“Is there no other way?” I asked quietly.
Rachel grabbed my hand. “It’s OK. I won’t let it happen again.”
“Bu-But, we don’t even have any weapons.”
Aaron chuckled. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
Cora hit Aaron in the arm. “How the hell can you laugh at a time like this?!”
“Do you still have your key to the EAL?”
“Aaron, no. We don’t even know if they work!”
“Look, there are no armories on this platform, and we can’t go into that tunnel defenseless.” Aaron pleaded. “We need something.”
Cora hesitated before before reaching into her pocket and taking out a card. “Fine, take it.”
We finally reached a set of glass double-doors. Aaron scanned the card on a keypad located on the right door. He stepped aside for Cora, who typed in what I assumed was her pin number to get into the lab. The large, metal doors groaned open, and revealed a brightly lit room. The walls were lined with shelves and lockers of metal boxes, and a silver table stood in the center. Aaron had clearly been here before. As soon as we stepped in, he began taking out boxes and setting them on the table.
“EAL. What does that stand for?” I asked.
“Well, it’s a lab. And you can find all sorts of powerful weaponry here, weaponry that isn’t exactly common or legal anymore,” Aaron said, clearly over-excited.
“It’s an Experimental Arms Lab,” Rachel said, walking up to the table where Aaron set the boxes. “I’ve always wanted to use one of these!”
“You could show a little concern, you know,” Cora said, very annoyed at Aaron. “Anarchists are taking over MY Sanctuary, and all you care about are these toys.”
Aaron stopped what he was doing. He walked up to Cora, and gave her a hug. “Look, I know this is bad, believe me I do. But the best thing we can do now is survive to fight another day. We knew something like this was going to happen, but I promise that one day we will come back after we’ve rid the world of these honorless criminals.” He stepped back and wiped a tear from Cora’s face. “OK?”
Cora looked up at Aaron. “OK.”
Aaron went back to the table, where Rachel had already picked up some kind of shiny, white sphere about half the size of her palm.
“How does this work?” she asked, examining the ball.
“That’ll be perfect for you,” Aaron exclaimed. “It’s a Quantum Orb, used to make ammunition during the war. It can withstand pretty much any kind of stress and, for all intents and purposes, has infinite density.”
“I don’t understand,” Rachel said.
“You’re telekinetic, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Use your imagination, friend.”
Rachel focused intently on the Orb, performing simple levitation. To our amazement, she was able to make the Orb shrink to the size of a marble, then grow three times as large. She began to manipulate it into different shapes; first a cube, then a pyramid, then a blade. As it morphed, the Orb adopted a milky texture, almost as if it were actual liquid. Upon solidification, it once again appeared as shiny metal.
“Imagine what you could do with that,” Aaron said, opening the next box.
“What about us?” I asked hopefully.
“No, thank you,” Cora said. “I really don’t want to kill another human being.”
“That’s why this is for you.” He handed her a silver bracelet with a white circle embedded on it. “This is a force shield. Just tap the white button, and nothing will be able to hurt you.”
“I-” Cora took it into her hand. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, friend,” Aaron smiled. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you Thran.” He handed me a dark purple dagger. It was about two feet long, and had a handle that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand.
“What does this do?”
“It’s a Void Knife. The blade is made of some alloy of metals synthetically constructed from quantum fields or whatever.”
“What?”
“I don’t know, friend, it’s a sharp knife that can’t be dulled and will never break. It’ll serve you well, I promise. I figure with your ability to stop time, you won’t need bullets.”
“Fantastic…and what about you?”
“Well call me old fashioned but,” Aaron picked up a sleek, black rifle. “I’m good with just a gun.”
“I’m guessing that’s not just any gun?” Rachel asked.
“Of course not,” Aaron exclaimed. “This gun never needs to be reloaded, it uses bullets made of ultra-compressed air.”
“So you’re just gonna…blow them all away?” Rachel asked with a smirk.
Aaron winked. “Damn straight.”
Rachel was still playing with her Orb. She was making it flow around her hand, and calibrating its neural responses. She seemed almost at peace, totally transfixed on the white glow of her new weapon.
Mark floated to the center of room. “As I am also one of mankind’s many wonderful creations, I cannot help but convey how impressed I am.”
“Glad to hear it, friend,” Aaron said.
“However I’m afraid we cannot stay to admire these inventions, for the anarchists are quickly traversing the tunnels and making their way to our platform.”
Mark was right. The tunnels may have been dangerous, but our enemy was attacking by the dozens. Also, given that they were Neogens, they no doubt had the means to deter almost any threats they encountered in the tunnels.
“Agreed. Let’s get out of here.” Aaron said walking towards the door.
Rachel quickly morphed the quantum material into a bracelet, and wore it around her wrist.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Aaron said, clearly impressed. “Let’s go.”
We left the EWL and followed Aaron towards the South Gate. I had been here over a month but I still wasn’t used to the maze of hallways on this platform, and found myself losing my sense of direction. I only hoped that Aaron knew where he was going; last time I trusted him with directions, I got stabbed.
We finally reached a massive chamber with dark green walls, which I could only assume was not its original color. At the other end of the chamber, about a thousand feet away, was a small door.
“That leads to the tunnel, hurry we’re almost there,” Aaron said.
We ran forward, our footsteps echoing throughout the chamber. Suddenly, we heard sounds of a commotion coming from the hallways behind us. Rachel and Aaron got their weapons ready and stepped in front of me and Cora. Then, two armed soldiers emerged from the doorway. They were dressed like us, and seemed like they were running away, not toward.
“They are not threats,” Mark said quickly, floating by my side. “I believe they are acquaintances of Dr. Eltech.
“Lynn, is that you?!” Cora called out.
“Yes!” a voice called out. “It’s us, don’t shoot!”
“Is Aelia with you?”
The two girls stopped as they approached us. One of them was Lynn, the one that had called out earlier. She had brown eyes, dark-golden hair, and lightly tanned skin.
The other girl, Aelia, had light brown skin and black hair like me. Her eyes had a youthful glow to them. “We don’t have time, all the platforms are overrun,” she said, glancing at Lynn.
“Well I think it’s safe to assume we can’t fight them all,” Cora added.
“Agreed,” Aaron said. He motioned to Lynn’s group. “Come on, I always welcome more allies.”
Just then, we all jumped at the sound of gunfire erupting in the halls. We saw flashes of light and heard angry shouting. After a few seconds, a team of armed soldiers came bursting into the chamber. They wore all black clothing and had helmets with dark, tinted visors. About fifteen of them made formation at the end of the chamber. I had a terrible feeling these weren’t friends of Cora. Half of them had weapons, and I could only assume the others had powers they were just itching to use on us.
The gunfire continued
in the background, but seemed much more distant now. The leader of this group stepped forward and took off her helmet. I recognized her immediately as Meredith, one of the anarchists who attacked my Sanctuary.
“Isn’t this an amazing coincidence,” she said.
I wanted to attack right then and there, but the dozen or so Neogens behind her forced me to remain passive.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked angrily. “How many people do you have to kill? We’re all on the same side!”
“I don’t expect you to understand,” she said. “I’m simply doing what we have to do to survive. It was brought to my attention by a man I once thought wise that we are the most powerful generation of human.”
“He’s not wrong,” Rachel said. “But how do you go from taking a compliment to genocide?!”
“He said the Parents would hold us back, that we needed to grow and live on our own.”
“Still not seeing it.”
“Would you shut up?” She snapped as the anarchists raised their guns.
We remained silent.
“He was right,” Meredith continued. “The Parents keep us from unlocking our true potential. It’s survival of the fittest, and right now, that’s us. This planet belongs to us.”
This was crazy. She was crazy. Surely things couldn’t be so bad that they’d resort to killing the Parents and taking over Sanctuaries.
“I hope you realize how insane you are.” Cora said. “The Parents are the reason you’re here.”
“I’m not gonna argue this with you,” Meredith answered. “You’re all Neogens, so I give you a choice: join us or die.”
“OK enough of this shit,” another girl stepped out from the hallway and made her way to the front of the formation. When she took off her mask, I saw the face of Margot, the actually crazy one.
“We killed their parents, of course they’re not gonna join us, just get rid of them.”
“You what?!” I stepped forward and they responded by loading their weapons.
I should’ve been angry. I wanted to be angry. But I wasn’t. It was the strangest thing. I couldn’t even bring myself to feel sad.
“It’s true,” Meredith said. “I’m sorry but that’s the way it has to be.”
I thought about using my power to kill them, each and every one of them. But I wasn’t sure I could hold concentration long enough to do it and still get out without dying. And the others would be stuck too. At the first sign of something gone wrong, the anarchists would open fire.
“Don’t apologize! God, you’re such a baby. You know, I wish - ”
She was cut off by the sound of a hard pop, and her face went blank. A red dot appeared on her forehead, and began to ooze liquid of the same color. After a moment, she fell to the ground as we all took a step back. I turned around to see Aaron with his gun raised, pointed straight at Margot.
The next few seconds happened in a blur. The anarchists opened fire, but not before Cora raised her shield, which expanded into a large, elliptical wall of energy.
“Run!” she cried out.
Immediately, we all turned and bolted towards the other end of the chamber. Cora kept her shield behind her as she ran. I risked a glance, and my heart nearly stopped when I saw how violently the barrier was flashing with each collision. It was protecting us from tiny explosions, arcs of lightning, and even a bright green laser beam, all of which I presumed were the anarchists’ Neogen powers. The whole chamber began to shake as a strong wind began to rush around us. I didn’t dare look back again, and kept my focus on reaching the tunnel.
I had only run for my life once before, and the second time isn’t any easier. I wasn’t trained for this. I was only praised for my scientific prowess, not scorned for my lack of athletic ability. Here in the real world, I couldn’t just invent something to save my life. I’d have to run, or I’d have to fight. Seems in this case we had chosen the former. The tunnel was coming up now. But it was then that I saw the oddest thing. Alongside everyone was some kind of animal moving insanely fast, quickly making its way to the front of the group. It had dark yellow skin with black spots, and growled with each leap. My stomach wound had started to ache and I was struggling to breathe at this point so I figured I was either seeing things or one of our group had in fact shapeshifted into an animal. I began to feel that I might physically eject my lungs from my body if I had to keep this up. My eyesight faded, and my stomach felt sick; the only thing keeping me going was the inherent desire to live, and even this wavered with each step.
Upon finally reaching the of other end of the chamber, I leaped through the doorway I landed hard on a dusty, metal track, and saw a shiny black wall in front of me. I turned my head to the left to see the animal panting heavily inches from my face. Behind it, tracks and lights led down into a seemingly endless passageway. To my right was just a dead end.
Aaron was helping Cora get to the tunnel while still keeping her shield up. As they stepped through, Cora’s shield retracted into her bracelet and a hail of projectiles followed. We ducked behind either side of the doorway, and in the commotion, I was the only one unfortunate enough to choose the side opposite the direction we had to go. Shots cut through the opening between me and the others, there was no way I’d be able to cross without getting torn apart by bullets.
“The shield can’t take anymore!” Cora called out. “It has to recharge!”
“We don’t have time for that!” Rachel said, morphing her Orb.
She created the semblance of a wall in front of the opening to give me a safe way through, but the anarchists’ attacks destabilized the structure, disrupting its shape. She was forced to retract it, and swore aloud, though I couldn’t hear what she said over the gunfire.
Out of options, I forced myself to calm down. I put my back against the cold, rocky wall and shut my eyes. Slowly but steadily, the noise died down, and both my heart rate and breathing relaxed. When I opened my eyes and turned my head, I could actually see each and every bullet floating through the air. A streak of blue lightning had just passed the doorway and was still moving rather quickly. Within a few seconds it reached the wall. I instinctively shielded myself from the blast but then saw the eruption of rock happen in slow motion. Each particle hit me with a light touch before bouncing towards the ground. My only other obstacles were a laser beam cutting across my path and a few dozen bullets. I cautiously reached out my hand, taking one of them between my thumb and index finger. To my surprise, there was very little resistance. When I let go, it remained stuck in space where I’d left it. Then, with a deep breath, I stepped under the laser and through the field of bullets, brushing them aside as I did so. Once I was on the other side, I felt drained of energy, and released my hold of time. The deafening sound of metal colliding with rock came roaring back, startling me as I jumped further away from the opening.
The others quickly turned their heads and stared at me in shock, the strange animal included. It let out a mild roar and slowly stood up on its hind legs, shifting into a more humanoid shape as it did so. When it completed its transformation, I was amazed to see that it was Lynn.
She opened her pack and removed a small, egg-shaped device. She threw it down in front of the doorway and urged us to move back. After a moment, it erupted in a cloud of white dust, covering the entire entrance. Then, Lynn took out a remote and hit a small, blue button. The dust instantly solidified and formed a solid barrier between us and the anarchists, silencing the sound of gunfire.
Rachel sighed, both relieved and overwhelmed. It was strange seeing someone usually so fearless and calm act nervous. I then turned to Aaron.
“You killed her,” I said. “You killed that girl.”
“She murdered our parents, our friends back at Sanctuary. And she would’ve done the same with us.”
Somehow, this didn’t put my mind at ease. Back in the chamber I probably would’ve agreed with him, but now - being out of danger and thinking clearly - I wasn’t so sure. The others remained silent.
“We need to keep moving, friends,” Aaron pointed down the tracks. “While we still have the lights.”
“Agreed,” we all answered in unison.
I thought of my journals, and how most of them were filled with empty pages. The past few days had given me plenty to write about. I reached for one of them in my backpack, and flipped through the clean, white sheets. I then decided I would record my experiences, though I was missing one crucial thing: a writing utensil. Decided that perhaps this wasn’t the best time to ask for one, I continued to walk, praying that the lights wouldn’t go out, and decided to become acquainted with our new allies.
“Lynn, I don’t believe we’ve met,” I said politely. “I’m Thran.”
“Oh, hey there,.” she replied. “Yeah, it’s odd we haven’t met, since we’ve been on the same platform all this time. Aelia and I have been practicing our powers a lot lately.”
“Really?”
“Yep. As you saw earlier, I can turn into different animals. The one you saw was called a ‘cheetah’. I saw one out on a hunt and soon after learned to shift.”
“But what about your clothes and any stuff you’re holding?”
“It took a bit of practice but I soon learned to make any matter in my immediate proximity part of my new form,” she said with a grin. “Anyway, I recently figured out how to shift into a bird.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“You mean you can fly?”
“Well for now I can glide, but with some practice, yes I should be able to fly.”
“Amazing.” I said, truly astonished. “Can you turn into anything else?”
“Well, we keep a cat in the Sanctuary so I’ve learned to take its shape.” she said. “But besides that I’m still discovering new forms.”
“But how do you learn to take new forms?”
“All I have to do is observe something for a while, could be a few minutes or it could be days before I’m ready,” she explained. “I could even turn into a Demon one day!”
The Children of New Earth Page 5