by M. K. Krys
At least his dad didn’t need lessons on how to walk like a robot.
Soon, they were surrounded by townspeople. Beacon felt as if the walls were closing in, even though he was in a big, open clearing. There were so many townspeople, and so few of them. If the townspeople were ordered to attack . . .
He pushed the thoughts out of his head and forced himself to walk the same speed as everyone else, even though all he wanted to do was run.
They were almost to Galen’s ship.
“Hey, you!” a voice said.
Beacon’s heart skipped. From the commanding tone in the man’s voice, he knew there were now guards scattered among the townspeople. He didn’t dare risk a glance at the others for fear it would tip off the guards that they weren’t under their control. He kept walking, hoping that the guard was speaking to someone else, or at the very least, that he would lose interest in them. But the guard stomped over, his boots crunching in the snow.
“Stop right there!”
19
Beacon glanced around the clearing. They would have to run. But where? The place was swarming with Sov and townspeople under their control. They’d never get away.
“We are in deep trouble,” Arthur whispered. He was trying not to move his lips as he talked, like a bad ventriloquist.
“I knew I shouldn’t have left the gun behind,” Arthur’s grandma muttered under her breath.
The guard stomped up Everleigh eyed the baton at his waist, her fingers twitching—
“I need you lot in the G75 Halo,” the guard said.
It took Beacon a minute to register what the guard was saying. He hadn’t discovered their ruse. Every part of him tingled with relief.
“Are you stupid or what?” the guard said. “The G75 Halo. NOW!”
Beacon slipped his eyes to the left. Everleigh and Arthur were frozen next to him, apparently as unsure of what to do as he was. Arthur’s grandma’s eyes darted around the clearing, trying to spot the G75 Halo. Even the twins’ dad didn’t move. He apparently hadn’t gotten the memo on ship subtypes, either, having been a lab rat—the Sov probably didn’t plan for him to survive the experiments they performed on him.
“Oh my God—the G75!” The guard spun Beacon around and shoved him toward a ship. “Go, all of you.”
The others stumbled along next to him while the guard muttered under his breath about how he’d told everyone humans were too stupid for this, but no one ever listened to him.
“I knew we shouldn’t have rushed into this,” Arthur’s grandma said. “Slow and steady wins the race.”
“Slow and steady gets doused with acid rain,” Everleigh said.
“Just keep walking,” Beacon said.
They reached the ship—presumably the G75 Halo, since the guard wasn’t racing over to ask what was wrong with them. Beacon eyed the ship. From the edge of the forest, they’d looked tiny. But standing right in front of one, the gleaming silver body stretched high over his head, the size of a poor man’s yacht.
“What now?” Arthur said.
“Is G.I. Joe still watching us?” Everleigh asked.
Arthur’s grandma glanced over and quickly snapped her attention back to the ship. “Very much so.”
“He’s not going to leave until we get inside,” Everleigh said.
“How? I can’t find the door,” Beacon said.
He inspected the body for a handle, but he couldn’t see one anywhere.
“Is there a button somewhere?” Arthur’s grandma felt along the body of the ship.
Beacon sneaked a glance over his shoulder. The guard was stalking toward them.
“He’s coming!” Beacon said.
All around them, townspeople were boarding their ships without incident. How were they getting on?
“Open up!” He kicked the side of the ship.
There was a slick beep noise, just before the body of the ship cracked open. A set of stairs glided down, green light glowing on the snow.
Voice command! Why hadn’t he thought of that?
“Go, go, go!” Beacon whispered under his breath. Everleigh jumped up the steps, followed by Arthur and his grandma.
“Get in, Dad,” Everleigh ordered. The twins’ dad climbed up, too. Beacon forced himself to walk on slowly after them, even though all he wanted to do was run.
“Close the doors,” Beacon said when he was halfway up the steps. The stairs began moving up. He jumped into the cabin and had just enough time to see the guard’s suspicious gaze before the door closed.
The interior of the ship was small and dark. A leather bench seat curved around a complicated-looking panel of dials and switches that glowed with neon lights. Through the foggy front windshield, he could see the other ships powering up.
Now that they’d found temporary protection, they had a bigger problem to face.
How were they going to get to Galen with that guard outside?
Arthur peered out a small porthole in the ship with his hands cupped around his face. “His ship is taking off!”
Beacon shouldered him out of the way and looked outside. Sure enough, Galen’s ship had risen into the sky. It hovered above the tree line before shooting out of sight. Everything in him deflated. After all they had done, it was going to end like this. Trapped in a ship they couldn’t fly, completely helpless while their planet was attacked.
“This isn’t over,” Everleigh said.
Beacon spun around. Everleigh sat on the leather bench seat, buckling a five-point harness around her shoulders.
“What on earth do you all think you’re doing?” Arthur’s grandma said.
The harsh tone of her voice would have had Beacon flying out of the seat, but Everleigh was practically Olympic caliber at flouting authority, and she just carried on.
“You can’t be serious,” Beacon said. “This is a little more complex than a pod, Ev.”
“And more dangerous, too,” Arthur added. “If you screw up, we’re crashing. Like, an airplane crash. You’ve heard about those, right?”
“Then you better buckle up,” Everleigh said. “Power up computers.”
Nothing happened.
“Power up the engine,” she tried again. A hum went through the cabin as the computers booted up instantly and the screen flared to life. A cluster of little green dots appeared on the otherwise black monitor, with one outlier set apart from the rest.
“These are the ships,” Beacon said. “That’s got to be Galen, there!” He pointed at the sole green dot moving away from them.
“This is a very bad idea,” Arthur’s grandma said. “Young lady, I suggest you stop what you’re doing and—”
“Take off!” Everleigh said.
The ship rose seamlessly into the air. Arthur’s grandma let out a yelp. Beacon’s stomach dropped as the trees beneath them grew steadily smaller. It wasn’t anything like riding in an airplane. The engine didn’t rumble, and there was no turbulence. The ship just . . . sat in the sky. Somehow, that was more disconcerting than if they had been rocking all over the place. He kept having to check out the window to make sure they really were still in the air and the engine hadn’t given out.
He just hoped this ship was as easy to navigate as it seemed. Or else they were in big trouble.
“Put us back on the ground this instant, young lady,” Arthur’s grandma shouted.
“Sorry, I only take orders from my dad. Dad, do you have a problem with me hijacking this ship?” Everleigh asked, turning to him.
The twins’ dad stared straight ahead.
“He doesn’t have a problem with it.” Everleigh swung back to Arthur’s grandma and gave her a faux-innocent smile.
“Sit down and put on a harness,” Beacon ordered his dad as he and Arthur fell onto the bench seat and buckled their own harnesses. Arthur’s grandma grumbled and sat down, to
o.
Around them, more and more ships were taking to the sky. Soon, it would be impossible to tell which one was Galen’s among all the others.
“Follow that ship!” Everleigh pointed at the outlier ship.
The ship didn’t move.
“It can’t see what you’re pointing at,” Arthur said. “Go . . . northeast!” he commanded. The ship didn’t budge.
“You’re not inspiring a lot of confidence in your abilities,” Arthur’s grandma said.
“There must be a way to do this manually,” Everleigh said, considering the control panel.
She pressed a button.
Beacon expected the windshield wipers to come on, or music to blare, like what had happened the day Everleigh decided to try to drive the pod. But as far as Beacon could tell, the button was useless.
“Huh, weird. Nothing happened,” Everleigh said.
“That we know of !” Arthur said. “That could be the button to release the toxic rain!”
That didn’t deter Everleigh from pressing more buttons. Now the wipers did turn on. The bench seat slid forward, and hot air blasted out of overhead vents.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Arthur’s grandma said.
Finally, the ship shot ahead so fast, they slammed back against their seats.
“Sweet!” Everleigh said. “Turbo-boosters.”
“Galen’s this dot here.” Arthur pointed at the screen. “Hurry, he’s getting away!”
“Ten-four,” Everleigh said.
This time, Beacon was ready when the vessel shot across the sky. It didn’t take long for them to leave the clearing behind. They sailed over a sea of pines, and soon, they were gaining on the ship. Galen must have realized it, too, because his ship darted forward suddenly.
“Where did he go?” Beacon squinted through the dash.
“He’s over there,” Arthur said, pointing. “By those mountains!”
“I don’t see anything,” Arthur’s grandma said. “One moment.” She pulled a pair of glasses out of her pocket and slid them on her nose. “Where?”
“So you really wear glasses?” Arthur said. “That wasn’t an act?”
“Don’t be silly, why would that have been an act?” she said. “Where’s his ship?”
Arthur shook his head exasperatedly and pointed again. Beacon leaned in close. He could have used a pair of those glasses himself. Galen’s ship was barely a speck in the sky. He never would have seen it if they hadn’t had the radar.
“On it,” Everleigh said.
Their ship rocketed forward. They glided over snowy orchards and wheat fields, highways and rivers, closing the distance between them so fast, it was as if they were inside a video game.
“This is actually kind of fun,” Arthur’s grandma admitted.
“See?” Everleigh said. “You just need to trust me.” She smiled smugly and leaned back in her seat.
Just then, Galen’s ship spun impressively toward the ground, then shot between two mountain peaks.
“What the heck!” Everleigh sat up straight again.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Arthur’s grandma said. “Go after him.”
“A minute ago, you didn’t want me flying this thing, and now you want me to go through there?” Everleigh said.
“Can you do it?” Arthur asked hopefully.
Everleigh looked at the spindly gap between the mountains, then shook her head.
“It’s too narrow. I wouldn’t trust myself in there.”
Beacon slammed his palms on the dash.
He’d gotten away.
Everleigh cruised up and over the mountains. “It’s okay,” she said unconvincingly. “We’ll just fly over him. He’s got to come out the other side sometime, right?”
She was about to punch a button on the dash when Arthur’s grandma said, “Now wait just a minute.” She leaned forward and pointed at a ship on the radar, growing closer by the second. “We might not have lost Galen after all.”
Beacon whipped around and looked through a rear window. A ship was cutting a path straight toward them.
“How could Galen be behind us?” Everleigh said. “Did he loop around or something?”
“Why would he come back after he was trying to get away?” Arthur said.
The ship grew closer and closer. Beacon squinted at the other ship’s windshield. At first, he thought he was seeing things again. That his paranoia had gotten the better of him. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, but when he opened them, Victor was still there, dark hair slicked back from his face and eyes locked on their ship with a steely determination.
“That’s not Galen,” Beacon said. “It’s Victor.”
Panels at the center of the propellers on either side of Victor’s ship grinded and rotated open, and two long silver barrels pushed out from inside. Beacon realized that they were missiles, just as the twin rockets shot toward them.
“Everleigh, watch out!” Beacon screamed. Everleigh took one glance out the window before she sent the ship into a dive.
The ship plummeted toward the earth. Instinctively, Beacon shot out a hand across his dad’s chest, like he was the parent. He was going to need a lot of therapy when this was over.
The harness dug sharply into Beacon’s chest. He was starting to wonder if a seat belt had ever burst open from pressure, when Everleigh finally leveled the ship out.
“What the heck was that?” Arthur shouted between gulps of air.
His grandma was frantically rooting around for her glasses, which had fallen off in the drop.
“It’s Victor,” Beacon said, swallowing the bile in his throat.
“What is he doing?” Arthur said.
“Trying to kill us is my best guess,” Everleigh said.
Just then, another missile came rocketing toward them. Everleigh tried to twist the ship out of the way, but not in time. The rocket struck them in the tail. The ship jolted hard before listing violently to the left.
“Well, he’s succeeding,” Beacon said. He clung to his armrest as another rocket blazed past them, narrowly missing.
“We must have that button, too,” Arthur’s grandma said. “Hit ’em, E!”
“Hold on,” Everleigh said, pressing a few buttons. She grinned, the moment before two rockets blasted out of their own ship. Victor hadn’t been expecting it. He barely had time to slide out of the way as the missiles soared past his craft.
“Yes!” Arthur cheered.
“Now we’re back in business!” Arthur’s grandma pumped her fists in the air.
But it was too late.
Their ship jolted. Beacon slammed forward so hard, he felt his brain slide around in his head. The vessel spun like an amusement park ride. Cloud, tree, sky, mountain—images blurred past so fast, Beacon couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
“Do something!” Beacon screamed.
“I’m trying!” Everleigh shouted back.
The ship righted, but it rocked from side to side, and they bumped up and down so hard that Beacon’s teeth chattered. Smoke poured out of the engines. The snow-dusted ground veered up at them.
“Hang on tight!” Everleigh said. “We’re going down!”
Beacon dug his fingers into the armrests and hooked his feet around the bench seat legs, as if that would somehow help him.
The ship skidded against the frosty grass once, before they were airborne again. Then it crashed for real. Beacon felt the impact all the way through his body. Ice shards and dirt sprayed up all around them, pieces of the ship flying off. And then everything stopped.
Coppery blood pooled in his mouth. Lights flashed, and he was sure that alarms were going off, too, though he couldn’t hear them over the ringing in his ears.
Everleigh appeared in front of him. Her lips were moving for a good minute befo
re her voice pierced the fog.
“Are you okay?” she shouted.
Beacon took in a cramped breath, then nodded. “Dad . . .”
He groaned and peered over at the bench seat next to him, but his dad wasn’t there. Beacon searched the ship and saw him waiting mutely by the door.
“He’s fine,” Everleigh said. “I already looked him over. Come on, get up.” She unclipped his belt as Arthur released the buckle on his own harness next to him, shouting for his grandma.
“I’m fine, quit your hollering,” his grandma said, fumbling with her harness. “You don’t get to be my age by being fragile.”
“Okay, so, that could have been worse,” Everleigh said. “No one’s too badly hurt, right?”
“I wouldn’t speak too soon.” Arthur pointed into the sky.
Victor’s ship was coming right for them.
20
There was no time to run. No time to leap out of the way. No time to do anything but watch in horror as Victor’s ship sliced through the air, its missiles pointed right at them.
Beacon was waiting for his imminent death, when he saw a flash of movement to his left. A moment later, something whizzed just over the top of their ship, inches from their front windshield. Silver glinted all around them. Another ship.
“What the . . . who’s that?” Arthur said.
Victor’s ship flew in angry zigzags, trying to take aim at them. But wherever he went, the newcomer did, too, blocking him. Even from a distance, when the ship zagged just enough to the side, Beacon could see the angry red splotches spreading up Victor’s neck, and cold fear bloomed in his belly. He’d once had a teacher get rashes like that when she was angry, and it was always a bad sign. Whoever was flying that ship obviously didn’t know who they were messing with.
Beacon tried to get a look at the new ship’s driver, but he could only see the back of the ship.
“Why doesn’t Victor just end this and shoot them!” Everleigh said.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to damage another ship?” Arthur said.
“I can’t see why he would care about a single ship when he’s got hundreds of them,” Arthur’s grandma said.