by Ann Bakshis
“Who are you?” I ask, brushing myself off.
“Guy Larsen. I haven’t seen you, Mera, since you were three. My how you’ve grown.” He walks around me, sizing me up. His lustful eyes are just like Jack’s and it sickens me. Another sex-crazed jerk.
“You’re just as beautiful as your mother was. Oh, how the sun would turn her raven-black hair a dark purple. Tell me, does it have the same effect on you?”
“Get away from me,” I say, swatting his hand down from my shoulder.
“She goes by Max now, Father,” Jack says.
“So I’ve heard. A new name for a new identity.”
“It’s my only identity,” I state, anger seeping heavy into my voice.
“We’ll see about that,” Guy responds, his lips curling up into a distorted grin.
He turns around and behind him is a small display sitting on a thin, white pedestal. There isn’t anything else in the room, which disturbs me. He grabs my hand and pulls me towards it. I try and fight him off, but he’s surprisingly strong. Garrett starts to get to his feet, but Troy is quick to shove him back down. Guy forces my hand over to the display, which lights upon my approach. He takes out a small piece of broken glass, cuts my finger with it, and squeezes several drops of blood onto the display.
“Thomas, Mera,” a female voice chimes around us. “Authentication confirmed.”
The panels that make up the walls of the structure change from clear to milky white. The room is filled with light, but not blindingly.
“What is this place?” I ask, pinching my finger to stop the bleeding.
“It’s the Icarian Depository. It has all the records of Dracken history dating back to when this world began. We’ve never been able to access it until now because we needed a direct descendent of the original society’s leadership in order to gain entry to the information,” Guy says, gesturing to the walls. “It took the Patrician years to realize who that was.”
“That’s the reason I was selected to be in The Litarian Battles,” I say, more to myself than to the others. “Not because of the mutilation, but because if I won the game I would be sent here. Another location the Patrician have not been able to get into, just like Pentras Tower.”
“Jack was right about you, Mera. You are smart,” Guy says.
I try to back up, but my path is blocked by Jack. “Don’t call me that,” I say, angrily.
“In order to guarantee your victory, Leader Fallon had you removed from the orphanage and modified. It was the only way we could be sure you survived since the Keepers had started changing the rules of The Litarian Battles almost daily.”
“I thought you supported the Dracken?” I ask.
“We go with whomever has the best offer. At this moment, since it’s almost the end, the Patrician have made our loyalty to them very much worth our while. As soon as you transmit the information from this Depository to Patrician Nine, and you get the technology we seek, this will all be over.”
“And what happens to me?” I ask, crossing my arms across my chest.
“You live,” Jack replies, pressing his body against mine.
I have a feeling my life will include being made Jack’s sex slave, along with anything else the Larsen family desires.
“What if I refuse? Killing me isn’t an option for you,” I say with an attitude.
“No, it’s not. But, killing Garrett is,” Troy says. He removes a blade similar to the one Lok has.
“I thought weapons weren’t allowed in here,” Garrett says through fits of pain.
“There’s ways to conceal them,” Jack says.
They think threatening me with Garrett’s death will work? I start to laugh, almost hysterically. “Go ahead, he means nothing to me. But there’s something you should know. He’s an offspring of a Patrician leader, so I’m not sure how they will feel about you murdering one of their own.” I step around Jack and Guy, trying to put them between me and the pedestal. “So, I see no way of you winning this little showdown.”
“She’s bluffing,” Guy says.
Troy advances towards Garrett as I feel my Kopis returning to my hand. I thrust the blade through Jack, a satisfying experience, and one I’ve been thinking a lot about. I’m removing the weapon when I notice that Garrett’s bow and arrow have also been returned to him. He fires, hitting Troy in the eye. I flip the blade around and hold it against Guy’s throat.
“Any last words?” I ask.
“How is this possible?” Guy asks, a look of utter shock and disbelief on his face.
“You fucked with the wrong family.”
I drag the weapon across his throat. Garrett stands and shoots one more arrow into Troy’s body just to make sure he’s dead. I wipe Guy’s blood off my blade, and use the jumpsuit to clean the blood spatter from the display. I sheathe my Kopis and begin calling up the various records. I have to look at the walls to see what I’m doing since the screen on the display itself is too small to read anything.
“What just happened?” Garrett asks, swinging his quiver and bow around his shoulders.
“You tell me, Garrett. You’re the Patrician leader, not me.”
“This is a Dracken building, Max. There’s no way the Patrician could’ve been able to arm us.”
“Yup, you’re right. So what does that mean?”
“It means, Garrett, that you need to trust us,” a voice booms inside our heads.
I know who it is before even looking at the picture off to the side.
“Once you make the transfer, Max, you should be able to loop back to Pentras Tower,” Hammond says.
“Transfer? What transfer?” Garrett asks, clearly confused.
“I’m moving the historical data from the Depository to the computers in Pentras Tower.”
“Why?”
“To preserve them. We need to destroy this building and everything in it,” I say.
“Transfer initiating,” the female voice chimes.
“Why?” Garrett asks. “No one cares what’s in this building except for Guy Larsen.”
“Because the Patrician have taken over Icarian,” Hammond says. “It is only a matter of time until they try and locate another successor to Max to obtain the information.”
“Has Lok managed to break through yet?” I ask Hammond.
“No. We have managed to keep him at bay, but it will not be long until he figures out the pattern.”
“Transfer is at fifty-percent,” the female voice announces.
“Will one of you please explain to me what the hell is going on?” Garrett yells.
“We will do that upon your return to Pentras Tower,” Hammond says.
“Transfer complete,” the woman says.
“Loop now, Max. The Patrician have learned about your treachery. You must get back to the safety of the Tower as quickly as possible,” Hammond says.
“What about the building?” I say.
“It is too late. You must leave now,” Hammond says, then vanishes.
I grab Garrett’s arm and loop us. I’ve never done this long of a projection before and I barely get us to the plaza when all hell breaks loose. Bombs rain down from above, hitting the dome and cracking it in a few places. I loop us quickly towards the building and into the lobby.
“We need to find Lok,” I say as I run towards the lift.
“He might still be on the twelfth floor,” Garrett says, almost crashing into me in his haste to get into the lift.
We reach the twelfth floor, but Lok isn’t anywhere to be found. His rucksack is sitting on the floor next to the work station, so he couldn’t have gone far. We check the forty-ninth and fiftieth floors, but they’re empty.
“You don’t suppose he could be on one of the sealed floors?” Garrett asks as we descend.
I hit the stop button when we’re just on the opposite side of floor seven. I take Garrett’s hand and loop us inside. The lights are on, which means someone is currently on the floor. I unsheathe the Kopis and hold it by my side as we st
ep through the open security gate. The plasma table in the center is on, showing the Patrician bombing the dome. It’s begun to crack in more places, but the glass is still thick enough to keep any of the bombs from penetrating. For now.
“Hey,” Lok says, popping up from behind the same computer bank he was at earlier. “I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon.”
“Change of plans,” Garrett says. He’s trying to sound normal, but the nervous shaking in his voice is giving him away.
“Um, ok.” Lok stands and that’s when I notice his bow and arrow are positioned in front of him, armed and ready to fire. “Where’s Troy?”
“Dead,” I say. “The Dracken killed him. We need to hurry and get moving on locating that technology the Patrician are looking for.”
Lok aims his bow at me. “You said that a little too fast, Max. Since the Patrician are currently trying to shell their way into the Dead Zone, I’m guessing something else happened. Are you going to tell me what it is, or do I have to shoot you first?”
“We don’t have time for this.”
I reach for Garrett’s weapon, but Lok fires before I get a chance to grab it. The arrow cuts through my back, exiting out my side. I collapse to the ground as Garrett fires his arrow at Lok, hitting him in the chest. I look down and am surprised by what I don’t see. Blood should be pouring out of me, but it’s not. I don’t even feel any pain. My collapse was pure reaction to what I thought my body would feel, not actually due to an injury.
“You’re not injured? How is that possible?” Garrett asks, kneeling next to me and examining the entry and exit holes in the jumpsuit.
I unzip the outfit, pull my arms out of the sleeve, and look at the suit. Not a mark on it.
“Is this the stuff what everyone has been looking for?” Garrett asks, touching the soft material.
I nod. “We have to destroy it,” I say, stripping the jumpsuit off and removing the necklace from the pocket. I put it around my throat and hope it doesn’t change my appearance. It doesn’t. I must need to instruct it like the suit.
“Destroy it? Are you kidding me? This would make us all impervious to harm. We could go anywhere, do anything.”
“That’s the Patrician in you talking. This technology is dangerous, it has to be destroyed.”
I head towards the lift with Garrett close behind. I push the button for the thirteenth floor, but the lift stops at the eighth floor. We try descending, but the lift won’t move down either.
I wonder.
I take Garrett’s hand and loop us onto the eighth floor. We’re met by a wide hallway covered in crisp white paint. A double set of doors looms in front of us, but without any handles. Just like the doors for the Icarian apartments. As we approach, a biometric reader drops down from the wall next to the doors. I place my palm on the screen.
“Thomas, Mera. Access granted,” the same female voice from the Depository says from hidden speakers.
The room we enter is similar to the one we just left, right down to the door and the biometric reader.
“How many rooms do you think we have to go through?” Garrett asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer, placing my palm on the reader.
“Thomas, Mera. Access granted.”
The door opens to a room void of color, only darkness. Tiny dots begin to twinkle around us as the door closes.
“What is this place?” I ask, scanning the room and noticing the floor is also dark with tiny dots.
“Where would you like it to be?” Hammond asks, stepping forward. His body is being projected into the room, but I can’t tell from what or where.
“You’re the Keeper,” I state more than ask.
“One of them, yes.”
“How many of you are there?” Garrett asks.
“There are only a few of us left. The Patrician have made sure of that.”
“So what the Dracken said is true. You are the enemy of the Patrician,” I say.
“Yes. We have been fighting against the Patrician for many centuries. We were hoping to make progress in restoring the worlds they shattered, but we have been largely unsuccessful. Our hope was that in saving Pentras and the Dracken society, we would be gaining an ally with the type of technology needed to defeat the Patrician.”
“But the Dracken weren’t who you thought they were,” Garrett says.
“Yes. They are not a giving and kind people. When they realized that the modifications the Patrician had done to Max would benefit them in retrieving their lost technology, they used her and anyone who followed them for their own ends.”
“Why?” Garrett asks, a confused look on his face.
“Because when Pentras Tower went on lockdown, it not only kept the Patrician from gaining access, but from the Dracken as well,” I respond. “Their security was too effective. They needed someone from an original bloodline to penetrate the building, locate the information, and give it back to them. But, wait a minute. Cil said she was one of the original researchers when this all started. How come she couldn’t get in?” I ask Hammond.
“A half-truth. Cil was old, but not a direct descendant of the original settlers to this world. The Dracken were so concerned about protecting their technology, that they created an almost impossible failsafe. One that they hadn’t thought through. It was not until Leader Fallon hid you that the Dracken realized their mistake.”
“So, they did intend to leave those they felt beneath them behind to die,” I comment.
“Yes. Your parents were the last line of pure Dracken blood. While living in the shanties by the smelting plant, they learned the truth of their heritage. They did not feel the same way as their ancestors. Guy Larsen was determined to bring back the Dracken way of life. With him gone, the Dracken are no more.”
“Except for Max,” Garrett says.
“In a way, but she is much like her parents.” Hammond smiles, which causes me to smile in return.
“Now what?” I ask.
“The Patrician will continue to attack this world until they get what they came for. You need to destroy it,” Hammond says.
“How?” Garrett asks, stunned. “The building is built solid. The Patrician nuked the area and nothing happened to the structure.”
“We need to get to the Outer Limits,” I say, heading towards the door.
“Why? What’s there?” Garrett asks, following me.
“Van and his detonators.”
Twenty-Seven
We head back to the lift, but instead of selecting the lobby, I push the button for the thirteenth floor again, and this time the lift moves. The doors don’t open when the lift stops because of the lockdown I put in place. The biometric reader emerges next to the floor selection panel. I place my palm on it, the light turns blue, and the doors open. The lights turn on as I run over to the machines encased in the side wall. Sitting in neat piles behind the glass are at least one hundred suits, with more being created as we watch. I step through the entrance, take four suits, and exit. I hand one to Garrett and place the others into one of my pockets. While he’s changing, I step over to the virtual imager, tap on the display, and hit the cancel button. The machine stops. When I return, the suit has changed to match Garrett’s quiver and bow. He’s a little shocked by the effect and wants to put his other outfit back on.
I tell Garrett to leave his other clothes behind as he won’t need them for now. We get back into the lift, but we don’t start to descend until I reset the lockdown. When we reach the lobby, I loop us outside. The dome is slowly being destroyed. I loop us until we’re in front of the airlocks that’ll lead us to the Outer Limits. I try looping us through, but because of the wristband, the Patrician are stopping us from leaving the area.
“Now what do we do?” Garrett asks.
“We walk.”
I slowly approach the airlocks, visualize in my mind what I want, and the suit immediately reacts. My exposed skin is covered and I easily move through the glass. Garrett does what I tell him and he’s be
side me in a matter of moments. Once we’re through both sets of locks, the suits return to their normal appearance, and I try to loop us – once again, unsuccessfully. The Patrician must have completely disabled my ability.
“Shit,” I scream.
“Now what? It’ll take us hours to reach the main center of the Outer Limits.”
“If you tell your arrow to hit my wristband, it would, wouldn’t it?”
“It should, yes. Wait, you want me to shoot an arrow through your arm? No, Max, that’s crazy.”
“Well, what do you suggest? Lok is dead and the equipment to get into the wristband is back at Pentras Tower.”
“But, how do you even know you can resume looping if the wristband is destroyed? Isn’t that what gives you the ability?”
“Remember what you told me right before our first time in The Litarian Battles? You said that maybe it wasn’t just my hands that were damaged. I think you’re right. If the Patrician were desperate enough and knew I was going to be placed into the Looper unit already, why not give me that enhancement without the wristband?”
“Ok, well, I’m not shooting an arrow into you. There may be another way.”
He waves for me to follow. A mile away from the dome is an empty carriage. Two Aedox lie dead on the ground, their weapons gone. Garrett climbs into the driver’s seat while I get in next to him. He turns on the engine and we race down the line, as fast as the motor will allow. When we reach the outskirts of the Outer Limits, smoke and flame fill much of the sky. People run about, fighting Aedox as they gun other people down.
Garrett switches the lines when we get to a junction and moves us off towards the second-level housing. We have to climb a couple of steep hills to get to the ridge the complex sits on. The buildings line up perfectly in several rows. They all look to be in the same condition the orphanage was in before it was destroyed. We change lines again, going down between the third and fourth sets of structures. Garrett stops the carriage and tells me to get out. We run to the last section of the fourth row, climb a few flights of stairs, and enter an apartment. The interior is covered in gray paint, has black tiled floors, and only consists of one room. The kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and common room are in the same confined space.