Athel

by E. E. Giorgi

  Free.

  In that instant when my fall stops and the winds carry me I finally feel free. No constraints, no boundaries, no limits. Just me, my sail, and the whole world spreading before me.

  It’s never as easy as that first moment, though, especially when I jump from the Tower, where the winds could change quickly and slam me back against the walls. I have to be quick, ride the thermal and not let it go until I rise over the building, and the roof is only a tiny square in the distance. At about five hundred feet, Kael swoops in front of me and the two of us glide in unison over the forest, the treetops careening past beneath us.

  The plume of smoke is thinner now. Just a few of the gray swirls are left, barely reaching above the trees. I tip my sail, lose altitude, and circle above the spot. The vegetation is too thick for me to discern anything at ground level. I drop in altitude, and by the time I reach one hundred feet, I realize I can no longer rise. I’ve lost the thermals.

  Stupid!

  Dad always warned me about gliding over the forest.

  You lose too much altitude and you’ll be forced to land, he’d say.

  Except there’s nowhere to land in a forest.

  A sudden flash bolts between the trees to my right. I steer and drop even lower, eager to see what’s happening. Kael dips down and then soars again, swerving back to the Tower. Whatever he saw, he didn’t like it.

  Fifty feet. I’m getting dangerously close to the treetops Dad warned me about.

  I scan the vegetation, searching for a spot to land. Birches are too thin, firs too thick. I set my eyes on a large oak with robust boughs and tilt the glider toward the target. This is going to hurt, I think, but my brain doesn’t seem to care.

  I can do this.

  When I’m inches away from the oak, I close the frame and let myself drop.

  The impact is rough. Branches claw at me everywhere. I flail my arms trying to latch onto something but the first bough I grasp snaps. I hit the next one with my hip, fall off, but manage to grab the one below, my legs dangling in the void.

  I catch my breath and assess my situation.

  The closest branch is only inches below my feet and the one I’m holding is about to give way. I sway, making it dip farther, and let myself down to the next branch. As I drop, I brace it and latch onto it with my arms and legs. The tree dips and then sways back but doesn’t break. Leaves and twigs rain down on me. I close my eyes, hundreds of scratches, cuts and bruises suddenly burning all over my body. I clench my teeth, willing the nanobots embedded deep inside my nervous system to quickly release analgesic into my bloodstream.

  A new flash blasts in the distance and zips through the trees.

  What the heck is that? Are those the laser beams?

  But if they are, why is Metal Jaw wasting them like that?

  Through the branches I spot Kael’s black silhouette gliding high above the forest. If I know him, he’ll keep looking for me for a few minutes longer and then fly back home to the Tower.

  I’m about sixty feet from the ground, surrounded by thick branches and leaves. It’s going to take a while to get down. I proceed slowly, cautiously assessing one branch at a time with my hands and feet. As the nanoparticles of analgesic begin to work, the soreness in my limbs burns away and I descend faster, hopping from one branch to the next until I finally tumble to the ground. A sharp twinge jolts up my legs as they hit the ground, but it’s soon dampened by the painkiller. I get up and brush dead bits of leaves and twigs off my hair and clothes. One of my shirtsleeves is slashed and my pants have holes at the knees.

  I’ll have to come up with some really good story to tell Mom tonight.

  Not even a bad fall from a galloping Taeh would justify my current appearance. And right as I wonder about that, the ground starts shaking and rumbling. I stumble and brace myself against the trunk of the closest tree.

  Some kind of projectile shoots out of nowhere and flashes right below me, sizzling twigs and low vegetation as it zooms through the air. I blink and it’s gone, its trail marked by a tail of smoke and the burnt tips of ferns. Thick black smoke lingers in the air, covering the usual scents of moss and tree bark.

  I wish I could message Athel to tell him about what I’ve just seen, but our wireless network doesn’t reach this far away from the Tower. Moved by curiosity, I follow the trail of chipped bark and scattered leaves the flying object left behind. It drilled a hole about a foot wide through the canopy of a large spruce. On the other side of the tree, a rocket lies half buried in the ground, the exhaust still hot and smoking. It’s small, no longer than three feet, and dented all over.

  I look around, expecting to see Yuri or Cal make a sudden appearance, but the place remains still. The leaves rustle. A few shy birds resume their chirping now that the rumble has passed.

  And then a figure jumps out from behind the trees, grabs the small rocket and runs. It’s all so fast I can’t even tell if it’s a man or a woman.

  “Wait!” I shout and give chase.

  The person has vanished, their steps so light and quick I can no longer hear them. I only know one guy this fast, and even though the figure I saw looks nothing like Wes, I call his name just the same.

  “Wes? Lukas? Guys?” I shout, thinking maybe the boys dressed up to play a prank on me.

  But I know they’re all at Lukas’s place playing with robotics parts.

  A thud behind me makes me turn. A blow hits me so hard I bounce back and fall on my bum. There’s no pain—my body still numbed by the analgesic released earlier in my system—but my head spins and blood drips down my shirt.

  Yuri stands before me, his metallic jaw grinning eerily as he looks down on me.

  “You thought you were smarter than us, Freckle Face?”

  Cal appears behind him and spits on me. “Put her out, Yuri,” he screams. “Put her out and leave her here to rot. That’s what traitors deserve.”

  I slide forward and kick Yuri in the shins. Before I can get back up though, he grabs me by the hair and pulls me backward, forcing me onto my knees.

  “Quick, Cal. Push the button.”

  I dig my fingers into the dirt, fighting to get him off my back. Cal stoops down, blocks my right arm and gropes for my deactivation button. He finds it and presses it, and as they both wait for me to go limp, I grip a rock with my left hand and throw it backwards. It’s a dumb toss, but the two are so shocked that my deactivation button hasn’t worked that I’m able to wriggle away from Yuri’s grasp and shove my elbow into his ribs.

  My victory is short-lived. Cal throws himself at me and pins me down while Yuri kicks me in the stomach and legs.

  “You were spying on us again, Dirty Face,” Metal Jaw yells.

  The pain resurfaces, making me yelp. “If the rocket is for the Gaijins, why are you hiding it?”

  Yuri swings back his leg to assess another kick and then freezes. “The—what?”

  “Rocket. She said rocket,” Cal says.

  I shove a knee into his stomach. Cal lets go of me, roaring in pain, but Yuri immediately comes at me with his fist. I duck and he slams his knuckles into a tree.

  Adrenaline tells me to run. I sprint, and the cylinder I’ve been hiding in my pocket slips out and drops on the ground with a soft thud. I press a hand against the empty pocket and gasp.

  Oh, no.

  The zipper is ripped, likely torn while I was coming down the oak tree. I swoop down to retrieve the cylinder, but Yuri’s faster. He grabs it, then raises his fist and smacks me in the face.

  I stagger and double over, pain blinding me.

  Metal Jaw sneers, juggling the cylinder in his hands. “What’s this thing you were hiding, huh?”

  Cal waves his hands up in the air. “Let me see!”

  “It’s mine,” I wheeze. “Give it back.”

  Yuri laughs. The pain from his last punch is too strong for me to react. I sink to my knees, my body quickly giving in.

  I close my eyes and see Dad’s hologram. It’s just a mem
ory, not a recorded message like last time. Dad won’t be able to save me a second time. There’s that noise again, the obscure rumble. I hear screams, feel the ground shaking under me. The acrid smell of smoke fills the air. I open my eyes and it’s everywhere. It infiltrates my nostrils, making me gag. I roll over and cough, pain seeping through my throat and chest.

  Something soft flutters over my face. I squint and see a face peering at me through the smoke. A girl, maybe. She stoops, grabs the rocket, and vanishes.

  The rocket!

  I collect my strength, willing my nanobots to numb me.

  If I concentrate I can do this. Dad taught me how.

  I breathe in and out, the pain slowly ebbing away, dampened by a new wave of painkilling molecules released into my bloodstream. When I finally stand up again, the forest has fallen back into silence. The girl with the rocket is gone, and Yuri and Cal are nowhere to be seen.

  Was it just a nightmare?

  I touch my pocket and my fingers hit the flat of my hip.

  The cylinder from Astraca.

  It wasn’t a nightmare.

  Yuri and Cal stole it.

  Despite the analgesic and the nanobots reenergizing my cells, my heart sinks. I drop to my knees and sob.

  Chapter Seven

  Athel

  Day Number: 1,584

  Event: Akaela disappeared

  Number of Mayakes left: 429

  Goal for today: Find Akaela alive.

  By six p.m. Mom is frantic. Akaela is nowhere to be found, and the daily bulletin of death brings gloomy news: today we lost another Mayake to cancer, our second worst enemy after battery failure. Prostheses make up for the limbs we lose to cancer and the genetic defects we’re born with, but the nanobots embedded in every one of our cells have to make up for our defective DNA. They release nanoparticles that destroy any cancerous cells as soon as they develop, but when the fight happens every day, sooner or later somebody’s bound to lose the battle.

  Mom paces our small kitchen wringing her fingers. “I thought Akaela was with you!”

  “She was,” I try to explain, “for a little while. But then she decided she wanted to be alone and left. Maybe she got carried away while gliding over the mesa.”

  I know what I’ve just said can’t be true. If Dottie were gliding, Kael would be with her. Instead, he’s been back to the Tower since four, Mom tells me.

  She grasps my shoulders and gives me a pointed look, the fingers of her prosthetic hand digging into my flesh. “It’s your job to keep an eye on your sister. You know she has no stops, no sense of danger. If something happened to her—”

  She presses her good hand over her mouth and chokes back her last words.

  Mom doesn’t need this right now. Losing our father hit her hard. Her cheeks now cave inward, her jet-black hair is struck with white. Despite the anger I feel at my reckless sister, I stare into my mother’s tired eyes and nod.

  Kael claws the windowsill and bobs his head. He’s nervous. If something happened to Dottie, he would know when and where. I get my training glove, hood the falcon, and leave. Once outside, I release him and watch him soar toward the forest. If that’s where Akaela is, she’s in danger. I know she’s followed Yuri and Cal into the forest before and if she’s done it again, chances are, she’s gotten herself into big trouble this time.

  I message Wes and Lukas on my way to the stable, asking for help.

  Wes replies instantly. His nimble legs can probably beat me to the forest even at a fast gallop.

  Be careful, I type. I haven’t seen Metal Jaw around. He and his brother could be out there too.

  Once we’re in the thick of the vegetation, we can no longer rely on our wireless communication network.

  Taeh’s a really good sport. As soon as I mount her, she feels the pressure in my legs and sprints across the solar fields. Swarms of fruit flies linger over the grass like golden dust motes, parting as we rush through. The sun is a pale disk in an overcast sky, and the warm summer breeze carries scents of dry earth and hay.

  Stupid, stupid Dottie. What have you done now?

  Kael circles south of Beacon Rock, a big mound that towers above the sea of trees. I follow the edge of the forest for as long as I can, then slow Taeh to a trot and turn into the woods. My brave horse leaps over rocks and ravines covered in moss and dead trees. Flocks of sparrows scatter as we whisk through, scared by Taeh’s thuds on the forest’s soft turf.

  Closer to Beacon Rock, I slow to a canter and look around. Some of the tree trunks are chipped and axed, the edges burnt, as though some kind of machinery has trailed through them. A vague whiff of smoke tinges the air.

  “Athel!”

  I pull the reins and freeze.

  “Athel!” Wes calls. “I found her!”

  Taeh snorts and we run, following Wes’s voice.

  Akaela’s sitting on the ground by a tree, her face buried in her hands. As soon as I get there and hop off the horse, Wes looks at me and shakes his head. “She won’t listen to me. She says she can’t come home.”

  “What?” I crouch and grip my sister’s wrists. “What the heck’s going on, Dottie? Mom half died when you didn’t show up back at the Tower.”

  I shake her, but she won’t unglue her hands from her face. I stop and finally take notice of the cuts and bruises blemishing her hands and arms. I take in her torn clothes, her matted hair, the smears of blood along her hairline.

  “Dottie,” I say, my voice just a whisper. “What the hell happened?”

  She lowers her hands, slowly uncovering her eyes, black and fierce as always. Her face, though, is something else, her upper lip cracked open and swollen, her left cheek purple and bruised.

  “Who—who did this to you?”

  She shakes her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. “They took it. They took the Astraca cylinder.”

  * * *

  Lukas sits on the floor and slides the data feeder out of his satchel. “We need to talk to Tahari.”

  I snort. “Are you nuts?”

  Akaela slumps on her bed and stares at the bunk above her. Ash hops on her pillow and starts playing with her hair, but my sister doesn’t seem to notice. She told Mom only half of the story and attributed all her injuries to the fact that the currents carried her over the forest and forced her to land in a tree. Mom grounded her because she should’ve known better than to glide on a day when the winds were blowing in the wrong direction.

  I know my sister. She doesn’t care that Mom’s mad at her and or that she’s now forbidden to glide for a whole week. Dottie’s devastated because she lost the cylinder, even though it wasn’t her fault. Those two bastards stole it after they beat her face to a pulp. I’m so angry I want to punch the walls, pretending they’re Yuri’s metallic jaw.

  Wes shuffles over to the window and leans against the sill. Perched at the opposite corner, Kael stares at him with one eye. I open the bedroom door and take a peek down the hall. The light in the kitchen is on, the water in the sink running. Mom’s letting go of her anger by doing the dishes. I sigh, close the door, and sit on the floor next to Lukas.

  “What’s your next brilliant idea, Brains?”

  Lukas taps his data feeder and raises it a few inches above the ground. A light on the side of the screen turns on and projects a map on the floor. “Astraca,” he says, pointing to the sketch of convoluted roads, turrets, and dead ends. “Reconstructed from all the remaining data I could collect over the last five years. Most of it burned in the fire of 2065, leaving only ruins and collapsed walls. Now, it’s all buried underneath the forest. Only one thing survives.”

  Wes unglues from the sill and joins us on the floor to stare at the map. Akaela pushes Ash away and props herself on her elbow so she can watch too.

  “The Underground City—a city underneath the city built in secrecy as a last escape for a time when disaster would strike,” Lukas explains.

  “They were prepared,” I comment.

  Lukas nods. “They sure we
re.”

  Wes scratches his head, a skeptical look plastered all over his face. “Why keep it secret, though?”

  “Because entry was restricted to only a few privileged ones,” Lukas explains. “The Underground City was to be tucked away, locked and inaccessible. The only way to gain access to it was through these.” Lukas taps on the screen and projects a picture of the symbol of Astraca. As he plays the animation, the five keys pop out of the picture and become 3D, all five rotating on Lukas’s screen. “The five keys to Astraca, or chavis, as our patriarchs used to call them.”

  Akaela scrunches her face in a grimace and drops her head back onto the pillow. “And we have none,” she says sourly.

  “I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit,” Lukas goes on, “especially after being out in the forest with you guys this morning. Wes is right about that particular spot in the woods. It’s like stepping back in time, going through the ghosts of Astraca. I’m guessing the reason Tahari and the other man have been exploring that part of the forest—and probably Hennessy too—is because they’re looking for the chavis, the five keys. And the only way they can find them is through the engrams, the passed-on memories.”

  I frown, completely lost. “Where are you going with this?”

  “The recorded memories of where the keys have been hidden are scattered through all the Mayakes. Those who have them don’t know they do until they bump into something that triggers the memory.”

  “Like Dottie,” I say.

  “Like Dottie,” Lukas confirms.

  “Name’s Akaela,” my sister protests.

  Good. She’s still part of the conversation.

  “So, when you saw Tahari in the forest, he was following an engram?” Wes asks.

  “Probably the man who was with him had the engram, and now they must be looking for the other ones. They’re the only clues to finding the other keys—assuming one key is what they removed from the clearing. Unless they’ve already found the other ones.”

  “You think the cylinder contained one of the keys?” Dottie says.