The Ark

by Laura Liddell Nolen

  “I—I didn’t realize that would be such a problem. Good to know.”

  “No.” He leaned forward over the desk. The strain in his voice was evident on his face. “It’s not that. I wish I could say I’m glad to see you, but frankly, this is—”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’m not here to sweep you off your feet.”

  “I see.” His face relaxed into an unreadable mask. He glanced around the room. “What do you need?”

  “I have to tell you something. Can you, could you just calm down for a minute? You’re making me nervous. This is important.”

  Everything in his body was telling me stay back. His words were clipped. “I would imagine so.”

  “Eren, there’s a program on the ship that controls everything—the lighting, the doors. Life support.”

  “The Noah board?”

  “I don’t know what it’s called.” My tongue wanted to freeze, to save what was left of my friendship with Eren, despite his present demeanor. But there was no getting around this. I willed myself to speak, to ruin us, to save what was left of the world. “I stole it.”

  He strode around the desk and crossed the room in an instant. “You must be kidding.”

  “Well, I helped steal it. And I thought it was something else. You know what? It’s complicated.”

  Eren stood there, a confused look on his face. “Whom were you helping?”

  I took a deep breath. “The Remnant.”

  “Magda.”

  “Eren,” I echoed sarcastically. Why did he have to be so sharp? I mean, I knew we hadn’t left things well, but it wasn’t like he’d wanted me to stay and die.

  “The Remnant.”

  “They exist.”

  Eren looked around the room, as though struggling for the right words. “You shouldn’t have come here. You need to leave.”

  “Didn’t you hear what I just said? The Remnant. Has. The Noah board. You’re under attack, Ambassador. You just don’t know it yet.”

  “Even assuming that there is a Remnant, this makes very little sense. First of all, you wouldn’t still be here if you had broken into Mission Control.”

  “Oh, you’re referring to the barrage of lasers? Fair point.” I ripped open the hole at my thigh, exposing the burn from the laser. “They did slow me down. Slightly.”

  He looked sick. And impressed. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit gratified to see those two emotions battle each other across his face. “Oh, Magda. Why didn’t you—”

  “Tell you? I’m not here to talk about my leg, Eren. There’s a war on. Do try to keep up.”

  “You really, really shouldn’t have come here.” He glanced around the room one last time, then back to me. At long last, something inside him seemed to break. His stony façade melted into a furrowed look of concern.

  He crossed the room in four giant strides and, an instant later, wrapped me in his arms. My legs went weak, but his grip was strong enough to keep me on my feet. “So you keep mentioning.”

  “We don’t have much time.”

  I sighed into his neck. “And here I was beginning to think you weren’t paying attention. Look, they’re going to threaten life support unless Central Command surrenders.”

  “And then what? Anarchy?”

  “Equality.”

  “Is that what they’re calling it? If they shut down life support, they’ll definitely achieve that goal. We’ll all be equally dead.” He twisted away from our embrace so that he could look squarely at me. “Why did you come back? You had to have known they’re looking for you.”

  “I just… I don’t want anyone to die. Surely you can tell Central Command to change the access codes for the Noah board, or whatever it is, so that the system can’t be hijacked.”

  He bit his lip, still holding me.

  I squeezed his arm, just below the shoulder. “Like, now. Right now.”

  He let out a long breath. “We can safely assume that Central Command is already aware of everything you just told me.”

  I froze, except to straighten slightly as an errant thought crept slowly up my spine. “You mean—” I was about to say they’re listening to us right now, but Eren cut me off.

  “Magda, you have to go back to the Remnant. If they succeed, it’s the only place that’s safe for you.”

  “I just betrayed them. Plus, I’m pretty sure they think I’m dead. They know I tried to keep them from getting the Noah board. They’re about to realize I’ve warned Central Command.”

  He considered that for a moment, presumably formulating a response. None came.

  Instead, he kissed me.

  I kissed him back, this pale son of a powerful man, and allowed my mind to race. He was different from his father, in many ways, but he had his own brand of power. And danger. So I kissed him with my eyes open. He must have thought the same thing about me, because a moment later, Eren opened his eyes, too.

  Blue. All I saw was blue. Cornflowers in a yellow field. The endless sky on a perfect day. My mother’s favorite sweater. So many things that were gone forever lived again in Eren’s eyes.

  And his arms moved against mine. I had a million reactions ready: I wanted him to stop, because he was dangerous, this quiet son of an angry man. I wanted him to stop, so that I could freeze his gaze into mine, and drink in more blue.

  I wanted him to keep moving.

  The tips of his fingers brushed past my neck, impossibly gently, to sweep back my hair. His mouth moved to whisper in my ear. I stopped breathing.

  But Eren spoke, as softly as his pulse. “Magda. Run.”

  Twenty-five

  I was out of breath almost immediately. In my defense, it had been a rough day. I veered left, then right. And then I stopped. I had no idea where to run to, but it wasn’t in my nature to stand still before they caught me. A door sucked open ahead of me, and the sound of heavy boots on thick carpet flooded the corridor.

  That was when I noticed Eren, who’d apparently been trotting along behind me. “Turn left. Keep running.”

  “Are you following me? Don’t you have somewhere to be? Like, I don’t know, Mission Control?” I hissed over my shoulder. My leg burned, but I forced myself to keep moving.

  “Magda, everyone is following you. You just don’t see them yet. Left again.”

  I banked left. My mind reeled. It wasn’t like I’d expected to be ignored, but I hadn’t planned on quite this level of surveillance. “You know, your dad can be kind of intense. No offense. Where are we going, exactly?”

  “None taken. To the only hiding place I could think of. But don’t get your hopes up. It’s not a very good one.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “What a pleasant surprise. Go straight.” Eren pulled ahead of me and swiped his access card against a random door panel, revealing a maintenance access closet. “In here,” he whispered, pulling me inside. “Look, anytime I use my access card, he knows where I am. So we can’t stay here. They’ll have gotten to my room already.”

  “I hate to break it to you, Ambassador, but there is literally nowhere for us to hide.”

  “Not us. You. Magda, I’m not coming with you. That’s what I’m trying to explain. Even if my father weren’t following me, I have obligations now.”

  “I thought you said they already know about the Noah board?”

  “They do. They knew as soon as you started talking. My room has been bugged since you left. And maybe before that; I don’t know.” He looked directly into my eyes and squeezed my shoulders. The blue pierced through me. “But I will not abandon my post. This is my fight.”

  I stared at him. “What do you mean?”

  “If what you’re telling me is true, it’s an act of war.”

  “Why does everyone keep saying that?” I shook my head, confused. “It’s not much of a war if you can’t breathe, Eren. And if you stop them from using the Noah board, they’re practically defenseless. Why not let them have their sectors?”

  Eren looked as confused as I wa
s. His grip on my shoulders tightened. “Because they’re dangerous! Look at what they’ve done. They need to be secured until we get to Eirenea. I mean, not all of them will have had a hand in this. We need trials, reintegration programs for their civilians. It could be that we could disperse the more innocent ones among the other Arks. I don’t agree with everything my dad says, but he’s absolutely right about the Remnant being a threat. I just didn’t know whether to believe they were real until now. It’s not like we can ignore them.”

  “So you’re going to fight them.”

  He set his jaw. “I’m going to stop them.”

  I stood there, staring into the blue of his eyes for as long as I could. But I couldn’t conceal my hurt. “Meanwhile, I’ll be executed.”

  “No.” His grip on my shoulders slid around my back to an embrace I didn’t return. “I’ll never let that happen to you. I know I can stop my dad from doing that, especially now that you’ve warned us. Worst case, you’ll be locked up until we reach Eirenea.”

  “But that’s years away!” How could he be so cold? Tears stung my eyes, but I was far too proud to let them fall. It wasn’t like he had a choice.

  “We don’t have much time. Magda, I can protect you in prison. I’ll make sure you have everything you need. Then one day—”

  “Does it hurt to be this naïve? No one is getting a fresh start on Eirenea. Can’t you see that? They may say we’ll start over, but in the back of their minds, no one wants to unleash a convicted felon on society. Besides which, you are seriously kidding yourself if you think your father won’t kill me the first chance he gets. This is the end of the line, Eren.”

  He closed his eyes. Our time was up. “Okay. Okay. There may be one place you can go. But it’s not as safe as prison.”

  I waited for him to speak before shrugging at him. “So tell me! As you may have observed, I am open to suggestions.”

  “I found your family.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Charlotte.”

  Twenty-six

  I spoke through gritted teeth. “Except that one.”

  “Do what you want. I hope you’ll surrender, so that I can keep you safe. I can see how that may not appeal to you. But if you hide with your family, at least I’ll know that someone is looking out for you.”

  I snorted. “You don’t know my family.”

  Eren looked at me. “No. I don’t. But they can’t be any more screwed up than mine.”

  “Your father would do anything for you. My father, on the other hand, knows I’m set to stand trial and be executed, but he still can’t be bothered to come forward and say that the starpass wasn’t stolen. Do you really think he didn’t see me on the screens?”

  “He may surprise you. How do you think I found them? I ran a search on the woman whose starpass you were using. She never even attempted to board. On a hunch, I pulled the file on her family. It listed a husband, son, and… a daughter.”

  “A daughter.” The words swirled around me, but they made little sense. How could there be a daughter listed? I’d been in prison for years. They had to have known I wasn’t getting out.

  “Named Charlotte. Who was never issued a starpass.”

  I looked at him. “It’s not like they were just handing them out.”

  “No, they weren’t. How many times did you apply?”

  “Uh, never? I was a bit… otherwise occupied.” I had the dizzying sensation of standing on the edge of a high cliff and trying not to slip, the wind increasing around me with every word Eren spoke. The more he knew about me, the closer he was to finding out about my past. I had the feeling I couldn’t stand up much longer.

  Then he gave me a little shove.

  “According to the database, someone filed an application in your name every single day for the last five years.”

  I shook my head slowly. “But that’s, like—”

  “Almost two thousand applications. Maybe you don’t know your family as well as you think you do.”

  “It was all her. My mom.” And she was gone.

  “Maybe. Seems like a lot of work for one person. And it’s unlikely that—” he consulted a sheet of paper on his desk—“a doctor would have the clout to break the number of rules required to do that.” His tone changed. “In any event, Charlotte, being up here, after everything we’ve been through, has a way of changing people. Lots of time to think, and all that.”

  His lips hovered near mine, but I was still too confused to kiss him, and the almost-kiss passed us by. “Sector Seven, Level Twenty. Room B-17. No one else knows. I’m going to open some more doors. Throw them off the scent.”

  I could only look at him helplessly.

  “They’ll follow my access card. So I’m going to go use it. We have to go,” he said. “Unless you want to surrender, of course.”

  I would never surrender. I shook out my shoulders. “Okay. Go. Fight. Open doors. Maybe when this is all over, we can find each other again.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  “Just be careful. Don’t take the Remnant for granted. They’re smarter than you think. And… kinder, too.”

  The door swished open. “Goodbye, Charlotte,” he said.

  And then he was gone.

  Twenty-seven

  I took off in the other direction, taking stock of my situation as I ran. I’d lifted just about everything I could off Eren while his arms had been around me. Except his access pass, obviously. I didn’t know how he’d react to finding out his stunner was missing. I told myself it didn’t matter. He was about two steps away from finding out everything I’d ever done, if he hadn’t already. The thought was so sickening that I slowed my pace until the moment passed. There was nothing I could do about it now.

  By some miracle, our plan to draw the guardians away from my path appeared to have worked. I turned corners cautiously, making sure every upcoming hallway was clear before barreling down it and pausing before taking the next corner.

  I nearly made it all the way to the stairwell before I encountered my first hiccup in the form of a pair of guardians, reflective shield masks down, standing at the end of my final stretch. I approached casually, or as casually as I could with my pulse pounding through my temples. I was about halfway there when they made me.

  The bigger one figured it out first. The visor covering his face tilted down, and I pictured my injured thigh catching his eye. His black-gloved hand slid to his stunner, a move I mirrored back to him.

  His other hand extended toward me, palm out. The second guardian drew her stunner.

  “That’s her,” the second guard said.

  Now, how many times had I heard that phrase in my life? It had a different ring to it, though, up here. Her tone set me on edge, probably because without citizenship, I had no rights. It wasn’t like the Commander was itching to send me to a fair trial, exactly.

  “It’s me!” I responded sarcastically, quickening my pace.

  “Stop right there,” the first one said. Something about his voice made my hands begin to shake, which I ignored.

  I took a deep breath and pressed forward. “Let me guess. ‘Hands where I can see them?’”

  The first guard answered. “Wouldn’t make much difference, little bird.”

  At that, I did stop. I stopped so hard I nearly tripped. “Isaiah?”

  He nodded to his companion. “Arrest her.”

  “I can’t! I can’t go with you,” I said.

  “That’s kinda the point of getting arrested,” the female guard said, moving forward. “It’s not optional.”

  She’d had plenty of training, judging from the way she held the stunner. Possibly a former police officer, or maybe a prison guard. I’d had enough of both. I drew my own stunner.

  “Put that on the ground and raise your hands,” she said.

  I rushed her, wielding my stunner like a sword. Hers cracked to life, barely missing my face. Relief flooded through me in place of pain. But I was outmatched, and the feeling was short-lived. Her stunner s
wung back immediately, with a force and speed I hadn’t counted on, and its black edge connected to my arm. The tip flamed white again, inches from my ribs, but failed to connect for the second time.

  A bright slash of pain nestled itself into my bicep where she’d hit me. I added it to my mental inventory of physical injuries and tackled her, taking special care to grab her face mask as we went down.

  It came off too easily to do any damage, revealing a girl about my age with a shock of red hair. Fake red, the kind that reminds you more of the actual flame than the warmth from the fire. She flipped around immediately, both hands on the stunner, and brought it around my throat. Her knee dug into my back. She may have been better at this than I was, but I couldn’t afford to lose. I was wild and angry, and in a moment, I’d broken her grip on the stunner’s handle, relieving my neck of its pressure. I gained the advantage and used the moment to pull her stunner out of her grasp. I’d soon be past her and on my way to my family’s bunk.

  Or, I would have been, if I hadn’t discounted Isaiah so readily.

  CRACK. Blinding pain seared through every molecule of my existence. The memory of pain doubled together with the pain of the present moment, and my body convulsed, pressing a scream out from deep inside me.

  CRACK. I saw nothing but white. Terrible, blinding white. The screaming increased.

  A moment later, I realized the screams weren’t just coming from me.

  “Stop! It’s me! You’re stunning—NO! me!” The girl shrieked, her pale, heart-shaped face contorting in pain.

  CRACK. This time, I felt no pain and heard no screaming. The guardian had passed out. I spared a moment to envy her, then turned my eyes to Isaiah’s. To his mask, rather.

  He lifted me wordlessly, grunting slightly at the effort as he straightened. I realized with a shock that I could not resist. My body twitched, but failed to respond to my increasingly panicked suggestions that I start kicking.

  “Put me down, Isaiah,” I growled through gritted teeth. “You don’t understand.”

  He shouldered through the door to the stairwell and trotted down the first flight of steps. “I understand you warned the Commander,” he said evenly. “Adam had to reprogram the Noah board because of you.”