[scifan] plantation 04 - beyond the river of time

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  Biscuit’s alive. Is that what he would have chosen if given the choice? Maybe. It is what

  Damian chose for me anyway.

  “Your turn,” the Empress says. “Since I kept my part of the agreement, am I to assume you will

  kindly follow my guard to the genetic lab?”

  I shiver at the thought but I see no way out so I nod.

  “Good,” she says. “And since you’re being so reasonable, I’ll show you something interesting

  when you are done.”

  The guard takes me through a maze of hallways and then down a staircase to Level 1 where we

  take a familiar elevator. This is the same elevator I took control of when I entered the plantation with Finn to rescue Damian. The lab they’re taking me to is part of the underground network, a place that

  was a secret until Wudak released Pip and she told us all about it.

  We get off on Level 3 and walk briskly along a hallway with brick walls and doors on either

  side every fifty feet or so. It’s chilly down here and I shudder a bit. My guard stops in front of a door that looks exactly like all the others and punches a code in the keypad by the door handle.

  The door slides away and we enter an area with white walls and fluorescent light. Three aliens

  work silently over microscopes and test tubes in their white lab coats. They raise their faces to stare at me before they gather together to consult among themselves.

  It all comes back to me now. I was seven years old when I was taken away from my mother and

  my village and brought to Plantation-8 to become a trained slave. They cut off my hair and tattooed a number on my neck.

  I remember the needles they stuck in my veins to trigger my genetic capacities. The ones they

  didn’t know I possessed until I escaped their clutches.

  They ask me to lie on a narrow bed. They don’t restrain me. I have come here voluntarily. They

  draw blood. They take samples of my skin and hair cells. They check my tattoo and enter my number

  in their database. They give me a pill that I refuse to swallow. It doesn’t seem to bother them that

  much because they put the pill away on a metallic tray.

  They measure my height and take my weight. They measure my muscle mass and fat percentage.

  They examine my hands with an infrared scanner.

  I do what they want, move and turn as they direct. If Biscuit’s alive, so must be everybody else, I tell myself. I don’t want to think that Finn’s too stubborn to allow himself to get caught. I think it anyway. Because it’s true.

  My guard walks me out of the lab and down the hallway toward the elevator. The Empress waits

  for us right at the end of the hallway surrounded by five Sliman guards and two aliens. Her mask and

  hood are back on.

  “That pill was meant to speed up your full recovery,” she says. “But never you mind. I can wait

  an extra day or two. You did well.”

  “What now?” I say.

  “Did you forget? I promised I’d show you something interesting.”

  Her guards lead the way. She stays close to me but she’s having a conversation with her alien

  subjects in their weird language. I realize now they never wanted us to learn how to talk like them.

  They never taught us their language. They preferred to learn ours instead. To make us feel inferior and intimidated when they discussed our fate in front of us.

  We take the elevator to Level 4 where I am faced with a completely different picture. The level

  is heated and brightly lit, divided in two parts by a single wall in the middle. We take the part to the right and reach a huge iron gate.

  The Empress raises her hand and the gate slides open. There’s no end to her tricks. We go inside

  the gate and walk to the end of what looks like a wide balcony stretching across the entire room.

  “Look down,” she urges me.

  Several feet below the balcony lies a vast open space populated with a dozen huge Sliman.

  Their skin is grayish and their faces expressionless.

  “What is this?” I say.

  “I’m creating a new legion,” she whispers next to my ear. “The Ghost Legion. They can do all

  that the Dark Legion can do with one big difference. They have no initiative. No memories of who

  they once were. No ambition. I made Kroll too intelligent and perceptive for his own good and now

  he thinks he can make his own choices. Make no mistake. He would not have turned for you if deep

  down he didn’t allow himself to make that choice. Luckily that means he can be made to re-choose.

  Because his ambition is bigger than anything else in him.”

  I see a glimpse of hope. Kroll has not returned to her.

  She laughs with a laughter worse than nails on a blackboard. “Is that hope I see on your small

  face?” she says. “I’m so disappointed in you, Freya. You still think there’s a way out of here, don’t you? Kroll will not come looking for you because he means to serve you and he can’t do that dead.”

  I am taken back to my cell and offered some reading material in exchange for my good behavior.

  *

  “WE HAVE A PROBLEM,” the Empress says as soon as the guard lets me into a room at the

  HQ.

  I spot Damian standing by the window dressed in black and red Sliman attire. He avoids looking

  into my eyes.

  “What kind of a problem?” I say cautiously.

  “He wants me to let you go,” she says pointing at Damian.

  Yep, it sounds like him all right. His soul has not been erased yet. “Pay no attention to him,” I

  say. “He suffers from acute hero syndrome.”

  “I am pleased with your answer,” she says and extends her gray hand to me. I take it sheepishly

  to send a message to Damian. He doesn’t have to fight my battles anymore.

  “I want you both to freely join me in my quest for a better world for all of us,” the Empress says.

  “Don’t you see that, Damian?” she says extending her other hand to him.

  “You have her blood, her DNA analysis and her tattoo number,” he says coldly. “You can create

  dozens of replicas, ones that will have the stubbornness gene removed. Freya has no access to a

  receptor. She’s not a threat to you anymore. Let her go, you don’t need her. I will stay and serve you as you command.”

  “You have a point about her stubbornness,” she says. “Maybe I should just kill her now that

  she’s not necessary. But then again, I’d have to wait several years until one of the clones comes to a reproductive age. I don’t think I have the patience for that.”

  Damian grabs her hand and pulls her closer to him. “You have no choice,” he says. “You either

  let her go or I will…”

  “Stop this,” I say. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” My heart beats so loud I think

  everyone in the room can hear it. I rush over to Damian and force him to face me.

  Damian turns his attention back to the Empress. “If you let her go,” he says, “I will remain

  eternally under your command. Willingly. You can alter me any way you want. I’ll submit to your will

  gladly.”

  The Empress considers his words for a long while. “It’s not enough,” she says in the end. “I

  need more.”

  I’m amazed at how many liberties she allows him. Almost as if she wants him to be her equal.

  “Then more you shall have,” Damian says.

  “I need Kroll back,” she says. “And I need Exodus to put an end to the monitoring of the

  plantation district. In fact, I need the whole station moved as far away from this territory as possible.”

  “Done,” Damian says.

  “You can’t make tha
t decision for them,” I cut in. “What is the matter with you? My freedom

  isn’t that important.”

  The Empress turns to me. “We have embedded a tracker inside you. We will always know

  where you are and we can kill you in a blink,” she says with an almost sadistic tone. “If Kroll isn’t here within two days of your release, your Savior friends will die.”

  “The Saviors?” Damian says hopefully.

  “She didn’t tell you? I saw Biscuit,” I say.

  “Biscuit’s here?”

  I nod. “I saw him. And, if we can believe her, he’s not the only one.”

  Damian pushes his hair back with both hands. “They should be released, too,” he says.

  The Empress loses her patience now. “Don’t even think about negotiating over their release,”

  she says. “You must be a fool to think I will give away all my leverage. Or that I will release her.”

  She turns back to me. “I need Kroll,” she says. “And I need you to come back with him. Don’t forget

  that.”

  “What if he doesn’t want to come?”

  “Then make him want to come. You’ll release him of his loyalty to you. Just say the words and

  read the code. It will work.” She looks at Damian. “Not another word. You have two minutes,” she

  tells him before she leaves us.

  The instant we’re alone, I start pounding on Damian’s chest. “You idiot,” I yell. “That was your

  plan from the beginning? You might as well have handed her control of Earth. You will end the last

  group of resistance on the planet.”

  My tears run hot down my cheeks. He puts his arms around me and squeezes me so hard it starts

  to hurt.

  “You said you’d protect me,” I go on. “You said you wanted to be with me forever.”

  “And I meant every word,” he whispers.

  “I don’t want to leave you here,” I say. “It was so hard to get you back the first time. Who knows

  what she will do to you this time. She’ll make you forget all about me.”

  “Freya,” he says. “I trust you. You’ll find a way to make this right. I know you will. I wouldn’t

  go to all this trouble otherwise. You have two days. You have powers beyond the receptor. You have

  to start thinking like her. In many ways, you’re her counterpart. She even said so herself. You

  represent everything she hates. Use that knowledge to bring her down.”

  “How?” I say.

  The door opens and two guards show up. They have thick black gloves on and their faces are

  covered. As an extra caution, they handcuff me. The Empress cannot risk me touching their skin. Even

  if they are anesthetized to my charms, she cannot be too careful.

  I have decided to stay collected but when they push me out the door, I try to run back into the

  building to tell Damian I love him one last time. The guards block my way and push me forward. I see

  a vehicle parked a few yards away. I turn my face back to catch a glimpse of Damian but he’s

  nowhere in sight.

  “So, we meet again,” I hear Zolkon’s voice. I turn to find him standing in front of me.

  He turns to the guards. “You need to stamp and classify the release documents for the vehicle,”

  he says.

  “We don’t need to do that,” one of the guards says.

  “You need to for this specific transfer,” Zolkon says handing them some paperwork. “I’ll stay

  with the subject.”

  The guards leave reluctantly.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Zolkon says. “You think I had something to do with your capture, right?

  Why else would you be so upset with me?”

  “As if you didn’t,” I say.

  “What is it that you think I did?” he says.

  “You found a way to switch Torik back and who knows how many others before you left,” I say.

  “Are you going to tell me it wasn’t you? Who else could have done such a thing? Who had access,

  motive and capability?”

  He considers my words. “I never trusted Torik,” he says.

  “I should have never trusted you,” I say.

  “Listen up, girl. I do not possess the power to enter that beast’s head and strip off his embedded

  loyalty to the alien bride. Frankly, nobody could do that except the Empress herself.”

  “You betrayed me,” I say but I am not so sure anymore.

  “For the last time, it was not I,” he says. “Now, open up your pretty little ears and get this

  through your tiny skull. You have to fight. Only you can save your kind.”

  I laugh. “Without a receptor?” I say. “Are you trying to tease me?”

  “You still have some tricks up your sleeve,” he says with a smile.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What fun would that be if I just revealed them to you? You’ll have to figure them out yourself.

  And you’d better hurry.”

  I want to ask him to be more specific but the guards are back. They salute Zolkon and practically

  drag me to the vehicle.

  I turn back to Zolkon. “Make sure my friends are safe. Please!”

  15

  Spring Town shines in all its glory under the bright sun of early afternoon. I reach its gates five

  hours after I was dropped off by my guards and told to walk the rest of the way. They gave me one

  bottle of water and I took the last sip a while ago.

  I force myself to walk faster but then I slow down. I realize I have no idea what I will find or

  what I will learn about the fate of all those that I love.

  My heart beats fast and sweat trickles down my face and neck. My vision goes black for a split

  second and I have to rub my eyes to get them to work again. I take one painful step after another. My feet hurt, my face is hot, my hair a mess. I feel about to faint and try hard to keep my body steady. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and try to focus my gaze on the first building I can see. It’s a trick I know too well. Doc told me fainting stems from inward focusing and the solution is to force yourself

  to focus outwardly.

  I do so and feel my strength return but as I start walking again, I think my heart will stop

  completely. From behind the buildings, Finn comes running toward me and as I try to understand what

  I’m seeing, I find myself in his arms and his lips on my face.

  He can’t stop kissing my cheeks, my nose, my forehead, my head.

  “I thought you were gone,” he keeps saying. “We all did.”

  I hug him back with whatever strength I have left in me. “You’re safe,” I say after a while.

  He picks me up and carries me through Spring Town to the Medical Facilities. I protest saying

  that I’m all right and what I need right now is to be updated on everything that has happened since we split but he ignores my request. He puts me on an examining bed and kisses me again.

  “I’ll go get someone to check you out,” he says.

  “Finn,” I yell at him. “Stop playing this game. Sooner or later you’ll have to tell me what

  happened.”

  “I will,” he says. “I promise you, Tick.”

  I look around the room with its examining tables and glass door cabinets feeling relieved I never

  actually saw Doc work in here. Any association with him is very painful still.

  Finn returns with a nurse from Exodus and Nya. I feel enormous joy at the sight of her and jump

  out of the bed to hug her. The nurse pulls me back down scolding me.

  Then I notice that Nya has tears in her eyes and my heart drops in my stomach. I’ve only seen

  Nya cry once and it was over a loss. Gritu’s death.

  “What is wrong?” I
say. “You need to tell me now.”

  The nurse attempts to put a thermometer in my mouth but I push it away. “Stay still,” she says.

  “You are dehydrated.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” I say. I turn to Finn and Nya. “I just about died two hundred times

  since we last saw each other. I think I can survive some mild dehydration.”

  “Okay,” Finn says. “There’s a lot of catching up to do on both sides.”

  “Let me start by giving you some good news,” I say. “Biscuit’s fine. He’s being held at

  Plantation-15. I saw him. He hasn’t been harmed.”

  I think their jaws will drop to the floor after my revelation. “Plantation-15?” Finn says. “You

  managed to escape from that place?.”

  “Not quite,” I say. “The Empress tried to convince me she had all of you but I should have

  known that if she did, she’d parade each one of you in front of me. It was just Biscuit the whole time.”

  “Not just Biscuit,” Nya says. “Did you see Theo?”

  Finn’s eyes darken. “Nya and I were the only ones who got away,” he says.

  I say nothing as I let the news sink in. Zoe, Scout, Rabbit, Theo, all captured alongside Biscuit.

  Then a thought hits me. “Tobi and Pip?” I say. “Tilly?”

  “They’re all fine,” Finn reassures me. “They’re here.”

  So many questions crammed in my head. “What about Kroll? The Dark Legion? Are they at their

  posts?”

  “Kroll is here, yes,” Nya says. “When he heard what happened, he flew to the Dark Legion

  camp to sort things out.”

  “He’s done a good job,” Finn says. “It seems he has the Legion under control. Although the

  Exodus people are not convinced.”

  “I can’t blame them,” I say. “I brought a lot of death and tragedy to their doorstep.”

  “Freya, where’s Damian?” Nya says.

  “He’s at Plantation-15,” I say. “He exchanged his freedom for mine.”

  I hear the sound of my own voice, strenuous and hollow, and I feel the truth of my words

  penetrate my body filling my nerves with tremors and my brain with fear.

  “He could not trade his freedom for yours,” Finn states with an accusing tone. “There is no way

  she would let you go for any trade or for any reason for that matter.”