry at him for hurting my friend, I'm also indignant that he thinks he can control other people. I'm fighting the urge to go over and punch him in the throat when I hear the girl talking to me.

  "Hey, you can go in now."

  I turn around to see three disgruntled trainees pulling themselves out of the room, followed by a muscular guy who looks really pleased with himself. Well, so much for learning from their strategy, I think as I glide into the room. There are two boys and another girl hovering closely together and talking to one another, but they stop abruptly when I enter. Looks like they're planning to take me out first.

  "You have one minute to adjust before the match begins," the guard girl calls from the entrance.

  I float around almost helplessly in the air. I notice that I can maneuver slowly in a chosen direction by mimicking swimming motions, but not very effectively. I survey the area, trying to find anything I can use to my advantage. It's pretty sparse. There are some bars on the ceiling and some kind of panel on the far wall, but for the most part it looks like propelling myself from the walls is going to be my best option for any kind of attack. The other three have formed a cluster together on one of the corners near the ceiling. I move to the corner farthest from them.

  "Ready?" The question that sounds more like a command echoes from the entrance. "Begin!"

  My three aggressors lunge at me, their combined weight allowing them to move more quickly across the room. They each give themselves a different command, but I can't quite tell who is saying what.

  "Chase, punch her is the stomach."

  "Melody, detach her from the wall."

  "Aaron, kick her to the ground."

  Great. Weaken me, take away my defenses, and force me to the ground. A simple, yet effective plan. I close my eyes and brace myself for the barrage of pain coming my way, but to my surprise, I feel only the slight graze of a foot across my back. I look up and see that the group has lost momentum, the anti-gravity rendering their commands almost useless. There is no force behind their actions. I almost laugh as I grab onto their bodies and pull myself up above them.

  "Mari, flip up and push straight down off the ceiling," I command. The flip is slow and deliberate, but is executed nonetheless. I kick firmly off the ceiling and land on the group that attempted to attack me, pushing them all down toward the floor. But my push looses steam and only the boy on the bottom of the pile touches the ground. He stares hatefully at me before leaving the room.

  Before I can revel in my small victory, the other two are grabbing at me and pulling me down to get themselves to a better position. Now beneath them, they both kick at me, inching me downward. A severe kick to my right shoulder sends me spinning out of their range. I'm lucky to be away from them for the moment, but my shoulder is throbbing. I reach the opposite wall and try desperately to anchor myself there, but there's nothing to hold on to. The girl comes flying above me and I can see that she's going to copy my maneuver of pushing off the ceiling to get me down to the ground. I watch her carefully, trying to stay as close as I can to the wall. She propels herself off the ceiling and is coming at me fast. I wait until right before she reaches me to push against the wall and move out of her path. She's moving too quickly to stop herself and she crashes straight into the floor.

  Now there's just the other boy left. I'm in a fairly helpless position, floating in the middle of the room, while the boy is holding onto some bars on the ceiling. I twist around to face him, only to receive a nasty kick in the face. I'm sent reeling backwards, my legs coming up over my head. I must be bleeding because I see little red droplets suspended in the air around me. He kicks me again in the hip, which sets me upright. When I see his foot come at me again, I grab onto it and swing myself up to the ceiling, securing myself on one of the bars.

  The boy sneers at me menacingly. He's stronger than most of the trainees here and much bigger than me. He comes at me by swinging across the bars. I have to think fast.

  "Mari, kick him in the jaw."

  Anchored on the bars, my whole body tenses as I swing my legs up and connect a foot to his face. It's a solid kick, but it doesn't do much to deter him. He wraps his legs around me and jerks me down. One of my hands is pulled from the bars, and I'm dangling precariously from the other bar. The boy jerks my body down with his legs again and I'm detached from the ceiling. His pull was so forceful that I'm able to swing beneath him and hook my feet into the bars on the other side of him.

  His next move surprises me. He was in prime position to kick the crap out of my face, but I guess that's not the point of the match. He commands himself discreetly, all I can make out is his name: Aaron. He releases the bars and pushes away from the ceiling, then grabs my arms and wrenches me out of my foot holds. We're both in the middle of the room now, and inexplicably, he's swinging me upwards. I don't catch on to his plans until he steers me toward the floor and then swings me back up again. I'm gaining momentum as he spins me around. I have to figure out how to get out of his grip before he throws me to the floor.

  He's swinging me so fast that my legs are virtually useless, but I realize that I can probably do some damage with my hands. I grab his forearms and twist them sharply inward. He screams in pain and lets go of me. I'm being hurled downward, but at an angle. I spread my body out as much as possible to slow my descent and level inches from the ground. Already I can hear him coming after me again.

  I turn around and push off the wall just as he slams into the spot where I was. He grabs at my feet, but I kick his hands away. As I'm floating past the wall, I catch a glimpse of a switch with a label below it that reads: "RESTORE GRAVITY."

  That might be my only chance at winning, I think. This guy is bigger and stronger than me and seems relentless - I don't think I can beat him with sheer force of will. I twist around to double back to the switch. It's high enough on the wall that I can probably hold onto one of the ceiling bars and still reach it with my foot. Aaron is coming at me fast. I grip onto a bar with one hand and grope for the switch with my foot. He's almost reached me when I finally feel my foot connect with the switch and push it downwards. I almost lose my hold on the bar as my fingers suddenly absorb the weight of my body. At the same time, Aaron falls out of the air and smacks abruptly into the floor.

  "What was that?" He yells up at me angrily.

  "I turned off the anti-gravity," I respond simply.

  "That's cheating! You can't do that!" He fumes, struggling to get to his feet.

  "I don't recall any rules." I try to keep my voice even, but the truth is he's scaring me a little. I look for the girl who was guarding the door for some back-up, but she's gone. Actually, everyone around the chamber is gone.

  "This isn't over," Aaron threatens. He glares at me for a few seconds, then limps out the door.

  I exhale. Why do I always have to win? Why can't I just give up every once in a while? After a little effort, I find the switch with my foot again and turn the anti-gravity back on. Once again, I am weightless. I give myself a small push away from the wall and float to the entrance of the chamber. My body is aching and my nose is still bleeding.

  There's a lot of cheering and shouting coming from across the Coliseum. Mostly everyone is crowded around the boxing ring where it looks like Talina and Justin are giving some kind of demonstration. From where I stand in front of the hover chamber, it's hard to tell exactly what moves they're doing. Not only are they far away, but they're moving so fast. They attack and dodge each other almost at the same time, like a violent, synchronized dance.

  "Evan, strangle her." />
  I hear the voice behind me but don't fully process my danger until a pair of big hands clamp around my neck and pull me back into the hover room. I try to yell for help, but I can't get anything in or out of my throat. It feels surreal to be drifting aimlessly through the air while being strangled. I can't see who my attacker is, but I'm fairly certain there are no trainees here named Evan. In my desperation to breathe I reach back and pull out a chunk of his hair. Blonde strands float past my face. He grunts, but his grip around my neck stays strong.

  I'm starting to see spots and I'm fading fast. I start thrashing my arms and legs, but it doesn't do any good. This guy is going to kill me. Just before I pass out, I hear him say: "Watch yourself, Miss Quillen."

  When I regain consciousness, I'm gasping for air. No more than a couple of minutes could have passed, I can still hear the noise from the boxing ring. My strangler has disappeared, and I'm suspended in the air near one of the corners of the chamber. I feel like death.

  I float slowly toward the ceiling and hold loosely onto one of the bars. I have no idea who that guy was or why he attacked me, much less why he then decided not to kill me, and I realize that I don't much care at the moment. I just want to curl up and cry. And I do.

  I feel my resolve ebb away as I sob harder and harder. I cry as I recount all of the insane events of the past several weeks, letting out all the emotions I've kept pent up for the sake of appearing strong. I don't care who hears or sees me, I just want to sob until I'm numb. But nobody comes. My tears float away from me and slowly dissolve into the air.

  Chapter 17

  "These came for you," Alia mumbles sullenly when I walk into our dorm. She's laying face down on her bed and gesturing lazily to some items on the table. From one glance I know what they are, and I hastily grab up the two precious Adhesives from my mother and Adrian. I start to head out the door to find a private place to watch them, but then I look back at Alia. Her face is buried in her pillow and she'd look almost lifeless if it weren't for the occasional twitch of her foot. I should try to talk to her. She's been really withdrawn since the other day, which I'm guessing is a result of her apparent fallout with Jaren.