AER (The Elements Series Book 3)

by Tracy Korn

  Eco's eyes snap to Vox, and Liam turns to face her.

  "You know everything we do," Arwyn says.

  "We know everything you do, right. But not them," Vox answers, jerking a thumb at Liam and another at Eco. I can feel the anxiety in both of them rising, besides the lights in Eco's cheekbones suddenly starting to flash red and white being a dead giveaway.

  "What's happening?" Arwyn asks, then turns to Lyden, whose back is to us. He flattens his palms on the counter and lowers his head. "Lyden…"

  He blows out a breath and starts passing out mugs of coffee.

  "I programmed grilled cheese," Lyden says, then blows out a resigned breath. "Jax, take over?"

  "On it," Jax says, making a B-line to the matter board. Lyden takes a seat next to Arwyn and leans over on his forearms.

  "What's going on? Did Calyx scan for my dad and Liddick?" I ask. Lyden meets my eyes, and my stomach drops.

  "There was a port-carnate transfer logged about two hours ago. The atom configuration matched Liddick's bio print."

  "So they made it! They transferred!" I say, but Lyden's expression doesn't change.

  "That's good news, isn't it?" Fraya asks, helping Jax plate the grilled cheese from the matter board.

  "The entry and exit hubs aren't from the Phase Two facility or Gaia Sur, which is good news," Lyden answers, taking a plate from Fraya. "Thanks."

  "That means whatever hub he did use isn't government grade. Azeris's hub is the only non G-grade hub that is strong enough, not to mention the only one that knows how to reach our coordinates. If it were his, we'd have received a transfer request," Liam says, taking a mug from Jax.

  "What's the problem? He's topside, right? You have an intake and an arrival?" Arwyn asks, narrowing her eyes at Lyden.

  "I didn't want to say anything until we knew more," he says. "Jazwyn was already starting to pick up something off with me, and she had enough to handle in there."

  "Lyden, what is happening? Where are my dad and Liddick?" I ask.

  "The arrival report registers topside, but the hub is what we call a ghost because the coordinates are shuffled every second," Eco interjects. "It's untraceable—a homemade hack port."

  "OK, well he has friends everywhere. He must have met up with some of his connections. Maybe even one of Azeris's friends…" I trail off as it dawns on me that if Liddick were with Azeris, he wouldn't need to use a homemade hacked port from anywhere else. I look at Lyden, who nods at me.

  "We don't know where he is, only that his reconfiguration came back incomplete," he says, carefully.

  "What does that mean?" I ask, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. "What does that mean, Lyden?"

  Arco puts his arm around me and pulls me toward him.

  "He didn't have his nanites neutralized like we did before we transferred," Myra says to herself, then looks up at me, her eyes wide with realization. "Oh, Jazz…"

  "What? You're saying what, Lyden?" I press.

  "Some of him…may not have reassembled at his destination. We don't know how much."

  "But that could be the result of inferior logging tech; it could mean anything," Arwyn says, defensively.

  "I know, that's why we didn't say anything," Lyden answers quietly, gesturing to Liam and Eco.

  "Right now we don't know anything except Liddick is—was—topside as of two hours ago," Eco says. "You'll just have to let us work on this. Navigating the Platform of the virtuous-cine network is taxing enough without having your focus diverted by worrying. In fact, that worry is probably what caused a weak point for the code to exploit in you, Jazwyn."

  "You're blaming her for worrying?" Arco asks, glaring at Eco.

  "I'm not blaming anyone for anything. She just needs to focus, or this is all going to be for nothing."

  "Where are Calyx and Tark?" Avis asks around a mouthful of grilled cheese. "They should be giving us status reports or something."

  "That's a good idea," Fraya says. "Can we ask them for that?"

  "We're doing everything we can, trust me," Liam answers. "We want to find everyone as much as you do, but right now, all we can do is wait for more input."

  "He knows what happens if he transfers with nanites; he wouldn't have done it again without a plan," I say, shaking my head. "He made it somewhere safely, I would know if he—" I start, but can't finish the sentence.

  "All of this is why we didn't say anything. It's too soon to know what's happening, so everyone just refocus on the job at hand, all right?" Eco says, taking a bite of his grilled cheese, his cheekbone lights flashing blue and white as he chews.

  "Try to eat something," Arco says, gripping my shoulder. I take a bite of my sandwich and look at the white floor.

  I know you're all right. I know you wouldn't leave my dad in that place…you all made it out, you had to make it out…I think, trying to picture Liddick's face. I close my eyes and lean on Arco's shoulder.

  "Tired, yeah?" he whispers into my hair.

  "Yeah. It's been a long day."

  ***

  "Jazz…" Arco whispers. "Time to go back in."

  I open my eyes to find everyone getting up from the couches to follow Calyx and Tark, who must have come for us.

  "OK," I say. My voice sounds rough in my ears as I get to my feet. Arwyn crosses to me.

  "The neural blocks should be worn off by now," she says, looking into my eyes. "Your pupils look like they're back to normal. How do you feel?"

  I shrug. "Normal, I think."

  "She slept about an hour," Arco answers as we make our way back to the circle of virtuo-cine chairs, where Calyx and Tark are leaning over a console and gesturing wildly at whatever is on the display.

  "That can't be good," Arco says.

  "What happened?" Lyden asks, pushing his way toward the spinning colored cylinder in the middle of the circle of console stations. "Where's the queue? The Platform is black."

  "That's what happened," Calyx says. "We're trying to get back online now—it went dark about an hour ago."

  "That's our only access to the Grid," Eco says with panic rising in his voice. He runs into Arco's shoulder and knocks him into me as he rushes toward Calyx. Lyden moves behind one of the empty consoles.

  "It's here! We're still connected; we're just…blind."

  "Where's the queue?" Liam asks, crossing to look over his brother's shoulder at the floating screen.

  "It's been wiped. I'm trying to pull the last load from the cache."

  "We already tried that," Calyx says to Lyden. "It's been dumped."

  "Who dumped it?" Liam asks. "We're the only ones with access."

  "Apparently not," Lyden says, frantically typing. "Somebody else is using the back door we created…the temporary disconnect was just a ripple effect. They're not targeting us."

  "Are you sure?" Tark asks, crossing over to Lyden's console.

  "I'm sure, see?" Lyden points to a section of the scrolling green code, then touches it with his finger. A band of flames appears about three inches to the left, which melts a blackening hole in the code three inches to the right. "This is the access point from an hour ago. It opened up next to that firewall."

  "Find out where that signature is coming from," Tark says, turning to Calyx.

  "Well, whoever this is used our hack to get in. The firewall identified our signature and is blocking our access everywhere on the Grid now," Lyden explains.

  "Change our mask, then," Eco says.

  "Working on it." Lyden pulls his hand back from the code, and it returns to lines of scrolling green numbers and symbols.

  "What's happening?" Myra asks.

  "It looks like we have company…in there," Arco answers, angling his chin at the rotating tornado of gradient colors in the middle of the console circle.

  "Look!" Avis shouts, pointing to the bottom layer of color, which flickers from black to…flying starships?

  "It's working! We're back in!" Ellis says. "Is that Xenotrope 6?"

  "No," Tark answers,
backing away from his console. "Cannibal Planet."

  No one says anything for several seconds, but the temperature in the room seems to drop several degrees.

  "What does that mean?" Myra asks in a small voice. "Jazz, what are they saying?"

  I swallow hard.

  "It means we have to find the Glyph before the other Glyphs eat us," Vox says, rolling her snake eyes. I catch her glance at me then and feel panic harden in my stomach like a ball of ice.

  "It's just a virtuo-cine," I say, reminding myself as much as everyone else. "It's not real. If we were topside, we'd be paying 20 credits to get into this storyline, right?"

  A little color returns to Myra's blanched cheeks. "But I've never wanted to go into the horror cines," she says, and Fraya puts her arm around her.

  "It'll be OK. You won't be alone," Fraya says.

  "That's right. We're all going to stick together, Myra, OK? We'll find the Glyph and get out," I add.

  "Cannibals? That's the cine you had queued for us?" Arco asks, looking at Tark.

  "We didn't pick the cines, Mr. Hart, your fellow youth did that. Those Glyphs are set to generate in the most popular cines because of the algorithm Jack wrote," Tark answers, shaking his head.

  "I hate this," Myra starts losing her composure again. "I don't want to do this anymore."

  "We'll be all right," Fraya repeats, squeezing her shoulder.

  The Platform level at the bottom of the swirling cylinder of colors stops flickering, and a campsite with tents appears along a river.

  "That doesn't look so bad," I say, angling my head toward the 3D hologram.

  "Maybe the cannibals come when it's dark. That's what I would do," Vox says, sticking out her bottom lip like she's just made the decision for herself.

  "Vox!" I hiss at her.

  "What? It's not like you can just walk up to someone who's wide awake and start gnawing on them. Element of surprise, you know?"

  Myra starts crying. I narrow my eyes at Vox, who just shrugs.

  "Just come on," I say, moving toward my virtuo-cine chair. Everyone follows, and chills run down my spine when I see the campsite from a minute ago darken on the Platform—the sun is going down.

  CHAPTER 33

  The Mountain

  Liddick

  Arrived: Corva Clay, Biodesigner, the arrow voice says in my head as the heliocar lands. The Skyboard girls have already gone. I must have been out cold, I think as the door slides open and the illuminated arrow appears on the ground. I've never been to this part of Skyboard North…Crescent City, is that what the arrow voice said? I look around for something familiar, but even the buildings are different from the lower settlements here on this mountain. They're short and wide instead of tall and narrow. Must have to do with the way the wind hits the buildings this high up, I think as the short, stout buildings flank the narrow street, which curves around clockwise. How much farther is this place? I ask the arrow map in my mind.

  Estimated time of arrival is three minutes. Please proceed two blocks, and the destination is on your right. Corva Clay, Biodesigner. 17 Vista Del Mar, Crescent City; Skyboard North, American Preserve.

  The next two blocks are either uphill, or the nanite hack Ensign's friend gave me is starting to wear off. My lungs start burning with every breath, and I feel beads of sweat collect on my upper lip.

  No way I'm this out of shape…not after crossing the Rush one-and-a-half times, then crawling up six miles of dirt tunnels without even half of this exhaustion, I think, but then am interrupted by the sudden arrow voice.

  Corva Clay, Biodesigner. Arrived.

  The building to my right isn't anything special. It's white with two pillar columns like most of the other buildings on this mountain, the only difference being the terracotta roof and canopy of ridiculous terraform palm trees. The floating halogen spheres go out the rest of the way up the street as I approach the building, like someone has flipped a switch. In the same instant I feel like something has been switched off inside me too…the burning in my lungs moves to my legs, which I don't understand since I'm not heading up the incline of the road anymore.

  Just get to the door, Wright, I think, fighting to push aside the fatigue and returning nausea.

  The double doors are made of thick, frosted glass, and don't budge when I try to open them. I lean my forehead against the cool surface and close my eyes, then almost immediately fall on my face when the door suddenly opens.

  "Oh!" a tall, dark-haired woman startles. "You must be Liddick—here, let me help you," she says, putting my arm over her shoulder. "Ash, the gurney," she says to a tall, Mediterranean looking man who makes me do a double take for how much he resembles Pitt, Dez's oldest brother.

  No, he's dead. He died before we ever left Gaia…the spores…I think as everything starts to spin.

  "I'm Corva Clay. Grisham said you would be coming. This is my assistant, Ash, so please don't struggle. We're going to help you," the woman says as her assistant lifts me onto the gurney. I can't even keep my head up, let alone try to fight him, even if I wanted to.

  "It's the Gaia nanites…from the port-carnate transfer," I manage to say as we move through the white-walled lobby, then into a wide, also white corridor with several rooms along each side.

  "I know—Grisham uploaded your transfer receipt. Try not to talk," she says as a bright light hits me in the eyes. "You're going to feel a lot better in about five-seconds—the neural freeze will stop your nausea and vertigo, but unfortunately, we won't be able to give you a full block. You're going to be awake for this procedure, Mr. Wright…bear with us."

  Cold settles in behind the fading heat in my chest and legs, and I press my teeth together to keep them from chattering.

  "C-cold…" I manage to say.

  "Quite normal—just take shallow breaths," Corva says as the sound of hydraulics starts next to my ears, then stops as quickly as it starts. "As I suspected from your transfer receipt, you have stage four corruption of the S-class nanites you received at Gaia Sur. It's too far gone for me to reset them, so I need to purge them, all right? This isn't going to hurt, but you'll experience an itching sensation under your eyelids for about 30 seconds. Just squeeze them closed as tightly as you can, and it will be over before you know it. Ready? One…two—what?"

  "What's wr—wrong?" I ask through my chattering teeth.

  "You also have…a DNA mutation? Ash, scan please," Corva says, glued to her screen. "I've never seen anything like this," she says, following the scrolling green hologram of text the machine in front of her is projecting.

  Crite, the Vishan treatment…I think, then close my eyes.

  "Have you been exposed to any toxins? Anything…radioactive recently?" Corva asks.

  "No, it's…DNA…binding," I answer the best I can. It seems to be enough of the missing piece she needs because she raises a thin, dark eyebrow at me and types something into her holographic keypad.

  "But where—? Never mind. All right, hold still—I need to strip that first, then I can remove the corrosive nanites," Corva says just before a high-pitched sound needles through my eardrums. I try to raise my hands to cover my ears, but they've somehow been strapped in restraints.

  "Hey!" I yell through my teeth.

  "It's for your own safety, Mr. Wright. Please be still."

  After another second, the high-pitched sound softens, but only a little, and I'd gladly take it back if it meant I wouldn't have to feel the itch of 10,000 ants under my eyelids. I squeeze my eyes shut as hard as I can to stop it, but the feeling only drills deeper into my skull, into my nostrils, my mouth, down my throat.

  "Clear," Ash says from somewhere far away.

  "All right, there we go," Corva says, and the crawling feeling finally stops. I try to suck in a breath and open my eyes, but the effort sends me into a dizzy spiral of nausea all over again. A fog settles in my head, and my arms and legs start feeling heavy.

  "What's…happening?" I ask, wanting to say more, but I just can't make the wor
ds come out.

  "I'm sorry I couldn't put you under for the procedure; the neural block would have interfered with the nanite purge. You can sleep now, though, Mr. Wright. I've just given you a sedative."

  "No…I have to…" I trail off. I have to find Dez before morning…

  ***

  I can't open my eyes beyond a squint with the bright sunlight pouring through the window. This isn't the same triage room I was in last night. Instead, it looks like a little guest bedroom with bright yellow walls and a normal sized bed in the middle of the room. There's a sink in the corner, so I get up and splash some water on my face.

  The long black coat Grisham's man gave me hangs on a coatrack next to the door, and the remains of my dive suit have been replaced by a white pair of pants and a plain white shirt. My boots are wedged under the bed with a new pair of socks next to them, so I pull them both on and open the door.

  More bright sunlight hits me in the face as I walk into the corridor. I turn the corner straight into an office where Corva Clay is sitting at a clear desk typing on a green holographic keyboard.

  She turns to face me. "Good morning, Mr. Wright! I hope you slept well."

  "What time is it?" I ask, looking around to figure out where I am.

  "Just past 8:00 a.m. Please help yourself to the matter board in the kitchenette if you're hungry. Coffee?"

  "No, thank you. I need to get to Sundial City—" Crite…Azeriz and Jack…they'll think the sun got me, I think.

  "Sundial City? Is this to do with the friend Grisham said you were looking for?" Corva asks, moving away from the clear desk. She pushes her viewer from her eyes onto her head, which shifts dark hair off her face. She's not as old as I thought she was…maybe my brother, Lyden's age.

  "Did he find her? Did he find Dez?"

  "No, but Grisham said to tell you that someone named Finn did."

  As soon as I hear his name, my chest constricts and my stomach sinks. If Finn found her, she never made it to Skyboard North.

  "Where did he find her?" I ask, hesitant to say the words because if I don't say them, I can't know for sure. If I can't know for sure, it's possible she's not dead…that she didn't die alone, disintegrated by the sun all because of me.