“It’s the MOB’s fault,” a man nearby was saying.
What’s this? thought Ryu.
He glanced to see the man and his friend at a neighboring table. Smoke clouded the pair, and the man who’d spoken was drinking beer and a shot of liquor. Neither drinking nor smoking was allowed in Dominion food stopovers, but El Miret was pretty loose about dining codes. Ryu doubted this old guy would’ve cared anyway. He was rough-looking with a white beard and trouble-worn face. His eyes focused on his friend, so Ryu wasn’t worried about being caught eavesdropping. The man’s friend was smoking too, but Ryu could only see his back because of a hood blocking his face.
This other man sighed. “Malice was a murderer long before my sister broke his nose, Peno. These new regional restrictions have nothing to do with-”
Peno barked a phlegmy cough. “But don’t you see? Now we’re all examined for mutate-gene radiation every time we leave the region! I haven’t had anything done to me, so why should I have to be examined? These people – no these MOB, these leftover freaks…” He trailed off as he took another drink.
“I’m not concerned with the politics of the matter,” said the hooded man. Clearly he’d reached a higher education level than the older man, and this alone suggested he had Dominion connections. “Besides, my friend, you can’t blame the MOB nowadays. Genetic tampering and all that was forever ago. Few scientists dabble with that kind of thing anymore. Cruelthor won’t allow it…except in rare cases when he wants a new toy soldier. Most of the MOB we see today are a result of breeding, not experimentation. It’s not their fault. Nature’s taken over where experimentation left off. You can’t blame them for existing, Peno. Malice should think twice about hating MOB – his own boss is one, you know. If Cruelthor knew what went on in this region, he’d have Malice’s head. That ass is persecuting MOB left and right. Cruelthor doesn’t want them hunted. He wants them recruited.”
Peno scoffed. “Maybe you should tell Cruelthor yourself what Malice is doing, if you’re so concerned about the MOB.”
“Hmm. Go have a chat with Cruelthor? No, I like having my head attached to my neck, thank you.” The hooded man took a long drag. “But, Peno, the MOB aren’t the enemy. Personally, I’m more worried about these Dominion executives who get cerebral augmentation. They’re the ones to watch. They’re the ones taking control of our businesses, taking our jobs, our kronar.”
Peno muttered something about also hating the Dominion executives, and he shook as he took another drink.
Ryu left as soon as he finished his food. Peno wasn’t the first person he’d encountered with this view of the MOB, but Ryu knew to keep his distance.
At least my eavesdropping gained something useful, he thought. I’ll have to deal with genetic scanners if I want to leave Malice’s region.
Alex’s head tilted back at an uncomfortable angle. She couldn’t move. She heard, ever so faintly, voices speaking in a strange language. Alex’s eyelids were closed, but her telepathy let her see without need of eyes. Two men stand over her. Their faces are difficult to make out, and everything around them is blurred.
Alex tried to move her arms or legs. She sensed the men were leaning down to lift her. Now she’s lain on her stomach on a hover bed, its bottom clear and revealing a grated floor. The grated floor is left behind as the two men push her hover bed down a large corridor. Soon a hatch opens beneath her.
Air rushed up from the opening, and Alex was finally able to open her eyes and scream.
With a jerk she fell through the hatch, but a beam of red light held her so she didn’t crash. Held in the force field, she tried to move but couldn’t as she was lowered to the ground. Grass brushed against her naked body until she flinched from the cool earth under her stomach. The red beam vanished, and finally she was free to move. Gasping, Alex struggled to roll over and see where she’d been. She feared seeing an alien spaceship, but the only thing above her was the dark, starry sky. This was somehow more terrifying.
A burning pain made her clutch her stomach, and she rolled on her side to vomit into the grass. She could barely hold her head up, but she vomited again and looked down at a pile of slimy liquid. Holding her throat, the retching subsided. Alex next pulled her thin frame to sit up in the tall weeds. She examined her naked body in the moonlight, checking for cuts, injection sites, and everything else her frightened mind imagined. She was crying now, but the worst thing she found about her body was that her hair was cut to her chin.
I don’t look sick or abused, she thought. I don’t even feel weak or anything. What happened to me? Where am I now? Are they going to come back?
Her mind racing, Alex’s instincts told her to get moving. With a cough, she rose to her feet and looked around the grassy field. It looked familiar, but she couldn’t think why. Then, as she looked at a lone tree on a hill, Alex realized she was in her favorite field, a short walk from home. She saw car lights flashing along the road in the distance. Aiming here, Alex crossed her arms to cover herself and stumbled in her bare feet across the field. When she reached the more manageable pavement, Alex jogged in the direction of her grandmother’s house.
What happened to me? she thought in a panic. What happened?
Alex didn’t see another car the rest of the way. When she stood in the moonlit yard of the familiar house, she didn’t see any movement here either. She sprinted across the lawn and up the steps, and she tried the door but found it locked. She tried to cover herself better and knocked on the door.
A light came on inside, and a dark-haired woman opened the door. She saw Alex naked and stepped back with widened eyes. In the second most common Dominion language, she let out an exclamation of surprise. She gaped at Alex only a moment before telling her to enter, then hurried off, saying she’d fetch a blanket.
Alex fumbled to remember the language from her studies in school. In confusion, she thanked the woman and stepped into the house, shutting the door behind her. The small kitchen was the same, yet different. The table and chairs were the same, but Alex’s favorite mug wasn’t hanging from the hook by the stove. The appliances arranged on the countertop were all wrong.
The dark-haired woman returned with a blanket and wrapped it around Alex, who suddenly realized she was shivering. In shock, she followed the woman into the living room and looked around at the unfamiliar furniture and decorations. She sat on a fluffy sofa to catch her breath.
Don’t freak out, she thought. But what’s going on?
Alex wrapped the blanket around her nakedness and faced the woman. Forgetting herself, she asked, “You live here?” Then she remembered and repeated the question in the woman’s language.
The woman nodded and replied that her name was Kali. She asked who Alex was.
Giving her name, Alex choked back an odd taste in her throat. She then explained that she used to live in this house with her grandmother and brother. She asked if the woman knew where they’d gone. Then Alex coughed as the taste again rose in her throat.
The woman’s face lit with comprehension. With a start, she asked if Alex was the missing girl who’d disappeared.
Alex nodded.
Kali looked sad a moment, then quickly explained that Alex’s grandmother had died and Ryu moved away to search for Alex.
Alex felt tears rising. “My grandma died?”
Kali nodded with a kind frown. She said she was so sorry. It had been a year ago.
Crying, Alex took a moment with this new shock.
Oh, my God, she thought. A year! Grandma’s dead. Ryu’s gone. I’ve been missing for a whole year? That’s impossible! I don’t… I don’t remember anything.
Kali patted her leg. She tried to reassure Alex that Ryu was out looking for her. He’d told Kali where he was going when he’d sold her the house, but she couldn’t remember now. Kali asked where Alex had been. No one had known she was still alive. Where had she been?
After trying to remember anything, Alex answered that she didn’t know. She choked and nearly vo
mited again.
Kali said she’d get Alex something to drink, and she hurried into her kitchen.
Alone, Alex stayed on the sofa, dumbfounded. Her mind was racing.
I’m lost, she thought. I can’t remember anything. The past year… It’s a complete blank.
She again shivered.
Kali returned with a drink, and Alex took the cup.
I might have one idea, she thought.
Alex asked Kali if she’d be willing to do something. She then explained that, if Kali focused her thoughts on the last time she’d seen Ryu, Alex might be able to find something helpful in Kali’s thoughts. It was all Alex had left to try. She didn’t know what else to do.
Kali looked confused.
Alex kicked herself before asking if Kali knew about telepathy.
With a nod, Kali said she’d do her best to help.
Alex looked into Kali’s eyes and tried to listen for the woman’s thoughts. The normal, tingling sensation enhanced her concentration, and she felt her mind entering Kali’s. Suddenly, however, her telepathy came in a stronger burst than she’d ever experienced. Alex wasn’t sure she could take it any longer when images flashed into her mind. Ryu holds a packed bag. Kali stands before him, scanning kronar tubes over his palm. Ryu smiles sadly and says something about where Kali can reach him if she has any questions. Closing her eyes, Alex disconnected and then looked at Kali in surprise.
Kali didn’t look like she’d noticed anything strange. She asked what was wrong. She said Alex was pale.
What was that? thought Alex. Did I just see a memory through Kali’s eyes? How? I’ve only ever been able to hear thoughts – I’ve never seen through other minds before! I… Well, I can see when my own eyes are closed, so is it like that? Can I now see through other people’s eyes even when they aren’t seeing? I’m seeing memory, a blend of thought and sight!
Catching her breath, Alex explained that she’d seen Kali’s memory of the last time she met with Ryu to buy the house. Had Ryu told her he was going to El Miret?
Kali nodded as she remembered this now. She said it was a long time ago, but maybe Alex could find him in El Miret.
In complete shock, Alex took a few deep breaths and another drink.
Kali glanced out the window, and she lowered her voice to tell Alex there was something else she needed to know. Dominion drones were crawling over the entire region, hunting MOB. It was getting rough, even so far from the cities. And the village had changed since the drones stomped in. People might remember Alex was a telepath. They had no tolerance anymore. Alex should leave.
Alex sat and stared at the floor as Kali left to get her clothes. Having a plan of action now gave Alex’s mind more clarity than before, and her shock was wearing off. She focused on one thing – finding her brother. She still needed to calm down, so she closed her eyes to think of a plan.
Whatever’s happened to me, she thought, I have to find Ryu before the Dominion finds me. I have to leave, especially if whoever took me is coming back! But…I have nothing. The kronar I was saving is probably gone now – if they declared me dead, they deactivated my ID account. I don’t have a car. I don’t even have clothes! How am I going to get to El Miret? Well, I could take public transportation if Kali will lend me kronar. The last time I went to El Miret, I took public transport to that station where I-
A burst of red light flashed in her mind’s eye. Overwhelmed, Alex clutched the blanket. Then she opened her eyes, and the light vanished.
Alex looked around in a panic. She no longer sat on the sofa in her old home. Now she was outside, on a dark city street, sitting on a bench in front of a public transport station.
Several weeks had gone by since Ryu slipped out of Malice’s region. He’d paid an operative to sneak him out of Chi, the city on the lake bordering the southwestern edge of the region. This drained Ryu of kronar. He’d hitchhiked from town to town ever since, fighting in clubs to earn kronar, keeping on the move, and always aiming west for Angeles.
“Why Angeles?” his date asked. She swung her legs in small circles in the water off the end of the dock.
Ryu had only agreed to this date because her father owned the hotel where Ryu was staying for free (in exchange for ringside seats at his fights). It now appeared Mr. Bennett was tacking on other favors. But, at least Gwen Bennett was pretty, nice, and a welcome change from all the men in the sparring clubs. She wasn’t a groupie like her father, either.
“Angeles has a great professional sparring club,” said Ryu. “The Dominion leaves the fighters alone because the club draws so much kronar to the city’s economy. So, I’d be safe there to fight while I figure out some other things.” He scowled, thinking of how few leads he had on his sister’s whereabouts.
Gwen flipped one of her red braids over her shoulder. “So you’re hoping to get the heat off, huh?”
Ryu smiled. He’d never heard an accent like hers until coming to this southern region, and he found himself mimicking her twang. “Yes, ma’am.”
With a smile, Gwen thumped the dock between them. “I don’t blame you. Daddy says you’re one of the most famous fighters ever to come out of Malice’s region. I’ve seen the added Dominion patrols back in town since you’ve come.”
His smile faded. “Yeah. I thought they’d stop following me once I left the bigger cities, but…”
“You’re too hot a commodity.” She said this straight-faced but then laughed.
Ryu had to laugh too. He hadn’t been this relaxed in weeks. It felt good to laugh, here, in this small southern town where men still saw fit to force their daughters into dating anyone new in town. He’d expected Gwen to request a date at one of the nice restaurants, considering they thought he was loaded – and what a joke that was. Instead, she’d suggested coming to this public lake to skip stones and talk.
It’s a pretty lake, he thought. Reminds me of a few back home where Alex and I used to swim…
Everything about this rural town reminded him of home, which stirred up aches of joy and sorrow both.
As Gwen laughed, Ryu threw the last stone he was holding and watched the satisfying splash.
“I’m sorry,” said Gwen when she got control of herself. “Daddy wouldn’t be happy I’m not taking this fix-up seriously.”
“Ha! I suppose I should be insulted.”
“Nah, it’s not you.” Gwen pulled her feet from the water and tucked her knees into her chest. “If I choose to get out of this town, I’ll get myself out. I’m not as strong as you, but I think I could do it. I know you’ve seen a lot of the world, so I probably sound like a naïve country girl. But, I want to get out there and help people. It seems kinda wrong to sit here in this peaceful town and not try to ease the pain elsewhere. We have the Dominion here too, but it’s not half as bad here as most places, is it?”
Ryu felt an old tug as he agreed. “Yeah, it’s bad out there. Honestly, I feel guilty for being so selfish.”
“Selfish?” She shook her head with a kind smile. “You told me you’re looking for your sister. You could have an amazing life in Angeles or a dozen other cities, but you keep moving around, searching for her. That’s not selfish.”
“Yeah, but…” Ryu hadn’t talked about this with anyone other than Alex, but it was something inside that he’d always felt. “But with my strength, there’s so much more I could do, you know? I’m famous as the Bear, and that’s great, but it’s also kind of shameful when I know what I really could be doing. My sister always warned me not to use my…gifts in case I drew too much attention from the Dominion, and I’m not exactly being careful. If I ever do find Alex, my fame might put her in danger from the Dominion too – I hadn’t thought of that until recently. If I’m exposing myself, shouldn’t I at least be doing good with it?”
Gwen looked at him. “Are you MOB?”
He started, surprised by her directness.
She looked at her wet toes. “I only ask because a lot of MOB feel the way you do. We have these gifts that al
low us to do things ordinary people can’t, so doesn’t that mean we should help people? You’re not alone, you know.”
Ryu gaped at her. “You’re MOB?”
“And my daddy and my mama and my four brothers. Well, and my three brothers, because Carey isn’t old enough to show yet.” She seemed nervous for the first time. “Ryu, how serious are you about helping people? Are we talking about helping little old ladies cross the street, or are we talking…defiance? Like, rebel activity?”
Ryu raised an eyebrow. “Gwen, do you have something specific in mind?”
She hesitated a moment longer. “This wasn’t a fix-up,” she told him. “Not strictly. Daddy took an interest in you when he heard the Bear was coming to town because he figured you for a MOB. Then we heard you might be going to Angeles… Well, I’m just here to sell the mission.”
He chuckled, feeling duped. “You’re rebels? Your whole family?”
“About half the town is.” She grinned.
So not like back home after all, he thought.
Ryu laughed again and rubbed the back of his neck. “What do you need?”
“We don’t have great ways to communicate with rebel camps outside town. But we…learned from an operative passing through town that the Dominion is planning to raid a rebel refugee camp in Angeles. Twenty families live in hiding there, and the Dominion plans to round them up and factor them in the public square as a demonstration. It’s supposed to happen next week.” She took a breath. “I know it’s asking a lot, Ryu, but would you be willing to go to Angeles and warn them? Help them get somewhere safe, if you can?”
Ryu felt a tingle run through his body. He couldn’t say no to this. “Of course I will, Gwen. I have one more fight scheduled at the club in town, but I’ll blow it off and leave tonight. That might give me a chance to shake the Dominion guy following me, if he doesn’t expect me to leave so soon.”
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