by Michael Ford
“No!” cried Fionn, and his voice, so high-pitched and so clear as it echoed around the hangar, shocked Kobi.
Everyone froze, but a second later the wolf came bounding around the transport’s prow. Kids scattered left and right as it barreled full pelt toward Krenner. He fired and fired, the muzzle flashing as darts discharged at the massive wolf. But even if they were hitting, they weren’t slowing the wolf down. It threw itself at Krenner, knocking him to the ground, then set about the Guardian with its teeth. Kobi heard Krenner’s panicked screams and looked away.
The Healhome kids huddled together, and Melanie had pressed her body up against the side of the transport, hand over her mouth in horror. Thankfully, the sounds ended quickly, and when Kobi glanced back, the wolf stood over Krenner’s body, a growing pool of blood around its front paws.
“What have you done?” said Melanie.
The beast staggered suddenly, almost falling, and Fionn rushed to its side. Several darts protruded from its fur, and Kobi could only guess the amount of tranquilizing poison in its system. The wolf’s legs buckled, and it fell, head crashing into the ground with a thud. Dr. Hales moved slowly in front of Kobi, shielding with his arms. His gaze was fixed on the creature.
“It’s all right,” said Kobi. “It’s on our side.”
“Tame?” said Hales.
“Sort of.”
Fionn’s lips were moving a little as he buried his hands in the fur of the wolf’s flank. He’s talking to it, Kobi realized. Asha went across to him, stepping over the bodies of the other Guardians. All were moving, if weakly, on the ground.
“We have to go, Fi,” said Asha. “They’ll send more guards.”
Fionn looked at her through tear-streaked, imploring eyes.
“We can’t,” said Asha. “It’s too late.”
The wolf lifted its head ponderously and licked Fionn’s forearm. Then, with a shudder, its muzzle sank and the creature lay still.
It died for us, Kobi thought.
Asha pulled Fionn away, and Kobi helped Dr. Hales toward the transport and Melanie. “Open it!” he said.
“Or what?” she said.
A dart pinged off the hull a fraction to her left, and Asha advanced with the dart gun. “I’ve set this thing so high you’ll never wake up,” she said. “We’ll use your hand one way or the other. Now open the door!
Melanie, shaking a little, placed her hand against the handle, which lit up with a white glow, and the transport’s side door slid open.
Asha pushed past Melanie and climbed in with Fionn. The other kids followed—some hesitatingly, others in a rush. Leon was leaden-footed from the shot he’d received but managed to clamber on board. Kobi came last with Hales, who hobbled weakly.
“It’s done, Dr. Garcia,” said Hales as they passed Melanie.
Two of the Guardians were groaning and writhing on the ground as they came around. The director’s face quivered with rage. “This is not over, Jonathan,” she said. “You crossed us once before and we found you. Remember that.”
“I did what was right,” said Dr. Hales.
When they were on board, Kobi looked back and saw that not all the kids had followed. Niki remained on the hangar floor, jaw gritted tight as she watched them. “Come with us,” said Kobi. “Come and see the truth.”
“No, thanks,” replied the girl.
“You’d rather stay here?” said Asha. “Niki, can’t you see? They’re just using us.”
“She’s right, Nik!” said Yaeko.
“Dr. Hales can make you better,” said Asha,
Melanie laughed and put a hand over Niki’s shoulder. “My dear Nikita is right. We have the drugs here to keep you all alive. Leave, and you’ll all die. Dr. Hales belongs in jail for kidnapping. He’s the one who’s using you—to escape justice. Look at him! You think he’ll last long enough to work on a cure?”
Asha hit a button beside the loading door and the ramp began to rise.
“You’ll regret this,” said Melanie.
The ramp closed, hiding her, Niki, and the rest of the hangar from view.
23
APART FROM THE HOLD, with seats and belts down there was a door leading to a cockpit area. Hales staggered through and fell heavily into one of the flight seats, eyes surveying the panel.
Reaching out tentatively, he began to pass his hands over various screens, and lights blinked on, showing an array of readouts. The craft vibrated and rocked as the platform beneath them rose. At the same time, a door slid closed, sealing the cockpit from the carrier section, and the wings on either side of the craft extended from their stubby housings.
“Get everyone strapped in back there,” he said. On a camera screen, Kobi could see the Healhome kids all locking in. At the same time, the launch pad lifted them through the open hatch, onto the roof of the building, where he’d tried to escape before. The cityscape appeared ahead.
“Let’s see if this works,” said Hales.
He took hold of a lever and pressed it forward. The transport rose evenly on jet thrusters. “Kobi, seat belt,” he said, and his tone of voice sounded just like old times.
And as Kobi clipped himself in with a chest harness pulled over his head, Hales squeezed the paddles on either side of the steering column, and they jerked forward. Kobi was pressed back into his chair for a moment, then Hales adjusted their speed, and they left the rooftop behind at a more even pace.
“Dr. Hales,” said Melanie over the speakers. “You are in possession of CLAWS property. Return it at once, or we will be forced to . . .”
Hales dragged a dial down, silencing the voice. They climbed through the air, way above any of the other vehicles below, but still some way beneath the tallest of the gleaming towers.
“None of the kids have ever seen this,” said Kobi. “They thought the contamination was everywhere.”
“Yes, that was the protocol,” said Dr. Hales. “If you control information, you can control people. I adopted the technique myself with you.” He turned and looked at Kobi. “I want you to know that everything I did was to find a cure. To stop CLAWS’s manipulation. I remember the first time I saw you as a baby. They told us to detach ourselves—to treat you like what you were: scientific experiments. Vessels for the development of drugs. But even before you showed no signs of negative Waste effects, I thought you were special. Whatever happens from here, I want you to know that you will always be my son.”
Kobi’s eyes welled up, and he wiped the tears away with the sleeve of his jumpsuit. “I can’t forgive what you did,” said Kobi. “All the lies. I still don’t understand why it had to be that way. But . . . you are my dad. Nothing can change that.”
A sob escaped Hales’s throat and he smiled. “I don’t deserve it . . . but thank you.” As the vehicle sped faster, he leaned right across the panel, and his fingers flicked over several buttons. The parts of the cockpit that housed screens turned transparent, and the chatter from the back of the ship went silent. Kobi turned in his seat and opened the door to the carrier section. The Healhome kids were aghast, heads turning this way and that to take in the views through the windows. Rohan’s yellow eyes sparkled, and Leon’s sinewy muscles bulged as he gripped the seat restraints. “It looks kind of like the city in Blade Runner,” Leon said. “But less dirty and eighties. A bit of Mega-City One and The Fifth Element in there too.”
“Dude, stop talking about old movies!” said Rohan. “Anyway, this city is crazier than any of those places.”
“Look, it’s a park,” said Johanna. “That skyscraper is bigger than the Empire State Building.”
“I’ve heard of a million buildings higher than the Empire State,” said Yaeko. “In Dubai and Shanghai and in India somewhere and one in Brazil. Hey, can we go to any of those places?”
“Private global travel doesn’t really happen anymore,” said Hales. “Unless you have a lot of money. Parts of northern India are Waste wildernesses. They were sold on the idea of GAIA and it was sprayed extensively ove
r crops on the day of the global launch, before the initial reports came in. Dubai was quarantined easily in the desert, but it’s still a lawless place, and Rio is booming, but Waste is slowly spreading through the Amazon. China destroyed most of its agricultural infrastructure thinking they were being attacked by a chemical weapon, and it’s all cities now. The country is practically closed off. And they don’t like Americans.”
“What about LA?” said Leon. “Hollywood? Is Hollywood still there?”
“Parts of LA weren’t destroyed. The foothills formed a natural barrier, and Waste found it harder to take hold. Plus they were ready with the incinerator drones by then.”
“Cool!” said Rohan.
Kobi couldn’t help smiling at the collection of bewildered, mesmerized faces. The streets below threaded in perfect geometric patterns around plazas dotted with green spaces and pristine blue pools with sparkling fountains. There was an airport near the center and aircraft circled it for landing. But as they climbed, Kobi saw the perfect modern city had its limits. Beyond the bristling buildings that formed the central district, the metropolis became a sprawl of mammoth warehouses in one direction. In another, several train lines serviced acres of uniform blocks of what Kobi guessed were apartments. Kobi could just make out what looked like barren desert outside the city, spreading far into the distance, filled with the detritus of burned buildings and roads. There were plains of shining solar panels and expansive wind farms and colossal industrial warehouses, and figures and vehicles milled around them.
It must take a lot to feed and power this place, he thought.
Beyond it all, he saw mountains on the horizon.
“This place has changed so much in thirteen years,” said Dr. Hales.
“We’ve got a problem,” said Asha. She pointed through the starboard hull, where three dots swarmed like distant flies.
“Snatchers,” said Kobi.
Hales groaned, but Kobi couldn’t tell if it was pain or despair. “They’re coming after Waste-infected organic matter,” he said, eyes flicking to the Healhome kids in their seat belts.
The drones were approaching fast, zipping after them.
“But they can’t get us in here, can they?” said Kobi.
“They don’t need to get inside,” said Hales. “Melanie just wants to stop us. I don’t think you understand the utter ruthlessness of the CLAWS organization. They will protect their secret and their power at all costs. Murder is nothing. They can always create more Wastelings.”
The first Snatcher slammed into the back of the transport in an explosion of sparks, then fell like a stone, trailing smoke as it plummeted. The whole craft rocked, throwing Kobi around in his harness.
“Kobi, you need to take the controls,” said Hales. “Swap chairs.”
“Fly this thing?”
Hales nodded weakly, unfastening himself, as Kobi reached across and took the flight paddle.
“I know roughly where Mischik’s base is,” said Hales, “but I need some time to reach him on a secure frequency. You can do it—just keep us in the air.”
He sagged into the seat Kobi had vacated, rubbed his eyes, then began to move his fingers over what Kobi thought must be the communications systems. The transport began to tip.
Kobi’s first effort to straighten the craft lurched the nose skyward and drew cries of terror from the rear. Next, he overcorrected. Keep calm. It was the first rule of a survival situation.
In a few seconds he had the transport leveled out.
Slam!
A second Snatcher careered into their side, spreading its wing at the last moment and clamping on to the outside of the hull. The glass panel distorted, flickering as cracks spread across one.
“What’s it doing?” cried Leon.
Kobi, fighting for control, glanced back and saw the underside of the Snatcher’s cavity opening. Then a buzzing sawlike appendage emerged. It tore into the metal of the hull, filling the hold with a screeching sound.
“It’s going to get in!” cried Johanna.
“Come in, Mischik,” said Hales calmly. “Can you hear me?”
All Kobi could hear was static and the terrible squeal of the Snatcher’s claw.
“It’s Hales, Alex. I’ve got the Healhome patients. Most of them. We need an extraction. Heading toward your position. Alex?”
Kobi heard a scream and looked back to see the Snatcher ripping a larger hole in the hull. Beyond was open sky. It squeezed a mechanical leg inside.
“What the hell is that thing?” shouted Leon.
The kids were trying to unfasten their belts in panic, pressing themselves farther from the attacking robot. Yaeko sprang across the craft and landed halfway up the vehicle’s side, stuck there like a lizard. Then Asha was up and running along the center of the hold. She had a fire extinguisher in her hands. Just short of the encroaching Snatcher, she discharged it, blasting retardant over the drone. For a moment there was only white clouds of smoke and shouts of terror. Through the mist, Kobi saw her raise the extinguisher in both hands and slam it into the Snatcher’s face parts. Once . . . twice . . .
With the third strike, she lost her grip, but Leon rushed forward and grabbed the Snatcher’s last clinging leg, wrenching at it with a powerful jerk of his hands. It ripped away, and the gigantic metal monster seemed to be sucked backward out of the craft. Asha fell back in exhaustion as the Snatcher spiraled toward the ground far below.
Everyone cheered, and Kobi returned his attention to the landscape ahead. They were heading toward what looked like a low mountain, though the formation did not look entirely natural and he couldn’t work out why. Beside him, Hales was still tinkering. “I can’t seem to get a response,” he said. “I don’t even know if it’s working prop—”
Another huge thud rocked them, and Kobi felt the stick judder in his arms. He fought for control, but the craft was listing badly to the right, pressing him into his chair. The lights across the panel were flashing, and he didn’t need the alarms on the diagnostic panel to show him what was wrong. The starboard wing was on fire, and he saw the third Snatcher had latched on. It was clawing its way slowly along the wing’s length like a spider coming inevitably for its wounded prey.
The altimeter display was spinning fast as they lost height.
“I can’t hold it!” he cried, fingers sweaty. Asha leaned against the back of his chair, eyes glued to the approaching Snatcher. “Strap in!” shouted Kobi.
As Asha retreated into the main hold, a series of detonations seemed to come from deep inside the craft, and suddenly the starboard wing sheered away completely. The Snatcher dangled, half flailing in the wind, but somehow still holding on with just two legs.
Now that they were closer to the hill itself, Kobi realized the structures up its slopes were makeshift buildings, glinting with solar panels and scrap metal. There were people scurrying between them, barely visible from the air. It was some sort of slum.
And we’re going to crash right into it!
“Down there!” said Hales, pointing.
Kobi saw what looked like a reservoir of water at the base of the mountain. Clearly man-made, it was threaded with several floating walkways and various small bubble-like enclosures. Crucially, he couldn’t see any people. He pulled the stick hard, trying to keep the nose up, while also fighting the craft’s tipping momentum.
“I’ll kill the port engine too,” said Hales. “It’s the only way to stabilize.”
With a few fluid movements of his fingertips, Kobi felt the power drain, and suddenly the stick was looser. Gusts buffeted them, throwing him around in his chair. He managed to level off, but they were coming in so fast and hard. He reached up and took the shoulder harness, pulling it into place. The whole transport was shuddering as if it would tear itself apart. Every instrument and readout seemed to be going into meltdown, but Kobi focused on the water ahead.
“Thrusters on!” said Hales.
“How?” yelled Kobi.
Hales leaned across, gr
ipped the main lever with a wrinkled hand, and yanked it back, dragging back the main lever. The transport groaned horribly. At the same time, Kobi realized Hales wasn’t secure—he had no belt on.
“No!” he cried.
And then they hit the water.
24
IT WAS LIKE HITTING a wall he hadn’t seen coming. Everything went dark at the same time as tremendous force slammed Kobi in the chest. He heard crashing through the blackness, screams, and a succession of thumps. He was sure the harness must have broken, because he was being thrown around. Then he felt the cold surge of water around his legs. Something was pressing his face, making it hard to breathe.
Kobi opened his eyes and saw several inflatable balloons around his head. Heard the suck and slosh of fluid. As he wriggled to find the seat release, the balloons deflated to show what remained of the control panel and the collapsed windshield. Water was spilling over the controls, throwing up crackling sparks and smoke.
He shook his head to clear it and unclipped himself. His body was throbbing all over, but he climbed from the seat. In the back of the craft, similar inflatables were sagging from the walls of the hold. The Healhome kids were all secure, including Asha and Fionn. Some of them were groaning. Leon ripped his belt off with his bare hands, then pulled Rohan from his seat. Then he crossed the deck and opened a panel. He pulled a lever, and the body restraints lifted from the others. Water was ankle-deep, but the transport didn’t seem to be sinking any further.
Kobi couldn’t see Hales anywhere at first, then his panic surged as he spotted a body lying beneath the control panels.
“No,” he mumbled, wading over. He crouched in the water, easing a hand beneath Hales’s neck and another under his legs. He gently pulled him out. It wasn’t the bloody gash across his temple, or the limpness of the limbs that told Kobi all he needed to know. It was the empty, staring eyes. Trembling, he felt for a pulse anyway. There was none.
Kobi felt his heart break.
“He’s gone,” said Asha quietly.